My Newsletter vs FunnelKit Automations –

My Newsletter is a lightweight WordPress newsletter plugin focused on a practical use case many site owners need immediately: Send a campaign to WordPress users. Send a campaign to commenters (optionally only commenters from a specific post). Import and manage your own mailing list (CSV/TXT upload, simple XLSX upload, or paste emails). Queue the campaign and process it in the background (batch sending). Include unsubscribe links in every message. Track basic campaign progress in the admin area. Optional file logging for troubleshooting large sends. Optional built-in SMTP settings (with SMTP test) (no external SMTP plugin required). Save and load reusable email templates (v2.5.0). Manage templates (edit/rename/duplicate/delete) from My Newsletter → Templates (v2.6.0). Import/export templates as JSON for backup and migration (My Newsletter → Templates) (v2.6.1). This plugin is intentionally simple and WordPress-native: Email sending uses wp_mail() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/). Background processing uses WP-Cron (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/). File uploads in the admin import flow use wp_handle_upload() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_handle_upload/). Mailing list import & management (v2.3.0) My Newsletter lets you import and manage your own subscriber list: Import subscribers via CSV/TXT upload, simple XLSX upload, or copy/paste. Preview the first rows before writing to the database. Choose merge behavior: Update existing or Skip existing. Built-in list tools: search, export CSV, delete selected, delete all matching search, and delete by domain. Suppression list (unsubscribed): view/export and remove suppression (admin-only). Important: You are responsible for ensuring you have a lawful basis/consent to email imported contacts, and every campaign must include a working unsubscribe option. Then, when composing a campaign, choose Mailing list (imported) as the recipient source. Core functionality Campaign composer (admin screen) Create a newsletter subject and HTML content. Use the WordPress editor for message body content. Choose recipient source: Users + Commenters Users only Commenters only Commenters on a specific post Mailing list (imported) Background queue processing Recipients are queued in custom plugin tables. Sending runs in batches through WP-Cron (instead of trying to send everything in one browser request). Reduces the risk of timeouts and broken sends on slower hosting. Test email before full campaign Send a test message to any email address from the composer screen. Uses the same rendering path and unsubscribe footer logic as real sends. Secure unsubscribe links Every email includes an unsubscribe URL. Unsubscribe tokens use an HMAC-based signature (derived from WordPress salts; see wp_salt() https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_salt/). Unsubscribed addresses are stored and skipped in future campaigns. Email templates (save/load) (v2.5.0) Save the current subject + content as a template. Load a saved template into the composer to reuse it for a new campaign. Templates are stored locally on your site (not sent anywhere). Template variables (placeholders) {{site_name}} {{site_url}} {{recipient_name}} {{recipient_email}} {{unsubscribe_url}} Settings screen From name From email Reply-To (optional) Max emails per cron run (batch size) Footer HTML (appended to outgoing emails) Logging (optional) Optional log file (v2.3.3) Enable logging in Settings → Logging. View, download, and clear logs in My Newsletter → Logs. Logs are stored in wp-content/uploads/my-newsletter/wpnl.log. Basic campaign tracking Shows recent campaigns in admin. Displays queue progress (total / sent / failed / queued). User Guide (v2.3.3) 1) Quick start (5–10 minutes) Install and activate the plugin. Go to My Newsletter → Settings and set: From name From email (prefer an address on your domain) Go to My Newsletter (campaign composer) and send a Test email to your own address first. Create a campaign: Enter Subject Enter Message (HTML supported via the editor) Choose recipients (Users / Commenters / Mailing list) Click Queue & Start Sending (wording may vary by screen) If you don’t see progress, read the “WP‑Cron” section below. 1B) Email templates (Save / Load) (v2.5.0) On the My Newsletter campaign screen you can reuse content without retyping: Write your Subject and Content (or load an existing template). To save: enter a template name and click Save Email Template. To load: choose a template from the dropdown and click Load Email Template. Tip: keep templates generic (e.g. “Welcome email”, “Promo template”), then adjust the final message before queuing. 1C) Manage Templates (v2.6.0) Use My Newsletter → Templates to manage your saved templates: Add New to create a template from scratch. Edit to update the template name (rename), subject, or body. Duplicate to quickly create a variation. Delete to remove a template you no longer need. Templates are local to your site and can be loaded into the campaign composer using Load Email Template. 