When you go to send your first email with MailPoet you’ll notice that there are three main types of email: newsletters, welcome emails, and latest post notifications. But what do these email types mean? When should you use them?
In this article, I’ll help you figure it all out by exploring what each type of email does and when to use them, plus some of our favorite examples of these email types in action.
Newsletters
In MailPoet, “Newsletters” are one-time emails that aren’t triggered by a specific event or action. Or, more simply, they’re just regular emails. You can use this function to create a traditional newsletter, but there are many other uses for it as well.
When to use newsletters
When you want to announce an upcoming event
Do you have a sale happening in the near future? Some sort of community event? A newsletter is the perfect way to announce it to your subscribers.
When you’re looking to hire someone
Expanding your team? Want to find someone already in your community for the job? Sending the job ad out in a newsletter is a great way to get the right eyes on it.
If your WordPress posts are sporadic
If you don’t hold to a consistent schedule, you might not be able to guarantee new content on a specific date, making it difficult to guarantee that there will be new content when a scheduled latest post notification email goes out.
If you want to offer custom content for subscribers
One of the most effective ways to get more subscribers is to offer them content they can’t get anywhere else, such as additional insight into the process you use to create blog posts. This content can’t be added to the latest post notification emails, so you’ll want to send it in newsletters.
If you want to create a personalized marketing campaign
Welcome emails and latest post notification emails are highly automated, making it hard to do more than basic personalization. If you want to create a truly personalized email campaign, a newsletter is the way to go (or you can check out our WooCommerce emails).
If you want to schedule an email for a specific date
If you want an email to go out on a specific date, like the day before Black Friday, a newsletter is the way to go.
For most other email campaigns
Newsletters are incredibly versatile and can be used for any purpose you can imagine. If you can’t think of a good reason to use a different type of email, you probably want to use the newsletter function.
How to set up a newsletter email in MailPoet
To create a newsletter in MailPoet, go to the “MailPoet > Emails” in your WordPress dashboard and click the “New Email” button near the top of the screen, then select “Newsletter” from the options provided.
This will direct you to the template library. Note that there are templates specifically for newsletters, including a variety of simple templates that can be used as a starting point if you want to create something fully customized.
Selecting a template takes you to the MailPoet email editor. This is where you can customize the design and content of your email.
Finally, you’ll be taken to the email overview page. This is where you can choose the list you’re going to email, finalize the subject line and preview text, and schedule the email. When you’re happy with the details, press “Send”, and your newsletter is done!
Welcome emails
Welcome emails are emails that are sent out after someone subscribes to your list. In MailPoet, these emails can be sent immediately upon signup or scheduled to go out a certain number of hours, days, or even weeks later.
MailPoet also lets you send welcome emails to people when they become WordPress users on your site.
When to use welcome emails
When you need to send your signup bonus
If you’ve created an opt-in bonus, you’ll want to make sure they get it right away. You can do this with a welcome email set to go out immediately after someone subscribes to your list.
You can also use the welcome email function of MailPoet to send out reminders about your opt-in bonus. This can be particularly effective if the bonus you offer is only available for a limited time, like a one-week discount coupon.
When you want to create a welcome series
A welcome series is a great way to strengthen your brand’s relationship with new subscribers. You can use these emails to share your company’s story, profiles of your creative team, information about how your different products and services work, or any other information you want subscribers to know early on.
If you’re sending an email course
You can also use the “Welcome email” function of MailPoet to send an email course, like the 4-part MailPoet course on email marketing. This is a great way to share your expertise, show people how to use your products, and provide value to your subscribers so they stay on your list. Check out our guide to creating an email course in MailPoet!
If you want to release content on a specific timeline
If you have a piece of long-form content, like an in-depth article series or a book with several chapters, you can use welcome emails to share this content with new subscribers on a pre-set timeline. For example, you might choose to send one chapter of your book every seven days, giving your audience plenty of time to read and absorb the information you’ve sent them.
