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Beginner’s Guide to WordPress Email Marketing Automation
Do you want to learn about WordPress email marketing automation?
Email marketing automation in WordPress allows you to save time by automating tasks, creating drip emails, and using tools to grow your email list.
In this beginner’s guide, we’ll walk you through WordPress email marketing automation with tips, tricks, and tools that you can use.
What is Email Marketing Automation in WordPress?
Email marketing automation is a marketing technique that allows businesses to send pre-written emails automatically when user activity matches a trigger.
For instance, you can send an automated email when a new user registers on your website or signs up for your email list.
Instead of manually writing emails, you only write them once and set up triggers. After that, when a trigger is matched, the email goes to the user automatically without you taking any action.
80% of businesses that utilize email marketing use automated emails.
Not only does it save time, but it also improves the effectiveness of your emails. You can use automation to send personalized emails based on user activity, which is proven to be 320% more effective.
Here are some more examples of when you can use automated emails to boost your business.
- Send an email when a user completes a purchase.
- Send notification emails when a new post is published.
- When a user abandons a shopping cart, send a reminder.
- Sending drip email campaigns to specific users.
We will be going over a lot of topics in this guide, so you can jump to any of them by clicking one of the links below.
Why Automate WordPress Email Marketing?
Automating your WordPress email marketing allows you to be more efficient and effective. Following are some of the top reasons that make email automation compulsory for your marketing strategy.
Automation Saves Time by Reducing Repetitive Tasks
By applying email automation, you can reduce the repetitive manual tasks, saving you time that you can spend on growing your business.
Instead of writing emails and manually sending them, you can write your emails once and then set up triggers to automatically send to your users.
Makes Your Emails More Personalized
Email marketing automation also lets you make your emails more personalized for each user.
Instead of sending the same email to each user, you can send them more relevant messages based on their activity on your WordPress website.
Personalized automated emails have a much higher open rate of 70.2% and have 152% higher click-through rate than manually sent and non-personalized emails.
Email providers like Constant Contact use merge tags so that you customize emails to use the person’s first name, for example. This can make them more likely to open the email than if it were addressed to the overall list.
Convert Leads into Customers and Boost Sales
Don’t let customers and potential leads wait for a reply to hit their inbox. You can set up automated emails to let customers know that you got their information and will get back to them.
For instance, you can send an automated email to users who fill out the contact form on your website. By setting up a simple automation to send a confirmation message, you can build trust with your visitors.
Similarly, you can set up automated emails for users who sign up or fill out a form on specific landing pages on your website.
You can reach out to customers who abandoned carts on your online store and convert them into customers.
Offer discounts to customers on special occasions like holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, and more.
Using automation, you can set up email drip campaigns to stay in touch with users and create personalized email marketing funnels that drive more sales.
Let’s look at how to apply email marketing automation on your WordPress website and what tools you’ll need to do that.
How to Set up Email Marketing Automation in WordPress
There are multiple ways to set up email marketing automation in WordPress.
You can combine different tools and platforms to maximize the effectiveness of your email campaigns.
Let’s look at the best ways to set up automated emails on your WordPress website.
Make Sure Your WordPress Emails Can be Delivered
First, you would want to ensure that the emails sent from your WordPress website aren’t in the spam folder.
You need to use SMTP to send out your emails to ensure that.
SMTP (Secure Mail Transfer Protocol) is the industry standard for sending emails. It uses proper authentication (username and password) to ensure that an authorized sender sends emails.
This is where you’ll need WP Mail SMTP.
It is the best WordPress SMTP plugin on the market and enables you to easily send WordPress emails using SMTP.
Note: There is also a free version of WP Mail SMTP, which is fully functional and works with any SMTP or email service provider.
For details, see our article on how to set up WP Mail SMTP with any host or SMTP service.
Choose an SMTP Email Service Provider for Transactional Emails
Transactional emails are messages sent to users as part of their interaction with your website, such as registration confirmation or online store receipts.
Remember, transactional emails are not handled by an email marketing service MailChimp, as they are not part of marketing campaigns, promos, or newsletters.
For example, when new users make an account on your website, they are sent an email to verify their email address and set a password. This is a transactional email.
Similarly, a WooCommerce store may send users their order details and shipping notifications.
PRO TIP: You can use a business email address to send these emails to avoid being sorted into your customers’ junk mail or spam folders.
However, some business email service providers don’t allow you to send many emails and may flag your account for misusing the service.
For that reason, you need to sign up for a transactional email service provider to ensure email deliverability for those essential email messages.
We recommend using SendLayer. It is the best SMTP service provider for WordPress and WooCommerce users.
SendLayer specializes in sending transactional emails at scale with high deliverability.
You can connect to SendLayer API using the WP Mail SMTP plugin, which comes with built-in integration so the two can work together seamlessly.
Once connected, all your WordPress emails will be sent using SendLayer API, ensuring higher delivery and scalability for your transactional email messages.
Now that you have ensured that your WordPress emails are delivered to the user’s inbox. Let’s look at the best email marketing automation tools you can use with WordPress.
1. Sending Automated Emails via Constant Contact
An email marketing platform allows you to send your users promotional and marketing email messages.
There are a ton of email marketing services out there, but not all of them have email marketing automation features.
We recommend using Constant Contact. It is one of the best email marketing services for small businesses.
It comes with professionally made email templates, email list growth tools, customer segmentation, and powerful marketing automation tools.
You can also set up drip campaigns to automatically send out emails to your users with a pre-scheduled frequency.
This allows you to onboard new customers and drive them to conversions without doing any manual work.
To get started, visit the Constant Contact website to sign up.
Once you have signed up, follow the instructions in our article on how to create an email newsletter to set up your first email list.
After creating your email list, you can set up your automation campaigns by visiting the Campaigns page and clicking on the ‘Create’ button.
This will bring up a popup where you can select from different campaign types.
Click on Email Automation to continue.
From here, you can select single-step automation or multi-step automation.
Single-step automation sends just a single email, such as a welcome email.
