This guide takes you from a fresh install to your first campaign. If you haven’t installed the plugin yet, start with the Installation page.
Step 1: Set your sender identity
Go to Send Emails → Settings and fill in:
- From name — the name subscribers see in their inbox (your brand or your own name).
- From email — the address your emails are sent from. Use an address on your own domain; free-mail addresses like Gmail hurt deliverability.
Save the settings. Every email the plugin sends will now use this identity.
Tip: If your emails land in spam or don’t arrive at all, the fix is almost always sending through SMTP or a dedicated service instead of your web server. Send Emails Pro adds SMTP plus presets for Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, and Postmark.
Step 2: Add your first contacts
You have three ways to build your list, and you can use all of them together:
- Add manually — go to Send Emails → Contacts and click Add Contact. Fill in the email (required) and any details you have — name, company, phone, country — and pick a subscription status.
- Import a CSV — if you’re moving from another tool, export your list there and import it under Contacts. The plugin auto-detects your columns and never creates duplicates. See Importing & Exporting Contacts.
- Connect a form — turn any form on your site into a signup form. See Form Integrations.
Step 3: Organize with tags
Tags are how you slice your list into audiences: newsletter, customers, webinar-2026, and so on. Create them under Send Emails → Tags, then assign them on the contact form, during CSV import, or automatically through form integrations and automations. Campaigns can target one or more tags, so a little tagging discipline now pays off every time you send. More in Tags.
Step 4: Send a test email
Before your first real campaign, confirm your site can actually deliver mail. Go to Send Emails → Compose, put your own address in To, write a short subject and message, and send. Check your inbox (and your spam folder). The result is recorded under Send Emails → Logs, including the exact error message if the send failed.
Step 5: Send your first campaign
- Go to Send Emails → Campaigns and click Add Campaign.
- Recipients: choose all subscribers or specific tags; the live count shows how many people will receive it.
- Content: write your subject and body. Use merge tags like
{{first_name}}for personalization — an unsubscribe link is appended automatically if you don’t place one yourself. - Review: send yourself a test, then send now or schedule for later.
Campaigns send in the background in batches, respecting the emails per hour limit in Settings, so a big send never times out or slows your site. Watch progress and per-campaign stats (sent, failed, opens, clicks) on the campaign itself.
Step 6: Put it on autopilot
Create your first automation under Send Emails → Automations — the classic starter is: form submitted → send welcome email → add tag. From there, you can build waits, tag-based branches by condition, and purchase follow-ups. See Automations.
Where to go next
- Dashboard — read your results.
- Email Logs & Tracking — enable open and click tracking.
- WooCommerce & EDD — connect your store.