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Mailgun is one of the most popular SMTP services used on the internet that can take your email marketing to the next level and increase your conversion rate. This platform fully supports programming language. Thus, can be used by both developers and regular business owners who like to take their business to the next level and become more successful.
In this article, we would like to discuss how to install the Mailgun WordPress plugin.
What is the Mailgun WordPress Plugin?
Mailgun is a famous SMTP service used mostly by developers. It comes with a powerful API that makes sending, receiving and tracking transactional emails very easy. Mailgun works smoothly on any website. Whether its eCommerce, small businesses or even membership websites.
Mailgun is extremely powerful, supports testing mode, and works well with curl, Ruby, Python, PHP, Java, Go and C#. However, it is not as beginner-friendly as other SMTP service providers. The plugin comes with a few plans.
However, the free version allows you to send 10,000 emails for free, but if you are required to send more than that, then, you have to upgrade to their foundation package that starts at $35 per month.
Mailgun paid plans are fairly competitive in the market and they even offer a dedicated IP that comes with improved deliverability that starts at $79 per month.
How to Install the Mailgun WordPress Plugin?
Mailgun is a popular email service that ensures that your emails are delivered to their recipients. This plugin could be the starting point of your email marketing campaign.
Installing Mailgun is fairly simple. Although, it may take a little time. But if you follow the steps down below, it should take no time at all.
So, without further ado, let’s install the Mailgun WordPress plugin.
1. Create a Mailgun account
The very first step to installing this SMTP email service is to create an account on their website. Mailgun comes with a free plan that allows you to send 5000 emails per month. Should you exceed that number, you have to pay $0.80 every 1000 emails.
You can easily create an account with Mailgun on its official website. Once you have registered you will be redirected to the following page:
2. Add a Domain
As soon as you have registered an account with Mailgun you have to activate it before being able to add a domain to it. Or you have the option to use the default domain they provide to you. With the default domain, you can send up to 5000 emails each month.
Keep in mind, to add your own domain, you have to upgrade to one of the paid plans. To view all available domains, click on Sending > Domains.
3. Install and Configure the Plugin
The next step would be to install the Mailgun WordPress plugin in order to use this email provider’s services. Simply log in to your WordPress dashboard > Plugins > Add New > Mailgun:
Click on Install Now and then Activate. Once the plugin is activated it will appear under Settings > Mailgun, click on it to configure the plugin and start sending out emails.
In the configuration page, you can choose a region that you would like to send emails. Keep in mind, your region must be the same as your Mailgun domain. For example, if your Mailgun domain is set to US/North America you can’t set your Mailgun region to Europe, it has to be set to US/North America.
If you set Use HTTP API to No, the plugin begins to use SMTP. However, if you set it to Yes, it automatically assumes that your server cannot make outbound HTTP connection and that emails aren’t delivered.
In the Mailgun Domain Name, copy and paste your Mailgun domain name. It can be found in your Mailgun dashboard > Sending > Domains:
To get your Mailgun SMTP username and password head over to your Mailgun dashboard > Sending > Overview and click on SMTP:
Copy and paste your SMTP username and password into the plugin. The next step would be to change the Security Type to SSL. If you get any errors, simply tweak your settings. Use HTTP API and use Mailgun API given to you which can be found in your Mailgun dashboard > Overview > API:
That’s how you can install the Mailgun WordPress plugin and send SMTP emails.
Mailgun WordPress Plugin Alternatives
Mailgun is a complete email marketing platform built for developers. But what if you don’t have any programming knowledge and still need to use a great email marketing platform like Mailgun?
Let us introduce two Mailgun WordPress plugin alternatives that you can use without having any programming knowledge.
1. Sendinblue
Sendinblue is considered to be a complete SMS and marketing software designed for different businesses. Sendinblue has a WordPress plugin and it’s very easy to install Sendinblue WordPress plugin. This plugin comes with a lot of great features that allow you to create and customize your email templates before sending them out to your users.
This platform is available to users in both free and premium versions. The free version allows you to send up to 300 emails per day. However, these emails are branded by the Sendinblue platform.
If you would like to send emails under your website, you have to upgrade to the premium version which starts at only $25 per month. Furthermore, the premium version enables SMS marketing on your account.
2. Mailchimp for WordPress
When someone talks about email marketing in WordPress, the first name that pops up anywhere is Mailchimp. This plugin has over 1 million active installations and it’s fully compatible with the latest version of WordPress.
This plugin creates a bridge between your WordPress and the Mailchimp platform allowing you to use their services on your website. To use this platform, you need to create an account on their website and upgrade it to one of their paid plans.
This plugin comes with a lot of great features. For example, reports, user sync, styles builder, email notifications, etc.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed how to install the Mailgun WordPress plugin as well as how to configure it on your WordPress website. Mailgun is a powerful email marketing platform designed by developers. However, anyone can use this service. But at first, it may be difficult to use. So, we introduced two great Mailgun alternatives that you can use on your WordPress website.