Multi-step automation lets you create a series of emails that are automatically sent to your subscribers. This way, you can let them know about your products and services, send special offers, and more.
In this tutorial, you’ll create a multi-step automation for when new subscribers join your email list. Go ahead and select the ‘A contact joins a list’ option.
Next, you will have to enter a name for your campaign.
Make sure you click the ‘Save’ button.
Constant Contact will then ask you what activity will trigger the email.
For instance, the drip series is automatically triggered when a user joins your email list, opens an email, clicks a link, or buys a product.
You can use the default ‘Contact joins a list’ option as the trigger type. Then you can choose the email list you created earlier.
Go ahead and click the ‘Save’ button when you’re done.
Creating Emails for Your Drip Campaign
Now that you have set up the campaign, you can start adding emails you want to send.
Simply click on the Create New Email button to write your first email.
This will bring up the email wizard where you can select a template, write your email, and save it.
Follow the on-screen instructions to write your email. After that, you can select the time delay between emails by clicking on the Edit link above the saved email.
Repeat the process to create more emails by clicking on the Add to Series button at the bottom.
For more details, see our complete tutorial on how to send automated drip notifications in WordPress.
You can also learn how to send automated emails in WordPress.
2. Automate WooCommerce Emails Using FunnelKit Automations
Automation is the easiest way to boost sales on your eCommerce store.
If you run a WooCommerce store, your customers will receive different transactional emails.
These help them get order confirmations, track their order status, get invoices, and find more information about your online store.
You can customize and automate these emails or create new campaigns using FunnelKit Automations, a popular WooCommerce plugin for marketing automation. It is a sister product to FunnelKit (formerly WooFunnels), a powerful sales funnel builder for WooCommerce.
FunnelKit Automations is the must-have toolkit for any WooCommerce store, membership website, or other businesses.
It allows you to automate lead generation, manage contacts, and recover abandoned carts. This helps you boost productivity and sales for your business.
First, you need to install and activate the FunnelKit Automations plugin. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Once you have activated the plugin, go to the FunnelKit Automations » Automations (Next Gen) page and click on the Add New Automation button.
Next, the plugin will ask you to choose a template.
These templates are pre-made automation for the most popular campaigns. You can also start from scratch if you want.
For the sake of this tutorial, we will be using the ‘Post-Purchase sequence’ template.
Click on the template to open and preview it.
You’ll see this automation’s trigger, delay, and action on the preview screen.
It may not be exactly what you have in mind. For instance, you may want to run this automation for purchases above a certain amount.
Don’t worry. You’ll be able to edit it as much as you like later.
For now, click on the Import button at the top right corner of the screen to start using this template.
You will be asked to provide a name for this automation. You can enter anything that helps you easily identify it and click the Create button.
FunnelKit will now import the template and open it in the automation editor.
You’ll see the trigger that will launch this automation at the top. Followed by the delay and the action it will perform.
You can click the Add (+) button between these steps to add a condition, delay, goal, action, jump, or exit the automation.
Don’t forget to edit the Action step. For this campaign, the action is to send an email to the user.
Click on the ‘Action,’ and it will open up. From here, you can edit the email you’ll send to the user.
You can use Merge Tags to add dynamic elements to your email message.
Once you are finished editing, click on the Save and Close button to exit the action editor.
Finally, click on the toggle at the top to switch from Inactive to Active. This will activate the automation on your website.
Feel free to create as many automations as you need.
FunnelKit works with all essential WordPress plugins. Plus, you can connect it to Zapier and perform actions on more than 5000+ other web apps.
3. Automate WordPress / WooCommerce Emails Using Uncanny Automator
Research shows that users are more likely to engage with a marketing email when it is personalized and timely.
You can automate this by sending users targeted messages based on their activity on your WordPress website.
For instance, you can recommend products to customers who have ordered a specific product.
Now, what if you also wanted to create a one-time coupon for that customer, send customer data to your CRM, or remind a sales staff to give them a call?
This is where Uncanny Automator comes in.
It is one of the best WordPress automation plugins, allowing you to create automated workflows for your WordPress website.
It works with popular email marketing platforms, WordPress contact form plugins, eCommerce platforms, and more.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the free Uncanny Automator plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, head over to the Automator » Add New page to create your first recipe.
In this tutorial, we’ll send an automated email to WooCommerce customers who have placed an order, asking them to leave a review.
You’ll be asked to select which type of recipe you want to create. You should choose ‘Logged-in users’ and then click the ‘Confirm’ button.
This will bring you to the Edit recipe page.
First, provide a title for your recipe. It could be anything that helps you identify this recipe.
Next, you need to choose an integration where your trigger will run. Depending on the plugins installed on your website, this list may change.
Select WooCommerce to continue.
The Automator will now show you a bunch of WooCommerce triggers that you can use to launch your recipe.
For the sake of this tutorial, we’ll be using ‘A user completes, pays for, lands on a thank you page for an order with a product.’
After choosing a trigger, you can click on the highlighted conditions to change them if needed.
For instance, instead of all products, you can click on ‘a product’ to choose a specific product
Once you are finished, click on the Add Trigger button.
Next, you will create an action. This is the task that you want to perform as the result of the trigger you set above.
Clicking on Action will show you a bunch of integrations that you can use. For the sake of this tutorial, we’ll be using the ‘Emails’ integration.
Next, it will show you the actions you can perform for your selected Integration.
Since we selected Emails, there is only one action available which is to send an email.
This will bring up the email editor.
From here, you can fill out all the fields like the ‘from’ address, recipient email address, subject, and more.
Click on the star (*) next to a field to insert a dynamic value.
For instance, you can add the customer’s billing email for the ‘To’ field, use the product title in the subject, or use the customer’s name to greet them.
Want to add a delay between the trigger and the action?
Click on the Delay button at the top of the action.
After that, you can choose a delay time.
For the sake of this tutorial, we are setting the delay to 1 week (7 days).
Setting a delay makes your email more effective.
