How to Manage Email Subscriptions with Jetpack

Getting in touch with your site visitors can be a difficult task. But it’s something you may need to do from time to time. An easy way of getting in touch with your visitors is to provide an email subscription. Since virtually everyone has an email address, it’s reasonable to assume that email is a good option for contact. And, letting your dedicated readers know you have new content on your site is a great way to keep them coming back. This is especially important for bloggers.

However, collecting email addresses can be tricky. With new data protection regulations in place, the stakes are high, and consumers do not appreciate any mishandling of their data. Contact forms, which visitors can use to fill in their email addresses, are difficult to code, implement, and secure.

This is where a plugin like Jetpack can come to your rescue. Jetpack is developed by Automattic, and is compliant with current data protection regulations. This means they are responsible for handing your visitors’ email addresses, and you don’t need to worry about it. In this article, we’re going to show you how to manage email subscriptions with Jetpack.

Add the Subscription Widget to Your Sidebar

Most WordPress themes include a helpful sidebar, where you can store valuable content you’d like your visitors to see on every page. This is an ideal place to put your subscription widget.

The subscription widget lets your users provide an email address to receive updates when you post something. Follow the steps below to add this widget to your site:

1. Log into your WordPress Dashboard
2. Under Appearance select Widgets
3. Select the widget labelled Blog Subscriptions (Jetpack)
4. Click Add Widget

The widget will now move into your selected widget area. Make sure to re-arrange the location as required.

Email Delivery Preferences

If you post often, some of your readers may have their inboxes overflowing with your new posts. By default, Jetpack will notify your readers every time you publish a post. This might be preferable for them. Or, they might like to receive less-frequent updates.

The good news is you don’t have to do anything to accommodate their wishes. Your users can control their email preferences directly. All they need to do is click the link for Subscription Options in their confirmation message. Or, if they’ve lost the confirmation message, they can change their preferences any time with their own WordPress.com account. They can even select a preferred delivery window.

Where can I see my subscribers?

Jetpack lets you view your subscribers in your discussion settings:

1. Log into your WordPress Dashboard
2. Under Jetpack click Settings
3. Click Discussion
4. Toward the bottom, click View your Email Followers

You should now now have a general understanding of how to field and manage email subscriptions to your blog via Jetpack. Let us know if you have any questions by leaving a comment below.