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WordPress Newsletter Plugin Review

>> Review of a full featured Newsletter/Mailing List plugin for Wordpress....

For me, one of the most important plugins you can have for your wordpress powered Blog or Website is a good Newsletter/Mailing List system. Recently, I’ve researched and tested out quite a few both free and paid for and this one is the best I’ve come across so far.

Its called “WordPress Mailing List Plugin” and is available for $49.99 dollars for a single installation ($249.95 for a developer/multi site licence) from Tribulant Software. After having a good look at their online demo, I paid my fee and installed it on my own VPS Plesk server. It’s a much smaller (file size) plugin than some of the others I have used but packs quite a rich feature list in. Installation was fine on wordpress 2.7.1 despite the presence of a ton of other plugins on my blog including one other newsletter plugin.

Here are some of its standard features you’d expect:

Double Opt In Auto Subscriptions,
Full management from the WordPress Admin,
Sidebar and Post/Page Subscribe Form,
Add Attachments,
Import/Export Subscribers,
Newsletter Templates,
Email Scheduling,
Bounce Email Management,
Automated Latest Posts Subscription,
Insert Single or Multiple blog posts into Newsletters,
Insert Newsletter History into Newsletters,
WordPress MU compatible,
Send Newsletter depending on custom field conditions,
Export Newsletter History,
Scheduled Tasks.

Here are some extra features that stood out for me:

Multiple Different Mailing Lists,
Publish newsletter as a post and vice versa,
Paid subscriptions (Paypal & 2CheckOut),
Email Tracking,
Add Subscription Checkbox to WordPress comment form,
Integrates with Tribulant’s Banner Rotator plugin,
Timed Newsletters/Autoresponders,
Developer licence version which allows me to use this plugin on as many of my clients sites as I want!

Of particular issue to me was the Import/Export functions. I needed to port my existing list from my previous plugin and this was a pretty simple procedure except for a slight complication caused by the old system.

Creating new Lists and Emails/Newsletters is a breeze and sending them out was error free.

The killer feature is probably the ability to generate ‘offsite’ code which allows you to embed the newsletter signup on any other non-wordpress site.

If you need a comprehensive email newsletter solution that covers all bases but is easy enough to use, paying for this is well worth it!

Demos, Documentation and Support HERE.

Buy it HERE.

Leon.

Rated 5/5 on Jun 18 2009

Vote on Leon‘s reviews at LouderVoice

This Article has had 4,964 views so far.

Posted in Reviews on June 18th, 2009
Tags: wordpress mailing list, wordpress newsletter plugin
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Ivan Larcombe

Just wonder about the newsletter templates: I took a quick look at the product site and it seemed as thought you had to edit the header.php and footer.php files to make a template. Is that the case?

Thanks for this review and for your help.

http://www.reverbstudios.ie Leon

Yes, that is the case actually and a biggish negative for me. Fine for people who can write a bit of html/css but not for the majority who would like a bit of layout and style in their emails. Perhaps this can be improved in a future update Antonie!?

http://tribulant.com Antonie Potgieter

Thank you for your comments! The next update of the WordPress newsletter plugin will include a “Themes” section where you can configure newsletter templates. Please subscribe to our blog for updates and notifications: http://blog.tribulant.com . All the best, Antonie
http://level-level.com Taeke Reijenga

An excellent plugin indeed!
http://aksb.org/ Lia Suzuki

I agree. Mailing List is great!

I never noticed the code generation option. I tried it on my facebook page though, with no luck. (FBML app.) Any insights?

thanks.
http://www.eclectic-saddlebag.com Chuck Smith

I have used this product and although it works really well, I am looking for a replacement because the support is horrible. I have been waiting for weeks to get a new password just so I can download a update for this product. All emails are unanswered and they have taken my $50 and ran.
http://level-level.com taeke

@chuck Come on man, this plugin is great. Don’t try to bash it because you didn’t save your password somewhere
http://tribulant.com Antonie Potgieter

@Chuck, please submit a support ticket over at http://tribulant.com/support/ . If you feel the need, please contact me on Skype as Contrid. All the best, Antonie
http://www.deepconnection.net Lotus

Hi there,

I have been using Satallo’s Newsletter plug-in for free. However, after I read your review, I decided to part my money and bought Tribulant plug-in.