For instance, in this scenario, you would want to set enough delay to ship the product and give the customer a couple of days to try it out.
Once you are satisfied with your recipe, don’t forget to switch to the ‘Draft’ toggle to ‘Live.’
Your recipe is live and will run the next time a customer purchases.
To learn more about the Uncanny Automator and all the cool things you can do with it, see our tutorial on how to create automated workflows for your WordPress website.
Ideas for Email Marketing Automation with Examples
Wondering how best to use email marketing automation on your WordPress website? Following are some examples of automated emails that can give you ideas for your own emails.
1. Automated Welcome Email Example
You can send an automated welcome email to new customers or users who sign up for your mailing list.
Here is how MonsterInsights, a popular WordPress plugin, welcomes new users.
Not only does the email greet users, but it also points them to make the best out of their purchase with helpful links.
2. Automated Abandoned Cart Email Example
Did you know that over 60-80% of the users who add products to their carts don’t complete the purchase?
This phenomenon is called abandoned cart sales. It shows that users are interested in the product, but something prevents them from placing the order.
Here is an example of an abandoned cart email from Pacsun. It uses urgency by mentioning that the products may run out of stock.
According to OptinMonster, abandoned cart emails have about twice the open-rate of traditional marketing emails.
3. Automated Sale Email Based on User Interest
Another common type is the automated sale emails sent to the users based on their interests.
Here is an example from the Emirates informing users about more choices that they can avail.
4. Automatically Send Win Back Emails
You can schedule automated emails to users who haven’t logged in or made another purchase.
Here is an example from Buffer. Notice how they inform users what new features users are missing out on.
We hope this article helped you learn about WordPress email marketing automation and how to use it to grow your business.
You may also want to see our pick of the best WordPress coupon code plugins or see our guide on how to grow your business online with practical tips.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
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These Best 5 Open Source Ecommerce Options Are Winning in 2024
While popular selling platforms like Shopify help business owners get up and running quickly, they can also come with limitations because of their proprietary nature. For those looking for more customization and control over their online store, open source ecommerce platforms are the way to go.
But it takes a lot of time to develop or migrate an online shop. So it’s important that you choose the right platform for your business. Here are five popular open-source ecommerce selections that are ideal for entrepreneurs and businesses looking for more freedom and flexibility.
5 Best Open Source Ecommerce Options for Entrepreneurs
As an ecommerce shop owner, I know the frustration of not being able to integrate my CRM or email marketing software into a proprietary platform. These restrictions, on top of often higher overall costs, make closed-source ecommerce less appealing.
When you embrace open-source ecommerce, you’ll have a lot more control over your store. And the ambitious can even build stand-out features that help differentiate your store from the competition.
These five options each offer a robust set of features, a large community of contributors, and extensive documentation that can help in setting up and customizing your store. And I’ve noted where a program stands out from the pack in case you need a specific feature for your business.
1. WooCommerce: User-Friendly Option for WordPress Users
Built as a plugin for WordPress, WooCommerce benefits from the same open-source principles that define WordPress itself. This means that users have complete access to the source code. The program has the second largest market share
among ecommerce platforms, second to Shopify.
WooCommerce gives users control over:
- Product Management: Users can easily add, manage, and categorize products, including setting prices, descriptions, and images.
- Customizable Themes: WooCommerce supports various customizable themes, allowing for a tailored look and feel to match the brand’s aesthetics.
- Payment Gateways: The platform supports various payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and many others, facilitating smooth transactions.
- Extensions and Plugins: A wide range of extensions and plugins are available to enhance functionality. This includes cart abandonment tools, SEO optimization, and more.
- Analytics and Reporting: Built-in analytics tools provide insights into sales, customer behaviors, and product performance.
With a large community of developers, users can access support and resources for any issues or customization needs they may have. Woocommerce also offers a free resource library to help those new to open soure ecommerce get started.
If you’re considering this platform, check out our comprehensive Woocommerce review for more details.
Pricing: WooCommerce is a free plugin, but users may need to pay for additional extensions and themes. There are also costs associated with hosting and domain registration for your WordPress site.
2. Prestashop: Thousands of Customizable Modules
PrestaShop is a powerful open-source ecommerce platform used by over 290,000 websites. Its standout feature is its customizable modules, which are available in the PrestaShop marketplace for free or at a reasonable price. This helps newer open source shop users bootstrap their way to a well-developed online storefront.
Customizations not only include design and performance enhancements but also integrations with various third-party services.
A few helpful features include:
- Out-of-Stock Message Customization: Personalize notifications to keep customers informed.
- Multi-Currency and Multi-Language Support: Easily reach global markets.
- GDPR Compliance Tools: Simplify regulatory compliance.
- Discount Codes and Limited-Time Offers: Enhance promotions to drive sales.
- Facebook and Instagram Integrations: Increase visibility and engagement on social media.
PrestaShop is ideal for startups and small businesses needing a scalable, feature-rich ecommerce solution. Boutique apparel shops can customize their brand features, niche food retailers can use discount codes for seasonal sales, and accessory businesses benefit from multi-currency support. It’s a great catch-all program for a variety of small to medium businesses.
Pricing: While Prestashop and many of it’s modules are free, there are also several paid add-ons that range in price, alongside hosting costs.
3. Adobe Commerce (Formerly Magneto): Best for Large Inventories
Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento), part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, is a headless ecommerce platform powering over 250,000 large online stores, including HP. It manages big inventories and high traffic well, so if you have a lot of products in your catalog, it may be a good choice for your team.
With many plugin options, you can build landing pages, manage inventory, and grow your store. Adobe Commerce also offers:
- Scalability: Handles many products and transactions.
- 24/7 Support: Help is always available.
- Extensions: Over 400 plugins for ads, email marketing, CRM, SEO/SEM.
- Integrations: Connects with other systems and POS for in-store sales.
- SEO Tools: Improves search engine rankings for various ecommerce niches.
- Analytics Dashboard: Built-in tools for data insights.
- Customization: Drag-and-drop builder, nine free themes, personalization editor.
