9 must-have WordPress marketing automation tools for 2025

As a WordPress blogger running a small book review site, I’ve been there. I wanted WordPress automation tools that wouldn't be difficult to get started with (or need a second mortgage). 

Without automation, I was spending over 10 hours a week on repetitive tasks like manually sending welcome emails and scheduling content. That was time I should have spent reading and writing reviews—y'know, the stuff I actually care about! 

This guide shares the practical and affordable WordPress apps that eased my workflow and helped me reclaim hours every week.

Whether you’re a fellow blogger, course creator or small business owner, you’ll find proven WordPress automation tools that work smarter for you—minus the tech headache and the steep learning curve!

WordPress plugins turn complex automation tasks into point-and-click solutions. They let you build powerful workflows, like adding new buyers to your email list or sending personalized welcome sequences, without writing a line of code. 😊

I tested a bunch of popular WordPress plugins with one simple question in mind: "Will this actually make life easier for someone running an online business?"

Through personal testing and learning from other successful WordPress users, I found that an email marketing tool like MailerLite, combined with the right WordPress automation apps, can help supercharge your business growth.

So, here’s how I selected the WordPress automation apps on this list:

• Is it truly useful? I looked for tools that solve real problems and create practical automation opportunities.

• Can you set it up without a headache? If I couldn’t figure it out as a regular user, it didn’t make the cut.

• Is it affordable for small businesses? I focused on tools that offer good value for solopreneurs and small teams, with reasonable starter plans and clear upgrade paths as you grow.

• Does it work with MailerLite? I personally tested each integration, and yes, there’s no technical expertise required to implement and use them.

Whether you’re operating a small business or running a blog, these tools have proven their worth in real-world applications. I’ve included screenshots and personal experiences throughout to show exactly how they can work for you.

For an honest perspective, I asked our copywriter Kerry Campion about her experience using MailerLite long before joining the company and whether she’d consider other email tools. 

Kerry uses MailerLite to power her WordPress blog, Copy Comrades’, email marketing. Her workflow shows how simple yet effective MailerLite automation can be:

1. A MailerLite pop-up captures Kerry’s new subscribers

2. They instantly receive a welcome email explaining what Copy Comrades offers

3. New subscribers start receiving her regular newsletters right away

4. After 5 weeks, an automated email asks for their feedback using Senja, her preferred testimonial collection tool.

   Here’s Kerry’s welcome sequence in action:

MailerLite key features 

• Super fast and easy WordPress integration (integration guide)

• Visual no-code automation builder

• Smart forms that sync directly with your site

• Dynamic subscriber tagging and segmentation

• WooCommerce integration for purchase-based automation (MailerLite WooCommerce Integration guide)

• Behavior-triggered emails (clicks, form submissions)

Use cases

Here are some other ways you could use MailerLite and WordPress automation:

• Store owners recover abandoned carts with perfectly timed follow-ups

• Membership sites deliver personalized onboarding experiences and renewal alerts

• Authors and coaches send email updates about their new book or workshop launches

Pricing: 

Free for up to 12,000 emails and 1,000 subscribers. Paid plans start at $10/month and go up to $20/month with an annual discount of 10%. Bigger plans are also available for businesses with over 100,000 subscribers.

For WordPress users who publish consistent content but struggle to maintain regular email communication, the MailerLite RSS feature gives the perfect balance of automation and personalization.

Here’s how it works: When you publish a new post, MailerLite pulls your WordPress RSS feed and turns it into a formatted email using your selected template. It includes your post title, a short excerpt or full content, and a featured image (if you use the free Featured Image plugin). You choose how often emails go out and who receives them.

Here’s the email preview of a roundup for my blog posts that I created with MailerLite’s RSS (read the guide to setup):

MailerLite RSS key features

• Flexible scheduling (daily, weekly, or monthly sends)

• Multiple post display options (single or digest format)

• Featured image support through a dedicated WordPress plugin

• Dynamic subject lines with custom variables

• Mobile-optimized RSS email templates

Use cases

KC Tool used MailerLite’s RSS-to-email feature to send daily tool discount emails automatically. The automated “Tool of the Day” campaign achieved exceptional results with 72% open rates and 7% click rates, regularly selling out featured products.

Here are some other ways one could use the integration:

• Food bloggers use RSS automation to send different recipe digests (like weekly Italian or vegan recipes to subscribers based on their indicated preferences)

• Course creators notify students about new learning modules

• News sites deliver daily content roundups

• Multi-author blogs send writer-specific updates

Pricing: 

RSS is included in all MailerLite paid plans

After testing several donation plugins, I found that Charitable stands out for its simplicity and effectiveness. I love how it transforms complicated donation management into something anyone can handle. 

While there’s an annual fee based on your needs, there are no ongoing transaction fees, which makes it cost-effective for projects. Click to explore the Charitable MailerLite integration guide.

Using the drag-and-drop form builder, I set up donation forms in minutes. The dashboard let me track individual donor histories, total donations by campaign and repeat donor rates. These metrics can be used to plan smarter outreach.