I installed the plug-in but could not find instructions or widget to set the newsletter subscription page up.

I sent a request for help on 27 March. It is now the 30th and I have not received a response.

Like Chuck Smith, I feel cheated.

Regards,
Lotus
http://www.deepconnection.net Lotus

Hello again,

It has been nearly a month now since I bought Tribulant Mailing List Plug-in and I have not been able to use it.

Tribulant did respond to my request for help however the real help has been so slow. They promised to help me set up the plug-in two weeks ago. Nothing has been done and I have heard nothing back since then.

I am in a limbo at the moment as I am unable to send newsletters to my subscribers. Frankly it is the worst $49.90 I have ever spent in my life. Sadly I don’t think I can get my money back because they don’t do refund.

Leon, may I suggest before you recommend any product, please make sure it works all round.

Regards,
Lotus
http://www.reverbstudios.ie Leon

@Lotus I wouldn’t have reccommended the plugin or even bothered to write a review if it didn’t work well for me. Perhaps you have a different, newer version or your blog has a conflicting plugin. There are just too many variables.

However, Tribulant are quite slow at communication/support especially considering its a commercial product. I have already reccommended Antonie takes a look at this side of his business.
http://www.cupcakes.gr Alex Zachopoulos

I read your comments here, and as I am interested in this plugin, decided to put the authors to the test. I emailed them with my concerns about slow support, and asked them to reply to me to prove how fast they can do it.

I had a reply less than two hours later.

I am most likely going to buy.
http://www.deepconnection.net Lotus

Good luck to you Alex!

For me, I have given it up. I still have not been able to use it. I am using the free Satalo’s newsletter and looking into a mailing list server like Aweber or Mad Mimi. As mentioned, it was a waste of my $49.50 but I am not going to get worked up about it.

Cheers!
http://tribulant.com Antonie Potgeiter

Thanks Leon, we try to answer support queries as quickly as possible and will continue to do so.

@Lotus, I can’t access your site and posted numerous responses to your ticket with no response. Here is what I get when I go to your site: http://screencast.com/t/YjhiMjRlMWU . I contacted you on Skype several times as well with no response.
http://www.cupcakes.gr Alex Zachopoulos

Hmm… I _am_ with Aweber. It’s a wonderful company. My mailing list works just fine. I just prefer to have better control, i.e. not have to rely on a subscription service, no matter how good it may be. Assuming, of course, that the alternative is reasonably priced (or even better, free!) and it does the job just as well as Aweber, if not better.

After trying a range of free plugins, and banging my (as well as that of my IT/web specialist…) off the wall, I think that, based on the description on the website and the cost of $49.50 this is a great solution. If it does what it claims.

Although I am getting now a bit suspicious about why they replied to me but not to you. Unless there is something in your story that you are not sharing here
http://www.reverbstudios.ie Leon

@ Alex Seems they just don’t like me or want my business!
http://www.cupcakes.gr Alex Zachopoulos

Now I _am_ confused. Who’s this commenting? Leon? or Lotus?

At first, Leon says he is recommending the product.
Then Leon replies after Lotus says she hasn’t heard from the company and is now giving up.
Then Leon replies again, but the reply doesn’t make sense to me: you sound like you are experiencing the same issue as Lotus.

So, what’s going on?
http://www.reverbstudios.ie Leon

@ Alex, the name of the commenter is beside their post?

I started off liking the plugin (and still do) but found myself unable to continue my working relationship with Tribulant (I use a lot for their plugins for my clients and request a lot of plugin changes) due to slow communication.