2) Settings explained (My Newsletter → Settings) From name / From email Used as the sender identity in outgoing messages. WordPress email is sent via wp_mail() and your mail transport decides the final headers (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/). Reply‑To (optional) If you want replies to go to a different inbox than “From”. Max emails per cron run (batch size) Limits how many emails each WP‑Cron run tries to send. Smaller batches reduce timeouts on shared hosting. WP‑Cron is traffic-driven by default (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/). Footer HTML Appended to every message. Best practice is to include: your site name, a short reason why the recipient is receiving the email, and an unsubscribe link (the plugin can insert {{unsubscribe_url}}). Logging (optional, v2.3.3) Enable logging when troubleshooting unexpected queue behavior or mail failures. Go to My Newsletter → Settings → Logging and enable the log file. Re-run sending (WP-Cron or “Run queue now”). Open My Newsletter → Logs to view, download, or clear the log. Logs are stored in wp-content/uploads/my-newsletter/wpnl.log. 3) Creating a campaign (My Newsletter → Campaigns) Subject: what recipients will see. Message body: use the editor; HTML is allowed. Placeholders: you can personalize using: {{recipient_name}}, {{recipient_email}} Recipients: choose one: Users (WP users) Commenters (emails from approved comments) Commenters for a specific post Mailing list (imported) Then click the action button to queue recipients and start sending. 4) Recipient sources: what exactly is included Users Uses WordPress user emails (typically wp_users.user_email). WordPress user data is stored in core tables (https://developer.wordpress.org/apis/wpdb/). Commenters Uses emails from comment records (typically wp_comments.comment_author_email) and only approved comments are considered in typical implementations (WordPress comment basics: https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_comments/). Commenters on a specific post Same as Commenters, but filtered by post ID. Mailing list (imported) Uses subscribers stored by this plugin in its own table. This list is independent from WP users/comments. 5) Mailing list import (My Newsletter → Mailing List) You have two import methods: Upload file or Paste. 5A) Upload (CSV/TXT) Best and most reliable method. Recommended columns * email (required) * name (optional) CSV example email,name [email protected],Ana [email protected],Marko The plugin will: * accept comma/semicolon/tab-delimited CSV (delimiter auto-detected), * accept a header row if it contains email, * validate emails with WordPress helpers like sanitize_email() and is_email() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sanitize_email/ and https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_email/), * deduplicate by email during the import batch, * skip emails that are already unsubscribed. Export from Excel / Google Sheets * Export to CSV. XLSX support exists, but CSV is safer for complex sheets. 5B) Upload (XLSX) XLSX support is intentionally minimal to keep the plugin lightweight. Requirements: * First worksheet (sheet1) * Column A = email * Column B = name (optional) * If cell A1 contains “email”, that row is treated as header and skipped If your XLSX is more complex, export to CSV first. 5C) Paste emails (copy/paste) Paste supports: * one email per line, * comma/semicolon separated emails, * Name , * 2-column lines: email,name or name,email (comma/tab/semicolon). Examples: [email protected] [email protected],Marko Ana Example [email protected] Marko Example [email protected] After import, the screen shows: * imported count, * invalid count, * duplicate count, * skipped unsubscribed count. 5D) Import workflow (Preview + merge rules) Go to My Newsletter → Mailing List. Upload a file (CSV/TXT/XLSX) or paste emails. Click Preview import. Confirm you have lawful basis/consent (required). Choose merge behavior: Update existing (recommended): update name/source/updated_at for existing emails. Skip existing: only add new emails. Click Import now. After import, you can export and clean the list using: * Export subscribers CSV, * Delete selected (bulk), * Delete all matching search, * Delete by domain (e.g. example.com). 6) Viewing and managing the list In My Newsletter → Mailing List, you can: * see the total subscriber count, * search by email or name, * browse paginated results, * export subscribers as CSV, * delete selected subscribers (bulk), * delete all subscribers matching the current search (with confirmation), * delete by domain (e.g. example.com) for quick cleanup. In Mailing List → Suppression list, you can: * view unsubscribed emails (suppressed), * export suppression list as CSV, * remove suppression (admin-only) if you need to re-subscribe someone manually. 7) WP‑Cron and reliable background sending This plugin uses WP‑Cron to send queued emails in batches. WP‑Cron runs on site visits (traffic). On low‑traffic sites, campaigns may send slowly (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/). For reliable sending on production: * Configure a real server cron to hit wp-cron.php at a fixed interval. WordPress explains this approach here: https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/#what-is-wp-cron. Admin tools: * In My Newsletter → Settings, use Run queue now (admin-only) to process one batch immediately for testing/troubleshooting. * The Settings screen includes ready-to-copy cron examples (curl/wget) for common hosting setups. 8) Deliverability (what matters most) This plugin hands off email to WordPress via wp_mail() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/). Deliverability depends on your mail transport and DNS. If you care about inbox placement: * Use an SMTP provider (or transactional email service). * Use a sender on your own domain. * Configure SPF/DKIM/DMARC (vendor-specific docs). 9) Compliance and consent (your responsibility) The plugin provides unsubscribe links, but it does not enforce consent or double opt‑in. You must only email people you have a lawful basis to contact and you must honor opt‑outs. FTC CAN‑SPAM overview: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business EU GDPR overview (lawful basis, consent, etc.): https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/what-does-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr-govern_en