Adobe Commerce is great for big businesses wanting a flexible, developer-friendly platform that can handle large inventories and perform well. It’s also great for B2B companies offering specific features like the ability to manage company accounts, create special catalogs, and allow purchase orders and quotes.
Pricing: Adobe Commerce is free, with Adobe Commerce Pro and customized management available in personally quoted paid plans.
4. OpenCart: Great for Multi-Store Management
OpenCart is a popular open-source ecommerce platform for multi-store management, allowing you to control several stores from one interface. It combines the functionality of Adobe Commerce with the ease of use of WooCommerce, making it perfect for small and medium-sized direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands.
- Affiliate Marketing Module: Create custom programs without third-party add-ons.
- Rewards Program Tool: Boost customer loyalty and encourage repeat purchases.
- Templates and Extensions: Choose from over 1,000 templates and 13,000+ add-ons.
- Admin Dashboard: Quick overview of key features for seamless management.
- Mobile Management: Use the mobile app to manage your store on the go.
Used by over 400,000 website owners worldwide, including Red Cross UK, OpenCart offers powerful marketing tools and a user-friendly setup. OpenCart does lack low-stock alerts and specialized multi-source inventory support. Still, it’s an excellent option for DTC brands looking for a versatile and scalable ecommerce platform.
Pricing: OpenCart is free to use, not including hosting fees.
5. Shopware: Best for Advanced Automation Features
Shopware’s advanced automation features make for efficient workflows for ecommerce teams. This German open source ecommerce platform, founded in 2000, combines Symfony on the backend and Vue.js on the front end. It has a large developer community and 100,000+ customers worldwide, including brands like Aston Martin and M&Ms.
- Integrated CMS Capabilities: Similar to Drupal, it offers robust content management.
- Customization: Drag-and-drop interface makes store customization easy.
- SEO and Marketing Tools: Built-in tools to enhance search engine visibility and marketing efforts.
- Extensions: Access over 4,000 extensions for added functionality.
- Hosting Options: Choose between self-hosted or cloud-hosted variations.
While the free version of Shopware offers limited functionality, the platform includes extensive features suitable for both market and enterprise brands. Note that customer support requires an additional subscription.
Pricing: Shopware’s community edition is free to use, with enterprise plans at $600 a month, or dependent on custom pricing.
Understanding the Costs associated with Open Source
While open source ecommerce platforms like WooCommerce are free to download and use, there are still costs associated with building and maintaining an online store. These costs include web hosting, domain registration, payment gateway fees, and potentially hiring a developer for any customization needs.
Thankfully, these expenses are typically much lower than the monthly subscription fees of proprietary ecommerce solutions. Plus, open source platforms often have active support communities that can help onboard new users.
Benefits of Open Source Ecommerce Platforms
Here are a few reasons you may want to choose an open-source platform for your online shop:
Cost-Effective for Entrepreneurs on a Budget
While initial costs like web hosting, domain registration, and plugins may come into play, they’re often cheaper than the subscription fees of proprietary platforms. And if you put in the sweat equity and are comfortable with technology, you can set up shop without the expense of a developer.
More Customizable for Code-Savvy Business Owners
For those who have coding skills or can hire a development team, an open-source ecommerce platform can offer unparalleled levels of customization. You have control over:
- Design: Open-source platforms offer more flexibility in terms of design, allowing you to create a unique brand experience for your customers.
- Features and Functionality: Since the source code is available, developers can create custom features and functionalities to meet specific business needs.
- Integrations with Third-Party Tools: With open access to the platform’s code, it’s easier to integrate third-party tools like CRMs or email marketing software into your online store.
This can be an advantage over proprietary platforms that may not have open APIs or adequate integration options.
Community Support and Constant Development
Open source platforms thrive on their vibrant communities consisting of developers, designers, and users who continually contribute to their improvement. This collective effort ensures that these platforms are inherently more secure, regularly updated, and packed with the latest features.
When a Closed Source Option is Best
These open-source Shopify alternatives aren’t always the right choice for everyone. Here are a few instances where opting for a closed-source solution may be advantageous:
Ease of Use for Non-Technical Business Owners
Don’t know how to code or have the budget for a developer? A proprietary solution may be the best option, as it typically comes with user-friendly interfaces and templates that can be easily customized without coding knowledge.
Quick Launch Time
If you’re looking to get your online store up and running quickly, a closed-source platform may be the way to go. Since they come with pre-built templates and features, they require minimal setup time compared to open-source platforms, where customization can take longer.
Well-Rounded Security and Stability
While open-source platforms have a strong community and regular updates, if security is your top concern, a closed-source solution may be worth the investment. These platforms often have dedicated teams working on security and ensuring stability for their users.
Best Closed-Source Ecommerce Solutions
When considering a closed-source ecommerce solution, the following platforms are some of the best options available:
- Shopify: Known for its simplicity and robust feature set, Shopify is a preferred choice for many due to its ease of use, customization options, and extensive app store. It’s suitable for businesses of all sizes and offers a variety of plans to meet different needs. Check out these Shopify success stories to see how the platform may benefit you.
- Squarespace: Primarily famous for its stunning design templates and user-friendly interface, Squarespace is ideal for those who prioritize aesthetics and simplicity. It includes built-in ecommerce tools and integrations, making it a great choice for small to medium-sized businesses looking to create a visually appealing online store quickly.
These are the two main players in the industry, with well-vetted reviews and longstanding consistency in the ecommerce market.
Final Thoughts: Open Source Ecommerce Platforms
Open-source ecommerce platforms are great options for lean-budgeted, tech-savvy entrepreneurs looking for full creative control. While you can expect to pay for hosting at a minimum and may need to hire a developer for advanced customization, the overall costs are still significantly lower than using a closed-source platform.
Ultimately, the best ecommerce platform for your business will depend on your specific needs and priorities. Consider your budget, technical capabilities, desired features, and long-term goals when deciding between open source.
