Want to send an email blast to all of your registered WordPress users? Segmented email campaigns targeted to specific users can drive higher engagement, promote valuable site content, and encourage conversions. This expert guide covers everything you need to know – from choosing an SMTP provider to actually sending mail merges based on WordPress roles.
Key Reasons to Email Groups of Registered Users
Here are the top motivations for sending emails to all registered users:
- Promotions – Increase sales by offering discounts, coupons, and early access to products or content. Emails typically generate $38 in revenue for every $1 spent [1].
- Announcements – Build excitement and awareness for new site sections. Registered users have deeper investment.
- Direct Access – Email every author, editor or admin directly with key notifications rather than site-wide posts.
- Re-engagement – Bring back engaged subscribers, long-time members, repeat customers with tailored content.
Well-timed, personalized emails to valued user segments boost clicks, open rates, and conversions compared to one-size-fits-all blasting.
Ensure Emails Reliably Reach Inboxes
The worst outcome is spending time composing emails that recipients never see because they were incorrectly flagged as spam.
We strongly recommend configuring an SMTP mail delivery service before attempting to email all users. This prevents messages from getting stopped by spam filters or your hosting provider limits.
Popular WordPress SMTP plugins like WP Mail SMTP make the process easy by integrating third-party email services into your site.
Choosing an Email Provider
Here is a comparison of common SMTP solutions:
| Provider | Cost | Key Advantage |
|---|---|---|
| Sendinblue | Free 300/day, paid plans | Powerful email marketing and automation |
| Mailgun | First 10k emails free, paid plans | Great deliverability, built for developers |
| Gmail | Free | Familiar interface and contacts |
| SendLayer | Paid plans starting at $4.95/mo | Affordable pricing, generous sending limits |
| Amazon SES | First 62,000 emails are free per month | Built for high volume senders, scales eligibility |
Install Send Users Email Plugin
After configuring a mailer service, the next key step is installing the Send Users Email plugin:
- Go to Plugins > Add New
- Search for "Send Users Email"
- Install and Activate the plugin on your site
- Navigate to Email to users > Email Roles in your WordPress dashboard.
Send Users Email integrates with your registered users and roles, giving you the interface needed to segment and email users.
Segment and Email Based on User Role
The Email Roles section is perfect for sending targeted emails just to users matching a certain WordPress role. Common roles include:
- Admin – Site owners and managers
- Editor – Creates and edits all types of content
- Author – Permissions to publish blog posts
- Contributor – Can write and edit their own posts
- Customer – eCommerce shoppers
- Subscriber – Site followers who sign up via comment or form
For example, email just Authors about writing deadlines or email Admins and Editors about planned site maintenance.
The Send Users Email plugin simplifies composing one message then segmenting by picking recipient roles:
Take advantage of handy placeholders like {{user_first_name}} to include personal details pulled from user accounts. After composing, click Send Message and all matching users will receive the email.
Email Specific Registered Users
Alternatively, you can navigate to Email to users > Email Users to target emails to specific users only:
Manually check the box for particular usernames you wish to email together. You‘ll have access to the same templating system with merge tags when composing your message before sending.
Best Practices for Emailing Groups of Registered Users
When sending bulk emails or messaging groups of registered users, keep these expert guidelines in mind:
- Carefully review WordPress user roles and permissions before hitting send. You may wish to tighten up role definitions first via User Role Editor.
- Schedule email blasts for optimal timing. Mid-week around 10 AM tend to see high open rates [2]. Spread out notifications over days to avoid overwhelming users.
- Personalize whenever possible by beginning _"Hi {{user_firstname}}" and integrating other merge tags for customization.
- Always comply with email regulations like GDPR and CASL requiring opt-in consent, addressing unsubscribes.
- Track open and click rates using SMTP solutions like Sendinblue to optimize future sending.
Let us know if you have any other questions about emailing groups of WordPress user accounts!
References
[1] Campaign Monitor, "What is a good open rate?", 2022[2] CoSchedule Blog, "Best Time to Send Emails", 2022