This should not affect your usage of any of their plugins unless of course they are slow to answer your support requests too..
http://www.cupcakes.gr Alex Zachopoulos

Well, if I end up buying the plugin (I’m waiting for approval by my web consultant) I’ll have the chance to confirm whether they offer real support. Until then, I only have a single (positive) indication of fast response, even if to a ‘mock’ support ticket.
http://www.sites4contractors.com Carl

I purchased the plugin (unlimited license) mainly because of the Newsletter scheduling feature, my clients would find it very useful. However, the scheduling feature is only to schedule how much mail is sent out at any given time. I was expecting more of an autoresponder type system.

Another issue was only 1 confirmation url, was set for ALL of your newsletter subscriptions. This won’t work if you have clients with multiple lists (customers, leads, subscribers etc..)

Despite the no refund policy, Antonie accommodated my request for a partial refund on the package (downgraded to individual license). His responses were fast and he was genuinely helpful.

I would strongly suggest you try out the demo before hand to make sure this is something you can use. I could have avoided some hassle for both Antonie and myself had I done my due diligence… Sometimes as a web developer, you are looking for quick implementation.

Antonie suggested some of the features I mentioned could possibly be added in future updates so if they are released, I would gladly purchase the unlimited license again as it would fit my client needs perfectly.

Hope this helps someone!
http://jfgrissom.com jfgrissom

Hi Leon,

I just wanted to say thanks for the SOLID Recommendation.

I have been working with Aweber for a long time and while I really like their stuff I wanted to have everything centralized on my web server.

The solution you recommended with Trubulant is rock solid for me so far…

The integration with WP is awesome.

Thanks for providing this review… so far so to…

I also bought it through your affiliate link here so I hope you get a commission!

Thanks,
Jay

http://www.reverbstudios.ie Leon

Thanks Jay!

Joost

Does this plugin also allow you to select (multiple) posts which are then added to the newsletter?

http://www.reverbstudios.ie Leon

Just looking at my own settings here, you can kinda do this with the new feature “Latest Posts Subscription” which sends out your latest posts automatically to subscribers. Using this you can choose posts from only certain categories, exclude individual posts and choose a sending interval. I will try confirm for sure with the developer though and get back to you..

Joost

So I could add a “newsletter” category to the posts, and set it to “weekly”? That would be a workable solution, although a scrollable list from which to select the posts would be more convenient.

http://www.reverbstudios.ie Leon

Yep, you could do that. Kinda reverse engineering. There’s no scrollable list unfortunately but the developer is very open to ammending/improving at reasonable rates..

RCS

This is advertisement disguised as “Review” isn’t it?

http://www.reverbstudios.ie Leon

It is both a Review and an advert for something I think is worth buying. Nothing wrong with that.

Sofiane Ben

This is not a review, it’s advertising ! this is a review for those intersted
http://tomuse.com/wordpress-newsletter-plugin/
http://www.websitesforless.info cheap web designer

Interesting features. But using services like constant contact will certainly reduces load on the server. I will try it.
http://www.miningmoneyonline.org/ Jwilson

I have toyed with using this kind of software but I end up being convinced that the big companies have a better delivery rate so I ended up using get response (http://bit.ly/GRMail) but it is a hassle to use, with their various rules etc, however they have some wicked stuff you can do like surveys and split testing. Their code can be easily pasted into a wordpress widget, they are one of the cheapest for those getting started but I think they cost more when you have a massive list.

However, I like the ideo of having my own software and I might do some testing on this plugin on one of my mining money online sites.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
http://sorebuttcheeks.blogspot.com/ steroids

a very useful plugin shame its wp only.
Kim

May I suggest a non affiliated link to our own newsletter plugin.

We have a nifty editor, easy config page, and it’s basically dummy proof. It has less features then Tribulant’s, but it remains easier to install.

It’s essentially free, with a premium version. Try us out!

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wysija-newsletters/
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