Marketing Emails Automation
Contents
Marketing Tools
WHMCS provides the following functionality to assist you with your e-marketing:
- Email Marketer tool for automated rule based email marketing
- MailChimp integration for more powerful email marketing automation
- Support for opt-in or opt-out request during registration/checkout
- Tracking of marketing email consent history
- Ability to restrict marketing rules and mass emails to only those who have not opted-out
- Opt-in/opt-out links that can be included in all emails sent to customers
- Newsletter opt-in/opt-out option accessible at all times via the client area
Email Marketer Tool
The email marketer tool allows you to schedule automated emails to be sent out to your clients when certain events and/or criteria are met.
MailChimp Integration
MailChimp is a powerful email marketing and automation platform that is free to use for up to 2,000 subscribers and allows up to 12,000 emails per month.
The native integration in WHMCS will ensure your WHMCS client database is kept in sync with your MailChimp mailing list as well as providing e-commerce data to MailChimp that allows you to leverage MailChimp's advanced e-commerce automations.
Opt-In/Opt-Out during Registration/Checkout
WHMCS 7.5 introduced more flexibility over the way users are requested to opt into or opt out of marketing emails.
The following settings are now available in the Other tab at Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > General Settings:
| Setting | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing Emails | Enabled | Controls whether the Newsletter Opt-In option is shown to new customers during checkout or registration. |
| Require User Opt-In | Enabled | Determines how the opt-in choice is presented. By default, users are required to opt-in to marketing emails. If you wish, you can use this setting to default the opt-in box to a checked status, requiring users instead to opt-out of marketing emails. |
| Marketing Email Opt-In Messaging | Phrase | Allows you to customise the message displayed to users in the opt-in request. It is important that the opt-in message accurately reflects the type of marketing emails you will be sending for compliance reasons. |
The Marketing Email Opt-In message can alternative be defined within the language files if you wish to provide multiple different versions for different languages. To do this, you must define a language string with the key $_LANG['emailMarketing']['optInMessage'].
Marketing Email Consent History
Starting in WHMCS 7.5, WHMCS can log opt-ins and opt-outs from marketing emails, to provide an audit trail of exactly when users consented to receive marketing emails.
You can access this log via the Client Profile within the admin area by clicking View Marketing Opt-In Consent History (View Consent History in WHMCS 7.5 through 7.10) located alongside Marketing Emails.
The consent history log contains the date and time of the action, the action itself (opt-in or opt-out), an indication of whether an admin performed acted on behalf of the user, and the IP address from which the change originated.
Because this feature was introduced in WHMCS 7.5, the log won't contain records of any consent given prior to WHMCS 7.5.
Email Campaigns and Mass Mail
We replaced Mass Mail with the improved Email Campaigns feature in WHMCS 8.0.
When using the Email Campaigns or Mass Mail tools, you can restrict the emails you sent to only those users who have not opted out of marketing emails.
To do this, when composing your email, be sure to check Marketing Email below the message composition box.
Email Merge Fields
The following merge fields are made available for use in all email messages sent by WHMCS:
| Merge Field | Description |
|---|---|
| {$email_marketing_optin_url} | Generates a url that customers can follow to opt-in to receiving marketing emails. This could be used to explicitly request consent from your existing customers. |
| {$email_marketing_optout_url} | Generates a url that customers can follow to opt-out of receiving marketing emails. Also commonly referred to as unsubscribing. |
| {$unsubscribe_url} | The same as the {$email_marketing_optout_url} but available for backwards compatibility. |
Client Area Newsletter Subscription Management
When the Marketing Emails feature is enabled, clients have the ability to manage their newsletter subscription status at any time via the WHMCS Client Area.
The option for this is displayed within the Account Details page, which is accessed via the User menu within the Client Area.