=== Letterness - Newsletter Popup, Signup Forms & Built-in Email Sending ===
Contributors: kamrankazmi
Tags: newsletter, email marketing, popup, subscribe, email subscribers
Requires at least: 6.2
Tested up to: 7.0
Requires PHP: 7.4
Stable tag: 4.1.3
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Newsletter popup, signup forms and built-in email sending with automations, personalization and open and click analytics. Free and self-hosted.

== Description ==

**Letterness is a complete, free newsletter and email marketing plugin for WordPress.** Grow your email list with a beautiful newsletter popup and signup forms, then write and send newsletters to your subscribers straight from your dashboard, no third-party account, no monthly fee, and your subscriber list stays in your own database.

Letterness is designed, developed, and maintained by **Kamran Kazmi**, the creator and owner of the plugin.

Most newsletter plugins make you choose: a pretty opt-in popup from one plugin, sending from another service, automations behind a paywall. Letterness puts subscriber capture, email sending, automations, and analytics in one lightweight plugin, controlled from a single screen.

[Home & docs](https://kumailkazmi.com)

= Why choose Letterness? =

* **Free and self-hosted.** No SaaS account, no per-subscriber pricing, no sending caps beyond your own host.
* **All-in-one.** Capture, send, automate, and measure without stitching plugins together.
* **Lightweight and fast.** Front-end CSS and JavaScript load only on pages where they are actually needed, so your page speed stays intact.
* **Privacy-friendly.** Built-in consent capture, signed one-click unsubscribe, and analytics that store a hashed key instead of raw emails.
* **Works with your setup.** Any theme (classic or block), Gutenberg, Elementor, page caches, and any SMTP/ESP plugin.

= Capture subscribers three ways =

* A responsive **newsletter popup** with time-delay, scroll-depth, or exit-intent triggers.
* A **sidebar signup card** for any widget area or placed with a shortcode.
* A **subscribe button** for a theme menu, plus an **inline signup form** shortcode and a Gutenberg **form block**.

= Send newsletters from WordPress =

* Compose in the standard WordPress editor with **ten responsive email templates** (newsletter, blog digest, announcement, welcome, product, simple, minimal, magazine, holiday, featured).
* **Personalization merge tags** such as `{first_name|there}`, `{site_name}`, and `{unsubscribe_url}`, with fallbacks so blank values never look broken.
* Save drafts, **schedule** for later, or send now, with **throttled batch delivery** and live queue status (queued, processing, sent, failed).
* Sends through WordPress `wp_mail()`, so **any SMTP plugin** (WP Mail SMTP, FluentSMTP, Post SMTP, and others) works automatically.

= Automations =

* **Welcome email** when someone subscribes, immediately or after a delay you set.
* **New-post notifications** that email your subscribers when you publish, instantly or as a scheduled daily or weekly digest.

= Analytics =

* **Open and click tracking** per campaign: opens, unique opens, open rate, clicks, unique clicks, click rate, clicked links, and top link.
* A subscriber-growth chart and source breakdown for your list.

= Deliverability and compliance =

* **List-Unsubscribe** and one-click headers (RFC 8058) so Gmail and Yahoo show a native unsubscribe button.
* Visible unsubscribe link, a branded confirmation page, a re-subscribe option, and instant suppression.
* GDPR-style **consent** checkbox with your own text and privacy-policy link.

= Audience management =

* Lists, tags, and custom fields with bulk actions and filters.
* Subscriber statuses (active, pending, unsubscribed, bounced) and CSV export.

= Go further with Letterness Pro =

Everything above is free, with no locked features and no trial limits. If you want to grow faster, **[Letterness Pro](https://kumailkazmi.com/buy-letterness-pro/)** is a separate paid plugin that replaces the free one and keeps all your settings, subscribers and newsletters. It adds:

* **A/B testing** for popups and subject lines, so you can see what actually converts.
* **Advanced targeting and trigger rules** to show the right popup to the right visitor.
* **Multi-step and spin-to-win popups** for higher-converting offers.
* **Advanced automations and drip sequences** that go beyond a single welcome email.
* **Mailchimp, Brevo and CRM integrations** to sync your list with the tools you already use.
* **Conditional content and smart segments** for more relevant emails.
* **Priority support and premium templates.**

Plans start at $5 per month, or $50 per year for one site. [See the Pro features and plans](https://kumailkazmi.com/buy-letterness-pro/).

= Shortcodes =

* `[letterness_form]` - inline signup form.
* `[letterness_card]` - sidebar signup card.
* `[letterness_subscribe_button]` - subscribe button.

