Perhaps I'm just too thick to notice. I want to send a regular newsletter to my members. I cannot find any method, nor any add-on, for creating a newsletter. The only thing I see is the "Mail All Members" function built in. But this does not have the ability to easily format the email.
I read somewhere about using a third party service like MailChimp. Does anyone know how to integrate an external service like Mailchimp with a socialengine website? I would hope there is a way to set them up so that MailChimp can access the membership list automatically when sending. Rather than downloading, then uploading the membership database each time I want to send an email newsletter.
Any other suggestions for creating, formatting and emailing a member newsletter?
Interesting plugin - it doesn't look like it has been updated for some time though. I wonder if they would be able to tie it into a CRM and also allow for CASL rules with opt-ins and unsubscribes on email
Hire-Experts "Newsletter Updates" plugin looks great, if it does what they claim. Now I just have to convince the Board to spend the little bit of cash.
On the Hire-Experts site where they describe the Newsletter Updates plugin, they had this to say about third-party integration:
Yes - SendGrid has been amazing for me, been with them for years and send tonnes of emails with them.
It would be an amazing plugin if it also tied into a few CRM API's such as AgileCRM (the one I use) so that you can really do some in depth marketing
I use Sendgrid for transactional and Mailchimp for newsletters. With that, I don't use an integration. I copy/paste the code from Mailchimp into a block (widget) and that lets users sign up for it themselves. This way, there is no question about whether they want newsletters or not.
I am sending to members. They pay money to be a part of the society and being part of the society involves receiving periodic emails to keep them up-to-date on what's happening in our discipline in Ontario.
Not wanting the newsletter is sort of like subscribing to a newspaper but not wanting it delivered to you.
That's great Donna but if there was a plugin out there that did that, tied into your CRM and kept track of mailing preferences from the site (marketing and updates not transactional) you would be able to really dig deep into internal marketing within your community.
@Opas - I am in Vancouver! Just make sure you are following CASL with proper opt-in for those that sign up. In the US the requirement is to be able to opt out in Canada you need to Verify opt in - most crm and mail services can handle this for ya.
ITLJames said:
That's great Donna but if there was a plugin out there that did that, tied into your CRM and kept track of mailing preferences from the site (marketing and updates not transactional) you would be able to really dig deep into internal marketing within your community.
@Opas - I am in Vancouver! Just make sure you are following CASL with proper opt-in for those that sign up. In the US the requirement is to be able to opt out in Canada you need to Verify opt in - most crm and mail services can handle this for ya.
For my personal sites, the less integrations the better. Each integration can introduce holes in security. That's always my main concern.
Hope it works out for you guys with yours though.
I specifically asked Hire-Experts about compatibility with the Newsletter Plugin with SE 4.09.04p4 (which I will remain on for a while) and SE 4.10.*, and they replied,'yes, our plugins are compatible with all SE versions.'
The Plugin allows importing of .csv files which is helpful. When sending a newsletter, you may optionally include these addresses (along with whatever filtered SE Users you wish). In addition, you may send to only the imported addresses, so it's very flexible on who to send to.
https://www.socialengine.com/marketplace/app/newsletter-updates-plugin
Just read the reviews and I am going to hold off until I see an update
Yikes - some negative reviews last year (2 by the same person) which is interesting because many prior were good. But it seems the primary issue is the outdated look, which has nothing to do with the functionality of the Plugin.
I can live with an outdated look (Users won't see it) and inability to include many 3PD content (my primary use is Newletters without SE content). I may risk it since I need something like this (I don't want to export/import into MailChimp (or similar) and don't want to get nailed extra fees for 'contacts'). I simply need a better way than what's available to send email/newsletter to Users and/or separate list from .csv file. The other 2 Plugins I have work well and support (what little I've needed) has been quick. And yes, those Plugins look a little outdated as well, but I can live with it for now. I'll update here after purchase/testing.
Thanks for taking it for a spin and reporting back!
An outdated look scares me though as it leads me to believe it will have outdated tech backing it up as well. And is the look only admin viewed or is that in the final product sent to clients...