And finally, make sure to do your research and choose a reputable platform with strong community support for the best possible experience. The 5 above options perform great, but there are always new contenders on the market.
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HostGator Review: A Simple Host for Simple Sites
Pros
- Easy setup
- Extra tools for WordPress users
- DDoS protection included with all plans
Cons
- Inconsistent, frequently poor, customer service, especially for complex issues
- Low storage amounts on shared hosting plans
HostGator is a popular hosting company that currently powers over 707,000 websites. HostGator offers hosting packages for websites of all shapes and sizes, ranging from shared hosting to dedicated hosting.
I signed up for a HostGator plan and thoroughly reviewed HostGator’s plans, pricing, functionality and security. I also reached out to customer service to establish how effective HostGator’s live chat, email and phone teams are. You can learn more about the process I’ve used for reviewing and testing HostGator by reading how we test web hosting services.
Overall, I found HostGator’s service acceptable for basic websites, especially sites with a North American audience. The tools are easy to use and the performance is decent. Site speed varies a lot by region and isn’t great outside of North America. There are also issues with customer service, so I don’t recommend HostGator for a site with complex needs.
HostGator plans and pricing: You can find the type of hosting to fit your needs and budget
HostGator offers several types of web hosting: web (shared) hosting, WordPress hosting, e-commerce hosting, virtual private server hosting, dedicated hosting and reseller hosting.
Here’s a quick overview of HostGator’s plans for each type of web hosting:
| Hosting type | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Shared hosting | Blogs, for-fun hobby sites and small business websites | $3.75-6.25 a month, renews at $10-20 a month |
| WordPress hosting | Users starting a blog, for-fun hobby site or small business website on WordPress | $4.50-14 a month, renews at $15-27 a month |
| eCommerce hosting | Online stores built with WordPress | $10-13 a month, renews at $25-40 a month |
| VPS hosting | Medium-to-large business websites or sites with complex data needs | Starts at $37-96 a month, renews at $86-149 a month |
| Dedicated hosting | Large business websites or sites with complex data/server customization needs | Starts at $92-142 a month, renews at $182-291 a month |
Shared hosting is the best option for most first-time site owners so I’ll explore those plans in detail and share some brief information about the other types of hosting packages HostGator offers. Reseller plans aren’t covered here, as those plans are intended for users who want to create a hosting company, not regular website creators.
All prices listed here are based on a three-year term, as those plans offer the steepest discounts.
Shared hosting plans
Shared hosting — referred to by HostGator simply as “web hosting” — is designed for sites with low data storage and traffic needs. Sites on these plans are placed on servers shared with hundreds of other sites, sharing resources like processing power and bandwidth.
All HostGator shared hosting plans include:
- Pre-installed WordPress
- Free domain for the first year
- SSL certification for the first year
- Unmetered bandwidth
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- 24/7 customer support via live chat
- Basic email hosting for one account
The table below provides a detailed explanation of the HostGator shared hosting plans, with cost based on purchasing a three-year plan.
I was particularly pleased to see that the Baby and Business plans both offer a content delivery network, which uses interconnected servers to store data in caches all over the world so visitors’ browsers can quickly pull data from the cache closest to them. Both of these plans also provide a small amount of dedicated resources, such as bandwidth, via virtual central processing units.
| Plan name | Storage | Security features | Additional features | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hatchling | 10GB SSD | N/A | N/A | $3.75 a month for first term, $10 a month on renewal |
| Baby | 20GB SSD | Malware scanning | CDN, 2vCPUs | $4.50 a month for first term, $15 a month on renewal |
| Business | 50GB SSD | Malware scanning, daily backups and domain privacy | CDN, 3 vCPUs | $6.25 a month for first term, $20 a month on renewal |
WordPress hosting plans
WordPress hosting through HostGator is shared hosting with pre-installed WordPress — a popular content management system, or CMS, for managing content like blog posts — and multiple virtual central processing units — CPUs — to boost performance. You’ll be responsible for maintaining and updating the WordPress software, including themes and plugins, yourself.
The Baby WordPress hosting plan is the most affordable option for this type of hosting, starting at $4.50 a month and renewing at $15 a month. The most expensive option for HostGator WordPress hosting is the Pro Plan, starting at $14 a month and renewing at $27 a month.
eCommerce hosting
HostGator also offers advanced WordPress hosting with everything you’ll need to start an online store, including the Yoast SEO plugins. Several YITH plugins — independent tools created for the e-commerce plugin WooCommerce — are also included for booking and appointments, gift cards and wishlist creation. These plans are managed, so WordPress updates and daily backups will be conducted for you.
The Online Store plan starts at $10 a month and renews at $25 a month. The Online Store + Marketplace plan starts at $13 a month and renews at $40 a month.
VPS hosting
Virtual private server hosting or VPS hosting gives you access to a virtual server with dedicated resources, such as bandwidth and processing power. The lowest-tier HostGator VPS plan includes 120GB of solid-state drive — SSD — storage and two-core CPUs.
The most affordable HostGator VPS hosting package is Snappy 2000, starting at $37 per month and renewing at $86. Snappy 8000 sits at the other end of the price range, starting at $96 a month and renewing at $149.
Dedicated hosting
Dedicated hosting gives you an entire physical server. You can use all of its storage — starting at 1TB HDD or 512GB SSD — bandwidth and processing power. You’ll also get full control over your server’s digital configuration.
Value Server is the most affordable HostGator dedicated hosting plan, starting at $92 and renewing at $182 a month. Enterprise Server is the most expensive option, starting at $142 a month and renewing at $291 a month.
HostGator ease of use: One of the most user-friendly web hosts
Now that we’ve explored the hosting packages, it’s time to look at what happens after you’ve selected a plan. I used the Hatchling plan for this part of my HostGator review and examined three aspects of using HostGator: purchase process, account management and website and server management.
Purchase process
Buying a plan from HostGator is remarkably easy. You can enter your domain, HostGator account credentials and billing information all on the same page.
