Today I’m reviewing the Postmatic plugin, a new way to deliver posts & comments to your inbox.
The plugin was created by Jason Lemieux & Dylan Kuhn to beautifully marry WordPress and Email together. I had the chance to talk to Jason about the dedication he and his team have committed to their ambitious product. After talking with him for about an hour, it was clear that this is just the beginning.
On the outside, Postmatic looks like a way to wrangle comments in your inbox — but I think it’s poised to become something much more.
Engagement, something we’re all looking to increase, is the name of the game. At least for me and at least for this current iteration of the product.
Contents
Postmatic Video Review
In this video, I walkthrough using the Postmatic plugin from an options overview and what it’s like to interact with comments in your inbox.
If you’re looking for support or an in-depth installation procedure, see their support documentation.
Attention to detail
Before we begin, wether you use this plugin or not, I wanted to call attention to the attention to detail that went into building this product.
If you’re anything like me, you might try about 20 new plugins per month. I rarely come across “startup” plugins that feel as refined as Postmatic does. From their admin screens to their press page, everything was done with a reason behind it.
By the end of this writeup, if you’re still on the fence about using their plugin or service, this type of care proves they are in it for the long haul and should be part of your consideration.
Kudos to the team.
All your commenting into the inbox
Commenting management via e-mail.
Do you need it? The short answer is, it depends.
It depends on the amount of commenting volume you receive now and how big of an itch that is for you to scratch. If you’re someone like Tommy McFarlin, a daily tech blogger, then it’s quite possibly heaven sent.
No more logging into the dashboard to approve/disapprove comments. Heck, you don’t even have to go to your website to reply to the comment. Simply reply to the e-mail the comment was delivered in and you’re done.
But is it worth the price tag of $9 a month per website?
Engagement and Personalization
I need more than just commenting to sell me, I need a higher level of engagement, and that’s where I think Postmatic will really shine.
In fact, I’d venture to say that this commenting thing, is really just the tip of the iceberg. When you start to see some of the initial features for customizing your e-mails via headers and footers — I think the opportunities start to fill themselves in.
If you’re building a brand online (and who isn’t nowadays?) every touch with your customer/reader is important. And while solving this commenting issue allows your reader a frictionless interaction with your site, it does allow you to custom tailor that experience to drive them back.
Areas of engagement
Comment summaries
Subscribing to the entire blog
Subscribing to the comments of a post
Providing unique headers
Providing native custom widget areas
And while solving this commenting issue allows your reader a frictionless interaction with your site, it does allow you to custom tailor that experience to drive them back.
Usecase examples
Custom headers
Postmatic allows you to upload a header image for each email you send to a reader. You could very well change this header image to include a special product promotion happening that month or the date to an upcoming event.
The idea is, you can be creative and play with the look and feel of your e-mails. I’m sure we’ll see this mature along the way.
Native widgets
In the video above, I used my product Conductor Plugin, to insert the 3 most recent blog posts from my blog. I could have very well used Conductor to pull in other custom pieces of content or even my WooCommerce products.
What we’re seeing here are the first steps to custom tailoring emails using native WordPress content. I dig it.
Wrapping up
I think the Postmatic team is really on to something here.
I can’t say I’m 100% sold on the commenting management functionality, but I am sold on what the future holds. Online businesses eventually hit a phase where increasing engagement to their website becomes exponentially more difficult. Using a plugin like Postmatic, is one way to see the numbers and brand recognition go up-n-to-the-right.
If you’re a business or a consultant looking to help increase traffic to your websites — this could be the ticket to get you there.
Give Postmatic a try! Leave a comment below and experience it for yourself!
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