Charitable key features

• Direct integration with payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe and Braintree

• Drag-and-drop form builder

• Comprehensive donor tracking dashboard

• Campaign-specific donation pages

• Built-in tax receipt generation

• GDPR-compliant data handling

• Custom email receipt templates

Use cases

Combining Charitable with MailerLite creates a powerful donor engagement system. While Charitable handles the donation process, MailerLite helps you build lasting relationships with donors through targeted, automated communication. Together, they help you turn one-time donors into long-term supporters.

What’s even better? With MailerLite’s 30% nonprofit discount and unlimited campaigns feature, you can effectively promote your events and programs while working within a slim budget.

Here are some things you can automate with Charitable + MailerLite:

• Create campaign-specific welcome sequences that trigger when someone donates to a particular cause

• Set up automated impact report emails that send 2-3 weeks after each donation

• Send automated thank-you notes 

• Build follow-up sequences and re-engagement campaigns for one-time donors

• Segment donors by cause area and giving frequency

• Send personalized stories about the causes donors are supporting

• Automate thank you notes for donation anniversary

Pricing: 

Basic plan is $69/year for core features, while Plus ($99/year) and Pro ($199/year) give you email marketing integration and other automation options. You need to be at least on the Plus plan to integrate with MailerLite. 

If you run a service-based business and spend too much time managing appointments, YouCanBookMe (YCBM) simplifies the process. It’s especially useful for teams working across time zones, thanks to its automatic timezone detection and shared booking pages.

In my testing, I had a basic booking page live in under a minute.

What’s more? They had comprehensive tutorials for any feature-related questions you might have. The tutorial on customizing availability was especially helpful, it walked me through setting different time blocks for different services.

What I found most useful is that, with one booking link, I could offer several types of sessions (15-minute Q&A, 30-minute intro call, 90-minute strategy session), each with its own price, availability and confirmation email.

Setup is simple: YCBM syncs with Google, Apple and Outlook calendars. Plus, it embeds easily in WordPress sites or MailerLite emails.

YCBM key features

• Direct integration with Google Calendar, Outlook, and Apple Calendar

• Customizable booking pages for different services

• Automatic timezone detection

• Built-in reminder system

• GDPR-compliant data handling

• Custom confirmation templates

Use cases

Combining YouCanBookMe with MailerLite creates a super-effective appointment management system. While YouCanBookMe handles the scheduling process, MailerLite helps you nurture relationships with clients through targeted, automated communication.

Here are some things you can automate with YouCanBookMe + MailerLite:

• Create service-specific welcome sequences that trigger when someone books a particular type of session

• Build exclusive follow-up sequences for different consultation types

• Send automated reminder notifications and recap emails

• Create automated feedback requests after sessions

• Send pre-call reminders and post-call follow-ups automatically

• Tag and segment contacts based on their booking history

• Track bookings from email campaigns using UTM parameters

• Build email sequences that react to no-shows or repeat bookings

Pricing: 

Starts from free for one calendar connection and 1 booking page and goes up to $18/member/team.

If you need to capture leads, manage registrations or collect detailed data on your WordPress site, Gravity Forms streamlines your job—no code required. It’s especially useful for businesses, educators and nonprofits that need more than a name and email field.

I’ve tested Gravity Forms across projects and found the drag-and-drop builder fast and flexible. You can build multi-step forms, payment pages, surveys or user registration systems in minutes.

It handles conditional logic, so you can show or hide questions based on earlier answers, great for qualifying leads or tailoring the user experience.

Here’s how I set up a form to capture leads and sync them directly to MailerLite. (Learn how to integrate MailerLite with Gravity Forms.):

And here’s what the form looks like on the website:

Gravity Forms key features

• Drag-and-drop form builder

• Multi-step forms and conditional logic

• Payment integration capabilities with tools like PayPal and Stripe

• Survey and quiz functionality

• User registration system

• Direct MailerLite integration

• Advanced field types and customization options

Use cases

Integrating Gravity Forms with MailerLite streamlines your lead capture and nurturing system. Setup only takes a few minutes: install the MailerLite add-on, connect your account, and choose which form fields to sync.

Here are some things you can automate with MailerLite and Gravity Forms:

• Add new entries automatically to your subscriber list

• Sort subscribers into groups based on form answers

• Map form fields to MailerLite custom fields

• Trigger specific email sequences after form submission

• Create targeted campaigns based on form responses

• Build segmented lists from quiz results

• Track conversion rates from different forms

Pricing: 

The Basic license at $59/year works for simple forms, but the Pro and Elite licenses give you access to features like payment gateways, user registration, surveys, and integrations that most growing businesses will need.

WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that lets you sell physical products, digital downloads, subscriptions and more directly from your site. It’s a top pick for small business owners and course creators.

I tested WooCommerce by adding it to a WordPress site I already had running. In under an hour, I had products listed, payments connected (via Stripe), and shipping rules set. The guided setup walked me through the basics clearly.