There are a couple of things I dislike about the purchase process. The first issue is that you don’t see renewal pricing on the plans page; it’s found instead in small text under your term length on the purchase page. This renewal cost is easily overlooked if you’re in a hurry to buy your plan.
The other issue is in the Add Additional Services area. Nearly every web host offers some upsells during the checkout process, but HostGator automatically signs you up for the SiteLock Essentials service.
SiteLock Essentials is highlighted to stand out when you’re scrolling, but I dislike automatically opting users into extra services. Moreover, this add-on comes with its own renewal pricing, jumping from $35.88 to $95.88 a year and it’s billed annually even if you choose a three-year hosting plan.
Account management
When I entered my HostGator account for the first time, I had the opportunity to create a PIN to verify my account ownership during customer service interactions. A personal identification number is a great security measure, except it didn’t work on my first attempt:
I was able to move on to the account dashboard without creating my PIN but I received a warning that I could only skip creating a PIN four times. This was concerning, especially since the error wasn’t my fault. Thankfully, I managed to create a PIN on the third attempt.
I liked what I saw once I got into the HostGator account dashboard. The dashboard is easy to navigate, and there’s a guided tour to help you understand what (and where) the important areas are.
Billing and account management is accessed through a drop-down menu connected to the profile image in the top right corner. I’d have preferred these areas to be more visible, but this is a common placement for account management links, so I can’t fault HostGator for it.
There’s one big downside to HostGator’s account management area: Every time I logged in after the first time, HostGator redirected me to a page trying to convince me to buy backups through the WordPress plugin Jetpack. Jetpack is great, but I don’t appreciate being sent to a purchase page before accessing my account dashboard.
Website and server management
Shared plans on HostGator feature pre-installed WordPress, so I could access my WordPress dashboard from the Websites area of HostGator immediately.
I also appreciated that HostGator automatically set my site to display a Coming Soon page and provided a site launcher with a pre-launch checklist:
This area also provides tools for you to:
- View your pages and posts
- Connect WooCommerce and perform basic store management
- Easily access premium tools and services
- Control settings for caching, backups and more
I liked how beginner-friendly this tool is and how it lets you interact with several core WordPress functions in one place. You’ll still need to learn how to use your WordPress dashboard, but there’s a lot you can do from this page.
When I started building my site, I discovered that my plan included Wonder Blocks, a tool for creating pre-formatted blocks like FAQ blocks. I didn’t see this listed in the Hatchling features list, so it was a pleasant surprise, as these blocks make it easy to create an attractive web page in minutes.
Overall, HostGator provides solid tools for getting set up with WordPress. What about the server side of things?
Since this is shared hosting, HostGator does the important stuff, like keeping your operating system and security software up to date. You can go years without needing to focus on the more technical side of things (beyond essential WordPress software updates) unless you’re transferring a site from another host.
If you do want to view or manage more advanced settings, you can access them by going to Websites and clicking the Settings button under your site. This leads to an area where critical site information is displayed:
To quickly access the cPanel itself, you can select Hosting in the sidebar and click on cPanel in the Quick Links area.
Overall ease of use
HostGator’s purchase process is one of the simplest I’ve encountered, and the beginner-friendly account management area makes it easy to perform basic domain, site and account management tasks. HostGator also offers excellent tools to simplify launching and managing your site within WordPress.
I had an issue creating my PIN, but research suggests this isn’t a common experience. What is a shared — and frustrating — is the aggressive attempt to sell you on Jetpack every time you log in.
Still, HostGator is generally intuitive, so it gets a 9/10 ranking in this category.
HostGator performance: Good enough for basic use
Next, I created a test site using the WordPress theme Total to test three aspects of HostGator’s site performance:
- Performance tools are software — and sometimes hardware — configurations used to improve site speed and reliability.
- Uptime is the amount of time a website spends online.
- Speed is how quickly a site loads.
I conducted these tests over the course of one week to collect enough data to get a good idea of how well HostGator’s shared servers operate.
Performance tools
The Hatchling plan doesn’t offer many performance tools. There aren’t any performance tools listed for Hatchling in the plan comparison table for shared hosting. I was surprised to find caching settings in my site’s Settings area.
These settings let you set up basic caching to increase your website speed by storing data in an easy-to-access space so browsers don’t need to pull from your site’s server. I also like the option to refresh the cache to ensure that visitors see the most up-to-date version of your site.
HostGator offers additional performance tools at higher tiers of hosting:
- Additional central processing units for more processing power, increasing the amount of bandwidth you have.
- Content delivery networks or CDNs to distribute data to global servers so visitors’ browsers can pull information from a server close to their location, improving loading times.
These features can further improve loading speeds and uptime.
Uptime
HostGator offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee, meaning a website shouldn’t be down for more than ten minutes per week. Some web hosts provide the same guarantee, but the best web hosts go beyond this to offer a full 99.99% guarantee, ensuring that a site won’t go down for more than two minutes a week due to server errors.
HostGator’s 99.9% guarantee is on par with a lot of other web hosts, though, so the real question is: Does HostGator’s service live up to that guarantee?
I monitored uptime for my HostGator test site for one week using Better Stack. During this time, my site went down twice, for a total of seven minutes. This does live up to its guarantee, although it’s cutting it pretty close.
Based on these results, HostGator gets a 6/10 ranking for uptime.
Speed
I ran several speed tests over one-week using WebPageTest. The test page I created for this purpose had two images and two text blocks to simulate a real homepage. I enabled HostGator’s built-in caching but didn’t add any additional optimization tools.
I conducted my tests at various times of day and performed tests for a variety of locations to determine what the user experience would be like for users in different parts of the world. Ideally, I hoped to see loading times of three seconds or less in most regions, as bounce rates increase by 32% when loading time goes from 1 – 3 seconds.