FunnelKit Automations (formerly Autonami) is a powerful WordPress marketing automation engine that allows you to automate your marketing workflows. You can use FunnelKit Automations to: Create WooCommerce abandoned cart campaigns to recover the lost revenue. Create post-purchase follow-up sequences to educate and upsell customers. Set up a welcome email workflow to greet and get your customers onboard with on-brand welcome emails. Tag contacts, and add them to specified lists or sequences, update custom fields, and do so much more – just like you can in a popular CRM such as ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit, MailChimp, Klaviyo and others (PRO feature). Customize WooCommerce email templates – order confirmation, login details, delivery completed emails – with the in-built drag-and-drop visual email builder. Create targeted audience segments and reach out to them via beautifully designed broadcast campaigns. Unlock more money-making opportunities by connecting your business with various WordPress plug-ins such as LearnDash, WishList Member, Affiliate WP, and more. Connect your website to 1000’s other services by connecting FunnelKit Automations with Zapier, Integromat, Pabbly, Integrately, and more. And more. FunnelKit Automations (Formerly Autonami) is a simple yet powerful automation plugin that gives you complete control over your website and automation. It is user-friendly and makes it easy for you to set up effective automation that helps drive more sales while helping customers. FunnelKit Automations is backed by a fantastic support team that is helpful, caring, and responsive. I always receive quick replies, and they go out of their way to help me. I am genuinely grateful for their plugin, help, and the FunnelKit Team. — Anthony, And the best thing about FunnelKit Automations? We have no cap on contacts, which means you do not have to pay more as your contact list grows. That’s what FunnelKit Automations is to your eCommerce marketing automation game. How Can FunnelKit Automations Help You Automate Your Marketing? Engage better with your buyers with essential WooCommerce automations like welcome emails, abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase email sequences, customer win-back campaigns, and much more. You can create beautiful emails with a drag-and-drop builder and interact with your leads via newsletter campaigns. Now, you no longer need to have ten different plugins to do eCommerce marketing. FunnelKit Automations Lite (Free) Version FunnelKit Automations comes in two versions – Lite (Free) and Pro. The Lite version comes equipped with crucial pre-built automations that give you a headstart in your WooCommerce marketing automation journey, and you can build on it as your business grows. Create Automated Campaigns on the All-New Canvas Interface FunnelKit Automations is powered by the robust automation builder and the minimalist Canvas interface. A clean interface that allows you to visualize your workflow as you build it. It simplifies the automation-building process and view in-line analytics such as email open/click-through rates and more on the interface itself. In the Pro version, you can even view individual contact’s journey and in-depth analytics. Visualize and create powerful workflows precisely the way you want. View Abandoned Users and Other Cart-Related Details at One Place Abandoned cart users are crucial to your profits. These are the users who had almost completed their purchases but got distracted and left. If targeted properly, these users are very likely to come back and complete their purchases. FunnelKit Automations gives you cart-related information such as – recoverable, recovered, and lost carts. This information can be crucial to understanding your users and be the building blocks for your WooCommerce abandoned cart recovery campaign. Get One-Click Import Recipes FunnelKit Automations Lite comes with crucial pre-built marketing campaigns that you can import with one click, customize the email copy and delay time, and go live in a matter of minutes. You get automations such as – abandoned cart recovery, welcome email sequence for new customers, review collection emails, and a first purchase anniversary campaign. There are various other WooCommerce events that you can try out and create your custom WooCommerce marketing automations from scratch. With Autonami Lite, the following WooCommerce events are available at your disposal: Cart Abandoned Cart Recovered Order Created Order Created – Per Product Order Status Changed Order Item Refunded Order Item Stock Reduced Order Note Added Review Received If there are other users you’ve given permission to access your store, then you can track their activity with WordPress events such as User Created and User Login. Send Simple Text-Based Emails FunnelKit Automations Lite comes with a text-based email builder that allows you to create and send text emails with ease. Do not underestimate the power of simple text emails. In