WooCommerce key features

• Product listings for digital and physical items

• Built-in payment support (Stripe, PayPal, and others)

• Real-time shipping rates and tax calculations

• Order and inventory tracking

• Basic sales and revenue reports

• Direct MailerLite integration

• Mobile-optimized store pages

• Customizable checkout process

Use cases

What makes WooCommerce even more useful is how it works with MailerLite. For an easy start, check out the guide on how to integrate WooCommerce with MailerLite or watch the short tutorial below:

From handcrafted mugs to membership access, no matter what you sell, WooCommerce and MailerLite help you run your store smoothly and stay in touch with your customers.

Here are some ways you can benefit from the integration:

• Automatically add buyers to your MailerLite list after checkout

• Trigger cart abandonment emails that recover lost sales

• Recommend products based on past purchases

• Pull product listings into emails without copy-pasting

• Track revenue from each campaign with UTM parameters

• Send restock notifications automatically

• Create purchase-based customer segments

• Build automated post-purchase follow-ups

Using MailerLite’s email marketing with his WooCommerce store, home appliance brand Fridja’s founder, Ben Fridja, dramatically improved his product launches by implementing a pre-order strategy through his newsletter.

As a result, he presold 25% of initial stock before launch and achieved a complete sellout of his new product, showing how formidable the combination of strategic email marketing and e-commerce automation can be.

Pricing: 

WooCommerce is free, with premium extensions from $49/year for features like bulk discounts, subscription billing, dynamic pricing and name-your-price tools.

If you run online courses, coaching programs or subscription-based content, MemberPress helps you control access, manage payments and deliver content without needing tech support.

I found MemberPress to be the most straightforward membership plugin for protecting content and managing subscriptions. During my initial test, I set up a basic membership level to protect some blog posts. The setup took about 20 minutes, including connecting Stripe for payments.

The built-in course builder is truly impressive. You can organize lessons into modules and control access without touching code.

MemberPress key features

• Drag-and-drop course builder

• Multiple membership levels and access rules

• Payment gateway integration (Stripe, PayPal, etc.)

• Content dripping and expiration options

• Built-in quiz functionality

• Detailed member reporting

• Automated renewal handling

Use cases

When you combine MemberPress with MailerLite (via Zapier, WPFusion, or Integrately), you can automate:

• Welcome sequences for new members

• Course completion certificates

• Renewal reminders

• Member engagement tracking

• Access expiration notifications

• Course progress updates

Pricing:

The basic plan starts at $179/year, with Plus ($299/year) and Pro ($399/year) offering additional features like advanced course tools and affiliate management.

FuseWP acts like a bridge between your WordPress site and MailerLite email list. (Read the setup guide to learn how to integrate WordPress site and MailerLite.) 

For example, when someone creates an account on your site (like a customer buying a product or a student joining a course), FuseWP automatically adds them to your email list. And if they update their info or leave your site, your email list updates, too.

This automated synchronization means you don’t have to export and import data manually, and your mailing list is always accurate and reliable.

FuseWP key features

• One-click MailerLite integration

• Automatic user data sync

• Custom field mapping

• Role-based automation

• Real-time list updates

• GDPR-compliant sync options

• Detailed sync logging

• Multi-site compatibility

Use cases

I tested FuseWP’s integration with MailerLite on a friend’s WordPress site. The setup was surprisingly quick. I just copied my MailerLite API key into FuseWP’s settings and selected which list to sync with. Within minutes, my WordPress user data synced automatically with my MailerLite subscriber list.

Here’s a screenshot of FuseWP’s field mapping interface, where WordPress user data is matched to MailerLite subscriber fields.

Read how to connect WordPress, MailerLite and FuseWP in detail.

Below are some of the things you can automate as a result of this integration:

• Sync new WordPress users to your email list

• Update subscriber data when users modify their profiles

• Move users between groups based on membership changes

• Tag subscribers based on site activity to send customized emails

• Remove unsubscribed users automatically

Pricing:

A single-site license starts at $99/year, with Plus ($199/year) and Agency ($399/year) options available.

WP Auto Pro helps you curate content from multiple sources without manual copying. After testing it on my blog, I found it particularly useful for news sites and content aggregators that need fresh content regularly.

You can automate stuff like:

• Daily news roundups

• Product review collections

• YouTube video updates

• Multi-language content feeds

• Deal and discount aggregation

WP Auto Pro can save you 5-10 hours weekly on content curation. It can keep your site active with fresh content even when you’re busy, gather everything in one place, and allow you to work seamlessly with affiliate links and monetization.

WP Auto Pro key features

• Multi-source content curation (YouTube, Amazon, RSS feeds)

• AI content generation integration with tools like GPT, Claude AI and DeepSeek

• Scheduled posting capabilities

• Custom filtering rules

• Affiliate link support

• Auto-generate SEO meta titles and meta descriptions

• Seamless integration with platforms like Amazon, Google and OpenAI

Pricing:

Regular license starts at $39, with options to extend support available.

This guide is here to help you find the right automation tools for your WordPress site—no fluff, no overwhelm. Start with the tool that fits your current goals. MailerLite’s free plan is a smart starting point if you ask me.

Even one well-placed automation can save you hours every week, and free you up to actually grow your business.

So go ahead, set up that first workflow today. Your future self will thank you. 😊