Letterness is built to be secure, accessible, translation-ready, and RTL-friendly. For the best inbox placement on larger lists, pair it with a free SMTP plugin.

== Installation ==

1. Upload the `letterness` folder to `/wp-content/plugins/`, or install through **Plugins > Add New** and search for "Letterness".
2. Activate the plugin through the **Plugins** screen.
3. Open **Letterness** in the admin menu to set up triggers, design, content, automations, and sending.
4. (Optional) Add the signup card under **Appearance > Widgets**, or place `[letterness_form]`, `[letterness_card]`, or `[letterness_subscribe_button]` anywhere.
5. (Recommended) Install a free SMTP plugin for reliable delivery.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Is Letterness really free? =

Yes. Every feature described here is free, subscriber capture, unlimited storage in your own database, newsletter sending, automations, and analytics. There is no per-subscriber pricing.

= Do I need a third-party email service like Mailchimp? =

No. Letterness stores subscribers in your own WordPress database and sends through `wp_mail()`. For higher deliverability on larger lists we recommend a free SMTP plugin such as WP Mail SMTP or FluentSMTP, which Letterness detects and uses automatically.

= Can I send a welcome email automatically? =

Yes. Turn on the welcome automation and choose to send immediately or after a delay in minutes, hours, or days.

= Can Letterness email my subscribers when I publish a new post? =

Yes. New-post notifications can send instantly on publish or collect posts into a scheduled daily or weekly digest, filtered by post type and category.

= Does it track opens and clicks? =

Yes. Each campaign shows opens, unique opens, open rate, clicks, unique clicks, click rate, and the most-clicked links. Open tracking relies on a tracking pixel and is approximate, since many email apps block or preload images; click tracking is exact.

= How do visitors unsubscribe? =

Every email has a visible, signed one-click unsubscribe link and standards-based List-Unsubscribe headers, so inbox providers can show a native unsubscribe button. Unsubscribing shows a confirmation page and immediately suppresses the address.

= Is it GDPR-friendly? =

Letterness includes an optional consent checkbox with your own wording and privacy-policy link, records consent, and never sells or shares data. Analytics store a one-way hash of the email rather than the address itself.

= Can I show a different design on mobile? =

Yes. Colors, image, shape, size, and animations each have an optional mobile override, so desktop and mobile can look completely different. One "size" control scales every element responsively.

= Does it work with block themes, Elementor, and page caches? =

Yes. The popup shows via JavaScript and the form block is server-rendered, so it works with classic and block themes, Elementor, Gutenberg, and caching plugins. Use the shortcodes or the block to place forms anywhere.

= Is the popup accessible? =

Yes. The popup is a keyboard-accessible dialog: focus moves into it on open and back on close, focus is trapped inside, Escape closes it, controls are labeled for screen readers, and reduced-motion and RTL are supported.

= Is there a Pro version? =

Yes. Letterness Pro is a separate paid plugin with A/B testing, advanced targeting, multi-step popups, drip sequences, integrations and priority support. The free plugin stays fully functional on its own. You can compare plans on the [Letterness Pro page](https://kumailkazmi.com/buy-letterness-pro/).

= What happens to my data when I uninstall? =

Nothing is deleted by default. Your subscribers, newsletters, analytics and settings stay in your database when you delete the plugin, so you can reinstall it or upgrade to Letterness Pro and pick up exactly where you left off. If you want a full clean-up, tick "Delete all Letterness data when the plugin is deleted" in Letterness > General before deleting. That removes the settings, the subscribers, newsletters and analytics tables, and any scheduled events, and it cannot be undone.

= Will I keep my subscribers if I upgrade to Letterness Pro, or go back to Free? =

Yes. Free and Pro use the same settings and the same subscriber, newsletter and analytics tables in your own database, so switching in either direction keeps everything. Pro-only data simply stays dormant while you are on Free and comes back if you upgrade again. Deleting Free while Pro is installed never removes your data.

== Screenshots ==

1. The newsletter popup on the front end with the signup form.
2. Independent desktop and mobile design controls with a live preview.
3. The newsletter composer with templates and personalization merge tags.
4. Automations: welcome email and new-post notifications.
5. Campaign analytics with open and click tracking.
6. Deliverability settings with SMTP status and the delivery queue.
7. The subscriber list with lists, tags, and CSV export.