some automated campaigns, simple text emails have performed better than visual ones. Personalize your emails with merge tags, add a catchy subject line, and a persuasive preview text. FunnelKit Automations is GDPR compliant; hence, the ‘unsubscribe text’ comes pre-inserted. Time Your Emails Right with Delays FunnelKit Automations allows you to add delays to your email sequence and communicate with your customers on the right time. You can set delays in minutes, hours, days, weeks, and even months to better optimize your automated campaigns. My respect and appreciation for the FunnelKit Automations Team continue to grow as we migrate from a major ESP into FunnelKit. FunnelKit Automations is powerful and intuitive—and the support we receive (when needed) continually exceeds our expectations. What a delight it is to work with folks who care so deeply about the customers they serve and the products they build! — Stacy Farrell, FunnelKit Automations Lite Use Cases 1. Create High-Converting Abandoned Cart Recovery Sequence FunnelKit Automations allows you to create targeted and well-segmented WooCommerce abandoned cart recovery campaigns. Live-capture the cart as soon as the user enters the email. Works perfectly on mobile as well. Create segmented automated campaigns based on cart total, cart items items in the cart, the coupon used, whether the cart has coupons or not, etc. Intuitive cart abandonment analytics for quick stats of recoverable carts, recovered carts, etc. Auto ends the automation when a user completes the purchase. Set up delays in your emails in minutes, hours, and days. Pro feature: Send personalized WooCommerce discount coupon code based on the cart value or items (or any rule) with a set expiry time. Take a look at the video below: 2. Set up WooCommerce Follow-Up Emails for Post-Purchase Engagement Post-purchase or follow-up emails are sent out to engage with your customers after they’ve just bought from you. Here are some of the post-purchase engagement emails you can send: Shipment Check-In Email – Check with your new buyers about their shopping experience with you. Cross-Sell or Product Recommendation Email – Send automated emails to recommend products to customers based on the items they bought. Purchase Anniversary Email – Create an automated anniversary campaign with a WooCommerce discount coupon code on the 6-months or 1-year anniversary. Product Education Email – Educate them on how to use the product that they’ve just bought. This depends on what item they purchased and if that needs education. Take a look at the video to see all the post-purchase use cases: This is not it, we have some powerful use cases that you can execute with FunnelKit Automations Pro. But, before that, let’s understand what FunnelKit Automations Pro brings to the table! FunnelKit Automations Pro Version Even though you can do a lot with FunnelKit Automations Lite version, the Pro version unlocks a whole new spectrum of WooCommerce marketing automation that you never knew was possible within WordPress. FunnelKit Automations Pro lets you communicate with buyers to strengthen the relationship and lay the ground for the second sale. FunnelKit Automations Pro makes FunnelKit Automations a mini-CRM, allowing you to view 360° contact profiles, build targeted audiences, tag users, add them to sequences, run automated campaigns, send broadcasts, connect with form builders, and more – perform all the actions you can in an expensive SAAS-based CRM. All without leaving WordPress. Like many people, we have used Infusionsoft, Active Campaign, Mail Chimp, you name it, we have tried them all at one point or another, and NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, compares to FunnelKit Automations. When you pair FunnelKit Automations with your own SMTP servers like Sendgrid, Mailgun, and Amazon SES, you instantly control your own email marketing service, and even better, you control your own email marketing REPUTATION. Gone are the days of using services that send all their email from the same servers, so you don’t have to suffer from unreliable email delivery based on the bad habits of other users of the same service. You can now control everything and tie all your marketing in with your WordPress website, run email broadcasts, abandon WooCommerce cart emails, automated sequences based on user activity, and so much more. FunnelKit Automations is WONDERFUL, and their support is top-notch. — Monster Development, Get Actionable Insights on Your Dashboard FunnelKit Automations Pro adds more to the already incredible analytics dashboard. Along with the cart-related data, you get a list of your Top Automations, Top Broadcasts, and even Popular Emails. These lists can help you replicate your success by following the same formula. The dashboard also displays: – Total Contacts – Emails Sent – SMSs Sent – Total Orders – Total Revenues View Detailed Customer Profiles With detailed customer profiles, you can view all the important details of every contact on your list. With FunnelKit Automations Pro, you can get a deeper understanding of your customers. Quickly see the most important details about them – the latest engagement with your emails, total spend, total orders, last order date, AOV (individual), comparison to the store’s AOV, etc. These details can help you create targeted automated campaigns. Create advanced segmentation by tagging and listing the customers and creating a precise set of audiences to use in marketing campaigns. Send Broadcast