I used my tests to calculate average loading times — measured in seconds — for the following locations (remember, lower is better):
| Location | California | London, UK | Germany | India | Dubai | Australia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile | 2.62 | 2.99 | 3.09 | 4.11 | 4.2 | 3.73 |
| Desktop | 1.71 | 2 | 2 | 3.02 | 3 | 2.74 |
These numbers suggest that HostGator has an average mobile loading time of 3.45 seconds and an average desktop loading time of 2.41 seconds. This earns it an overall speed rating of 7/10 — with a 6/10 for mobile and an 8/10 for desktop — with a couple of caveats:
- Mobile loading times vary greatly depending on the device you use and the plan you have; the number here is my attempt to create an accurate average, but it may not perfectly represent the mobile experience for all users.
- If your website is aimed at a North American audience, the 1.71-second average brings the speed ranking up to a 9/10 for your audience.
Overall performance
My HostGator test site had mediocre uptime, but the site speed was pretty good for a website without any additional measures to improve loading times. Overall, HostGator gets a 6/10 ranking for performance.
HostGator security: You’ll get the fundamentals, but not much else
HostGator provides a firewall to prevent malicious software from infecting your site, meeting the minimum security standard for a high-quality web hosting company.
Another benefit provided to all HostGator users is Distributed Denial of Service protection to prevent your server from being overwhelmed by malicious traffic.
Some plans also include automated backups and WordPress updates to increase security.
Overall, HostGator’s security is average for a web hosting company. The one common security protocol HostGator lacks with its base shared hosting tier — Hatchling — is malware scanning to detect and eliminate malicious software that sneaks through the firewall. Malware scanning for HostGator sites is only available through the SiteLock Essentials add-on or a more advanced plan, like the Baby/Business shared hosting plans and the WordPress hosting plans.
HostGator customer support: Great live chat and knowledge base, but lackluster phone and email support
The next stage of my HostGator review involved exploring the two main avenues HostGator offers for customer support: the knowledge base for self-directed troubleshooting and direct communication via live chat, email and phone.
Knowledge base
The HostGator knowledge base offers comprehensive resources on most basic website hosting and creation functions, plus some more advanced topics. The search function is highly visible, making it easy to find the article you need.
Individual resource pages use headers, concise text and images to make tutorials easy for even a beginner to follow. Several of the pages I looked at also included video tutorials.
All of this earns the HostGator Knowledge Base a 10/10 rating.
Direct communication
I ran into a minor error during site creation, reached out to HostGator via live chat and was connected to an agent in three minutes. After half an hour of back-and-forth communication, the agent escalated my complaint to a higher level of tech support and told me to expect an email “soon.”
I got a phone call an hour later. I once again asked them to send me an email, since it was the end of my workday. When I didn’t receive an email the next day, I reached out again via live chat. The live chat representative fixed my initial issue within a few minutes.
This fix brought new errors, so they offered to schedule a call with a more advanced tech support team. I asked them to schedule it for 2:30 PM EDT. I spent an hour waiting for a phone call that never came. Once again, I had to reach out myself.
I eventually got my issue fixed, and everyone I spoke to was polite and attempted to help. I also understand that live chat attendants are typically trained on fixing minor issues, and escalating high-level tech concerns to other teams is normal. If they tell me I’ll receive an email, I expect to receive an email, and if they tell me they’re scheduling a call, I expect to receive it at the scheduled time.
Based on the complete lack of communication I received when my tickets were escalated, I’m giving HostGator’s customer support channels the following rating:
- 10/10 for live chat
- 0/10 for email support
- 5/10 for phone support
Overall customer service
I spent a lot of time debating how to rank HostGator’s customer service. The knowledge base is great, and I received excellent support from the live chat specialists, but things fell apart when my issues had to be escalated. They called me when I specifically asked for an email, and when I asked for a call, I didn’t hear anything back at all.
I settled on a 6/10 for overall customer support. The knowledge base and live chat will usually meet customers’ needs, but the failure of email and phone support means you might be out of luck if you encounter a more complex problem.
Reputation
I may know a thing or two about web hosting, but I’m just one user. The next question becomes: what have other users experienced while working with HostGator?
The answers seem pretty mixed. HostGator has a 4.1 out of 5 rating on TrustPilot, but 24% of the reviews are one star, and poor customer service is a top complaint. There are also allegations on TrustPilot that the company is review-bombing its own page with five-star reviews from employees and other plants, although these haven’t been proven.
There are more red flags on HostGator’s Better Business Bureau page: HostGator isn’t BBB accredited, and there’s a Pattern of Complaint warning citing repeated accusations of deceptive business practices. Specifically, HostGator has consistently failed to honor its money-back guarantee.
All in all, it seems like HostGator’s customer service is poor across the board. HostGator may even use deceptive practices to keep people on its services.
HostGator value: Middle-of-the-pack prices
Based on the pricing plans and all of the data collected during testing, how does HostGator stack up in terms of value?
There’s one more thing I need to do before I can answer that question: take a look at the competition.
Here’s a quick overview of three popular hosts:
| Host | Starting plan name | Starting plan features | Starting plan costs | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoDaddy | Web Hosting Economy | 25GB storage, free domain for first year, free SSL for first year, site migration, automated daily backups | Starts at $6 a month, renews at $10 a month (based on three-year term) | Lacks key security protocols, lots of additional fees and upsells |
| DreamHost | Starter | 50GB storage, free domain for first year, free SSL certificate, WordPress installer and website builder, automated WordPress updates, daily backups, ModSecurity Firewall | Starts at $2.59 a month, renews at $6 a month (based on three-year term) | Automated system frequently denies signups, live chat isn’t always available |
| A2 Hosting | Startup | 100GB storage, free SSL certificate, unlimited email accounts, free site migration, WordPress auto-install, WordPress auto-updates, security tools suite | Starts at $3 a month, renews at $13 a month (based on one-year term) | Phone customer service can be slow |
Let’s break this down a bit:
- HostGator’s starting pricing is slightly more expensive than comparative plans at DreamHost or A2 Hosting, but notably less than GoDaddy’s.
- HostGator’s renewal pricing is the same as GoDaddy’s, which sits between the DreamHost and A2 Hosting prices.