== Changelog ==

= 4.1.3 =
* New: an optional "Powered by Letterness" credit on the popup, sidebar card and inline form. It is off by default and only appears if you turn it on in General & Triggers.
* New: a guided first-run setup wizard walks you through designing your popup, message, sidebar card, and sender, with a live preview, Skip and Continue controls, and a plan chooser at the end.
* New: Letterness Pro. A dedicated Pricing page compares Free and Pro with monthly ($5) and annual ($50) options.
* New: a subtle, dismissible upgrade hint on the main tabs so Pro is discoverable without getting in the way.
* Changed: default popup heading set during onboarding; all choices save automatically as you go.
* New: "Delete all Letterness data when the plugin is deleted" setting. It is off by default, so deleting or replacing the plugin keeps your subscribers, newsletters and settings.
* Improved: the uninstall cleanup now always keeps your data when Letterness Pro is installed, and removes every Letterness option and table when you do choose a full clean-up.
* Improved: Letterness and Letterness Pro can never run together. The free plugin steps aside safely when Pro is active, without touching your data.
* Fixed: scheduled newsletters are re-queued automatically if the plugin is deactivated and activated again.

= 4.1.2 =
* New: build newsletters faster by pasting an article URL, Letterness fetches the title, featured image, and summary and inserts a ready-made article block.
* New: set the popup background to a solid color or a gradient, with independent desktop and mobile controls.
* Improved: field labels now sit inside their inputs consistently (name and email both use in-field labels).
* Improved: cleaner popup header, the site name is centered and the placeholder icon was removed.
* Changed: the default popup heading is now "Join Newsletter" (fully editable as before).

= 4.1.1 =
* Fixed: shaped popups (circle, hexagon, octagon) now keep a fixed shape at every size and never distort, clip, or show a scrollbar.
* Fixed: popup content now scales to fit its shape, size, and device automatically, so every element stays responsive on desktop and mobile.
* Fixed: mobile popups are correctly sized to the viewport instead of overflowing.
* Author information updated.

= 4.1.0 =
* Design: independent desktop and mobile controls, popup shapes, and a single "size" control that scales every element responsively so shaped popups never clip.
* Targeting: show or hide by page, post type, category, URL, login state, and device.
* Consent and inline forms: consent capture, a `[letterness_form]` shortcode, and a Gutenberg form block.
* Audience: lists, tags, and custom fields with bulk actions and filters.
* Personalization: merge tags such as {first_name|there}, {site_name}, and {unsubscribe_url}, with fallbacks.
* Templates: ten responsive newsletter templates across common categories.
* Automations: welcome email (immediate or delayed) and new-post notifications (instant or digest) on a lightweight event/delay/action scheduler.
* Analytics: campaign open and click tracking with unique counts, rates, top links, and a per-campaign breakdown. Open tracking is approximate by nature.
* Deliverability: works with any SMTP/ESP plugin via wp_mail(), configurable batch throttling with queue states (queued, processing, sent, failed), Reply-To, and RFC 8058 List-Unsubscribe one-click headers.
* Unsubscribe: visible link, branded confirmation page, one-click support, re-subscribe option, and immediate suppression.
* Hardening: keyboard-accessible popup with focus management and Escape to close, reduced-motion and RTL support, conditional asset loading, and a full security pass (nonces, capabilities, prepared queries, escaping, signed tokens).

= 4.0.1 =
* Enqueued the preview highlight styles and script instead of printing them inline.
* Housekeeping and code-quality improvements.

= 4.0.0 =
* Public release on WordPress.org.
* Independent desktop and mobile design for the popup.
* Built-in newsletter composer with drafts, scheduling, and batched sending.
* Sidebar signup card, header subscribe button, and shortcodes.
* Secure token-based one-click unsubscribe.
* Subscriber CSV export.

== Upgrade Notice ==

= 4.1.3 =
Adds a guided first-run setup wizard, introduces Letterness Pro with a built-in pricing page, and keeps your data safe on uninstall (and when upgrading between Free and Pro).

= 4.1.2 =
Insert articles into newsletters by URL, set a solid or gradient popup background, cleaner in-field labels and centered header, plus a simpler default heading.

= 4.1.1 =
Fixes shaped popups so they never break, distort, or scroll at any size, and makes all popup content fully responsive across shapes and devices.

= 4.1.0 =
A major free upgrade: personalization, 10 templates, welcome and new-post automations, open and click analytics, SMTP-friendly throttled delivery, one-click unsubscribe headers, plus accessibility, RTL, and security hardening.

= 4.0.1 =
Code-quality improvements for the WordPress.org release.

= 4.0.0 =
Initial release.