Campaigns To Multiple Contacts With live cart capturing, FunnelKit Automations captures emails the moment it is entered on the checkout page. You can create an automation to tag users in real time. You can segment these users into audience sets like – US customers, repeat buyers, high-value customers, etc. You can tag your users in real-time and segment them into audience sets based on: – Geographical location – US Customers, Canada Customers, etc. – Products Purchased – Order Values – Coupon Used – AOV and Lifetime Spend – Engagement-related parameters – WordPress User Status, and more This audience segmentation will help pinpoint your emails and attain more engagement. Get Access to 20+ Advance Pre-Built Automations with One Click FunnelKit Automations Pro version unleashes 20+ marketing automations that you can import with just one click and boost your sales instantly. The library is every-growing and currently includes various email sequences like: Abandoned Cart Recovery Post-purchase email sequence Condition-based email sequence for precise targeting Turning Subscribers into Customers in 7 days WooCommerce Subscriptions – related email sequences Affiliates-related email sequences Customer Win-back campaign and even more Create Condition-Based Automated Workflows The most important and EXCITING benefit of FunnelKit Automations Pro is Condition – the ability to create condition-based automations. Create conditions based on cart total, cart items, contact fields, order total, items purchased, average order value, geographical location, and even saved audiences. Here are a few most-used Condition categories: Customer Details: Gender, Company, Date of Birth, etc. WooCommerce Cart Details: Cart Total, Total Revenue, Total Orders Count, Purchased Products, Used Coupons, AOV, First Order, Last Order, etc. Geography: Country, State, City, etc. Engagement: Last Open, Engaged, Unengaged, Last Click, etc. Broadcast: Broadcast Sent/Open/Clicked And more such amazing Conditions to create personalized email sequences. Such conditions allow you to focus more on the profitable side of your customers. Build advanced email and SMS sequences according to the conditions set and take your eCommerce marketing game up a notch. Create Targeted Campaigns with Advanced Actions Unlock a whole new spectrum of Actions with the Pro version. You can customize your email workflow with various actions such as: Messaging: Send Email, Send SMS, Send Message to a Channel/User FunnelKit Automations: Create Contact, Change Status, Update Fields, Add/Remove Tags, Add/Remove Contact to/from a List, Add Contact Note, End Automation WooCommerce: Create/Delete Coupon, Change Subscription Status, Assign/Update Membership Plan This is just the cream of the crop, as you delve deeper into FunnelKit Automations, you can add more actions to your email sequence. The Pro version opens up the advanced Actions and Delay functionalities and even more helpful features like adding Goals, Jumps, and Exits to your automations. Delay: Advanced delay functionalities let you send emails in the contact’s timezone, as well as at a specific time of a specific day. Add a delay until a custom date is picked by the user on a form submitted. Goals: If your email sequence has a common goal, then the automation will stop when the goal is achieved, i.e., the subsequent emails won’t go out. Examples of goals include – a link clicked, an order placed, a user subscribed, and more. Jump: Shorten your automations by making contacts jump from one node to another within the workflow. Exit: Exit the automation for all those contacts that don’t meet the set condition. These contacts will move out of your automation. Create Dynamic Coupon Codes to Instigate Urgency Who doesn’t love coupons? FunnelKit Automations Pro lets you build dynamic coupons from scratch right inside WordPress. Customize your WooCommerce discount coupon settings without leaving your workflow – set an expiry date for the coupon, add a discount amount (fixed or in percentage), add a prefix to the coupon code, enable free shipping, and more. Create personalized coupon codes with merge tags – with the user’s first name or last name. Once done, embed the coupon code inside your emails with ease. Create Beautiful Emails Using Built-In Email Builder and Engage Better with Broadcast Campaigns Do not know where to start with email designing? Our WooCommerce marketing automation plugin comes with an in-built visual email builder that empowers you to create beautiful emails that can send your click-through rates through the roof. FunnelKit Automations gives you content blocks for designing emails. From writing text and adding logos to showing products in emails – there are blocks for just about everything. Save these emails as templates and reuse them in future automated campaigns. Send and schedule broadcast campaigns/ newsletters in real-time. Engage better with your audience with newsletters and create a stronger bond. A/B Test Your Emails and Choose the Best-Performing Copy A lot of your email marketing campaign’s success depends on the copy of your email. If the subject line is catchy and the copy is engaging, you are halfway home. FunnelKit Automations Pro lets you split-test your emails and choose the best version that can maximize your campaign’s performance and bring in profits. You can create multiple versions of the same email by changing the subject line, altering the preview text, and more. FunnelKit Automations Pro Use Cases **1. [Create …