- HostGator’s features are largely in line with what you’ll get from other hosts, including essentials like secure socket layer — SSL — certification and basic security protections. It doesn’t offer much storage — the Baby plan only offers 10 GB, and the most expensive shared hosting plan only offers 40 GB.
As for performance, HostGator’s speed is on the high side of average and the uptime is on the low side of average. The customer service is unreliable, which unfortunately seems common among the similarly-priced hosts I’ve tested so far.
In short, HostGator’s pretty average, providing better value than some hosts — like GoDaddy — and less value than others — like A2 Hosting. Based on these comparisons, HostGator earns a value ranking of 6/10.
HostGator: Is it right for you?
In the beginning, I was excited to dive into HostGator. HostGator is a household name among web hosts, and if you take the TrustPilot rating at face value, it seems like a good company.
I discovered some things I liked during my HostGator review: the easy-to-use account management area, caching settings, pre-installed WordPress and the HostGator WordPress site management tools. Uptime and speed testing were pretty average, and the latter can be improved with free caching plugins for WordPress.
There are some major drawbacks to HostGator. The aggressive upsells are annoying and the customer service is inconsistent across channels, providing extremely limited support for complex issues.
So, what’s the official ranking?
Let’s start with the rankings for each category:
- Ease of use: 9/10
- Performance: 6/10
- Customer support: 6/10
- Value: 6/10
Averaging these numbers out, HostGator receives an overall ranking of 7/10. HostGator’s a solid choice if you want to create a basic site for an affordable price, especially if your audience is North American. Due to the poor customer service, I wouldn’t recommend it for any site with complex needs.
HostGator’s reputation is mixed. The TrustPilot rating is 4.1, but a considerable 24% of reviews give the company one star. The Better Business Bureau says HostGator isn’t BBB accredited. There’s also a Pattern of Complaint warning that HostGator has been repeatedly accused of deceptive business practices.
HostGator and GoDaddy both have their pros and cons. HostGator offers better value and easy-to-navigate tools, but GoDaddy has better customer service and site performance.
GoDaddy doesn’t own HostGator. HostGator is owned by Endurance International Group, a hosting conglomerate that merged with Web.com to create Newfold Digital in 2021. GoDaddy isn’t part of Newfold Digital.
WORDPRESS
6 Surprising Things You Can Do on WordPress.com Without a Plugin – WordPress.com News
“WordPress” and “plugins” are often thought to be synonymous. The two go together like peanut butter and jam, like summer and watermelon, like yin and yang . . . you get the idea. It often seems like you can’t have one without the other. While plugins are indeed one way to supercharge your WordPress.com site, the truth is that there’s a lot you can do without ever installing a plugin. In fact, I can almost guarantee that our out-of-the-box WordPress.com experience is more powerful than you think.
(Quick reminder: WordPress plugins are available and installable on our Creator and Entrepreneur plans.)
Today, we’d like to highlight six surprising things you can do with WordPress.com from the moment you start building a website.
Sell digital products and accept donations
There’s no plugin needed to make a living or earn some cash on the side by selling digital products like ebooks, songs, or photographs on WordPress.com. With our built-in payment blocks Payment Buttons, Pay with PayPal, and Donations Form, you’re one click away from collecting money on your website. Best of all? Most of these blocks can be used on any plan, including Free, the exception being the PayPal block, which requires the Explorer plan or above.
Simply connect your Stripe account to get started selling today.
Prevent spam
Just like the spam comments and messages you’re trying to block, the number of anti-spam plugins has proliferated in recent years. Luckily, you don’t need any of them, because Akismet, an Automattic product, is baked into every WordPress.com website and provided at no extra cost. With advanced filtering that blocks 99.99% of spam, you’ll never have to worry about unwanted visitors again.
Install SSL certificates
On WordPress.com websites, SSL certificates are provided free of charge and automatically installed for you. This feature provides important security against hackers and other malicious actors, particularly if your website collects user information of any kind. At other hosts, you’ll often have to either pay extra or install your own (expensive) plugin in order to add an SSL certificate. Not at WordPress.com. Learn more about our SSL process here.
Send newsletters
Since 2009 WordPress.com has had the built-in functionality of sending new posts as emails. That’s right, you don’t need a third-party service or platform (like Mailchimp or Substack) to send newsletter emails to your audience. Using a Subscribe block gives visitors a simple and convenient way to enter their email and get your posts right to their inbox.
You can also set up paywalls (with the Paywall block) and paid content tiers, allowing for multiple subscription levels. Additionally, you can view and manage subscriber details from the Subscribers page (found under “Jetpack” on the left-side menu). Learn more at WordPress.com/newsletters.
Embed videos
Videos can be a vitally important part of your website and content flow, but uploading them can be a pain in the neck—if you’re not using WordPress, that is. If you’re embedding a video from another source, like Vimeo or YouTube, use our built-in blocks of the same name. And here’s a helpful tip: you don’t even need to select the block first. Simply copy and paste the video link right into the editor, and WordPress will automagically do the rest.
For embedding your original video files (.mov, .mp4, .mwv, etc.), Automattic’s very own VideoPress block offers a straightforward and robust solution. With caption and chapter support, as well as detailed data and insights on views, once you try out VideoPress you won’t look back. This feature is available on Explorer plans and above.
Insert impressive image galleries
Well-done imagery on a website can mean the difference between an engaged visitor and a bounced visitor. Rather than experimenting with overly complicated plugins, use the various image blocks that come with WordPress. Our Gallery, Slideshow, and Image Compare blocks are especially fun and offer a range of easy-to-use customizations that don’t overwhelm. Plus, these blocks are always optimized for mobile.
Start building today
This is just a sampling of what you can do with WordPress.com. We didn’t even mention some of our favorite blocks, including: table of contents, music/podcast player, countdown timer, tables, and so much more.
Ready to explore these powerful built-ins? Get started today:
You may still find that using plugins solves your specific needs a bit better than what’s already built into the editor. If that’s the case, consider our world-class Creator or Entrepreneur plan.
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