How to send a welcome email
To send a welcome email, open MailPoet to the “Emails” area, click the “New Email” below the screen title, and choose “Welcome email” from the options provided. This will open a page where you can select who will receive the email and when they’ll get it. You can choose for users to receive the email either immediately after subscribing or a set number of hours, days, or even weeks later.
Click “Next” to open the template library, where you can find several templates created specifically for welcome emails.
Selecting a template opens the MailPoet email editor, where you can edit your welcome email the same way any other email is edited. If you’re not sure what to include, check out our guide to WordPress welcome emails.
When you’re finished, you’ll be taken to the “Activate” page. This is where you can review key information like your subject line, the list that will receive this email, and how soon after signup the email will be sent.
Latest post notifications
Latest post notifications are recurring, automated emails that tell your followers about your most recent content. This is typically used for blog posts, but in MailPoet you can also set these emails up to share your latest pages, products, or media.
When to use latest post notifications
If you want to automate more of your email marketing
Latest post notifications are automated, meaning that you set them up once and they get sent out repeatedly until you cancel them. This can save you a lot of time in the long run.
If you want to create an end-of-week or end-of-month wrap up
If you post a lot of content, it can be difficult for your audience to keep up with. An end-of-week or end-of-month wrap up lets people see content they might have missed otherwise. You can also create separate lists for these wrap ups, giving people the option to choose how often they’ll hear from you.
How to create a latest post notifications email
To create one of these emails, go to the “Emails” area of MailPoet and click “New Email”, then choose “Latest post notification” from the options provided. This will open a page where you can select the schedule your latest post notification email will run on.
There are four scheduling choices for latest post notifications in MailPoet:
- Immediately. This option will notify subscribers every time a post is published. This is a great option for bloggers who post less than once a week or who post on a sporadic basis.
- Once a day at a specific time. This is broken up into hourly intervals. For example, you might set your post notifications to go out at 8AM every morning.
- Once a week. If you choose this option, you’ll also be able to select a weekday and a specific hour of the day for your email to go out. For example, you might choose to send your notifications at 8AM every Monday morning.
- Monthly on the… This option lets you select a specific date for your newsletter to go out each month. For example, you might choose to have these emails go out on the first day of every month.
- Monthly every… This option lets you send emails on a specific weekday each month. For example, you might send latest post notifications on the last Friday of every month.
Once you’ve selected a schedule, you’ll be able to go to the MailPoet template library, where you’ll find several templates for latest post notifications.
Choosing a template will take you to the editor, where you can alter the design and content of your email. If you’ve chosen a Post Notifications template, you’ll note that it’s automatically displaying your three most recent posts. This lets you see the email exactly as it will appear to readers, although the list of posts will obviously change each time the email is sent ou.
If you’ve chosen a different template, you’ll need to use the “Automatic Latest Content” module. You can find this in the sidebar on the right side of the editor.
You can use this module to add your latest posts to any email. You can also use this block to display recent pages, products, or media.
Clicking on the block opens customization settings in the sidebar editor. Here you’ll be able to specify how many pieces of content the block will show, what type of content it will use, and any categories or tags the block should specifically pull content from.
Note that in a “Latest Post Notifications” email, the automatic latest content widget will only display content not previously sent in other notifications. This means that if you send a monthly notification with a block set to display three posts but you’ve only published one post in the past month, it will only display the one post published since the last notification went out.
When you’re satisfied with the appearance of your post notifications, you can head to the activation area, triple-check that all of the information is correct, and schedule your latest post notifications!
Final advice on newsletters, welcome emails, and latest post notifications
The three main types of email in MailPoet all have their unique parameters and purpose:
- A newsletter is a one-time email that can be scheduled for a specific date and time. You can use this email type for sending event announcements, job postings, and any other one-time email you might need to send.
- A welcome email is an email sent out a specific number of hours, days, or weeks after someone subscribes to your list.
- A latest post notification is an email round-up of your most recent content. These emails can be sent immediately after content is published or on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule.
You can use these three email types for the vast majority of your email marketing campaigns.
If you sell products using WooCommerce, you may also want to check out our guide to WooCommerce emails.
