Hive Mail
What is Hive Mail?
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Hive Mail is an email marketing plugin that runs inside WordPress. See what it does and what you need to start sending.
Requirements and installation
Last Updated: October 28, 2026What your site needs to run Hive Mail, how to install and activate it, and what the plugin creates when you switch it on.
First steps checklist
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Follow the Where to start card on the Dashboard: set your From address, add a business address, send a test, make a list and add people.
The setup wizard
Last Updated: October 28, 2026A four-step guide that sets your business details, your sending method, your first list and the ways people can join. Skip any step.
A tour of the Hive Mail screens
Last Updated: October 28, 2026A map of every Hive Mail screen: the Dashboard, the left menu and its groups, the Settings tabs and the search box, with links to each page.
Key concepts in plain words (glossary)
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Short, plain definitions of the words used in Hive Mail, from contact, list and segment to double opt-in, merge tag, flow, bounce and cron.
How Hive Mail sends email
Last Updated: October 28, 2026How Hive Mail queues emails and hands them to WordPress mail, an SMTP plugin, Mailgun or SendGrid, how fast they go and who is skipped.
Scheduled sending and cron
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Why scheduled campaigns need a timer, how to read the Scheduler tab, and how to set up a real cron job so emails go out on time.
Is my site ready to send email?
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Use the readiness checklist in Settings > Sending to check your sending method, From address, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, bounces and scheduler first.
Contacts: add, edit, search, filter and delete
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Add people by hand, find them with search and filters, change many at once, and delete them safely with the 30-day trash on the Contacts screen.
Contact statuses and what each one allows
Last Updated: October 28, 2026The six contact statuses (Pending, Subscribed, Unsubscribed, Transactional, Bounced, Complained), who gets which email, and how to change them.
The contact profile
Last Updated: October 28, 2026See everything about one person in one place: details, lists, tags, segments, campaigns, automations, the activity timeline and the visitor journey.
Lists and the public list option
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Create and manage lists, the named groups you send to. Learn what the public list option does and how opting out of one list works.
Tags
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Create coloured tags, put them on contacts and use them to find and target people. Learn how to edit, delete and add tags on the spot.
Custom fields
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Add extra details to every contact, such as plan or birthday. Learn the seven field types, merge tags, ordering and reserved names.
Segments: build rules, preview and save
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Build a saved filter of contacts from rules, watch who matches while you build, and use it to choose who gets a campaign.
How to import contacts from a CSV file
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Upload a CSV file, match its columns, preview the result and import many contacts at once, with lists, tags and permission recorded.
How to import WordPress users
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Turn the people who have an account on your WordPress site into Hive Mail contacts, by role, with lists, tags and a permission record.
Move over from Mail Mint, FluentCRM, EDD, WooCommerce or AffiliateWP
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Copy contacts from Mail Mint or FluentCRM, or turn shop customers and affiliates into contacts, and keep a list up to date with live sync.
How to export contacts
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Download your contacts as a CSV file, filtered by status, list or tag, and use the History tab to find or delete past imports and exports.
Signup forms: create and edit
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Build a signup form inside Hive Mail, choose what it asks, how permission is collected and who joins, and manage your forms from one list.
How to put a signup form on a page
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Place a signup form on any page, post or widget area with a shortcode or the block, and learn what visitors see and what Hive Mail does.
Double opt-in and the confirmation email
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Ask new subscribers to confirm by email, write the confirmation message, set what happens after they confirm, and email people who are still pending.
Spam protection and CAPTCHA for signup forms
Last Updated: October 28, 2026See how signup forms keep robots out with a hidden field, a timer and send limits, and how to add Turnstile, hCaptcha or reCAPTCHA.
How to connect a form you already use
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Keep your form in Fluent Forms, WPForms, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms or Elementor and add every person who sends it to Hive Mail in four steps.
Manage connected forms
Last Updated: October 28, 2026See every form from another plugin that feeds Hive Mail, switch each one on or off, edit its steps, see who came through, or disconnect it.
Unsubscribe and email preference pages
Last Updated: October 28, 2026See what subscribers see on the Unsubscribe and Email preferences pages, change their words in Settings, and use your own WordPress pages.
How to create and send a campaign
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Create a campaign in four steps (Setup, Audience, Content, Review and send) and send it now or schedule it for later.
Choose who gets a campaign
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Pick the audience for a campaign with lists, tags and segments, leave people out, and read the live count and the reasons people are skipped.
Choose an email editor
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Compare the four Hive Mail email editors, learn the top bar they share, switch editors, and use version history and the Check before sending notes.
The Visual builder: every block and setting
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Build a designed email by dragging blocks, and learn every block, every setting and every email-wide option of the Hive Mail Visual builder.
The Classic, Plain text and HTML editors
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Write an email like a document, as plain text, or as your own HTML code, and learn every panel, setting and note of the three editors.
Personalise with merge tags and fallbacks
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Put each person's name, your business details and unsubscribe links into an email with merge tags, and add a fallback for people without a value.
Templates and starter templates
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Keep reusable email designs in the Templates library, start from a ready-made starter, and rename, copy, import, export or delete templates.
The brand kit
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Save your logo, colours, font, button style, footer text and social links once, so every new email starts with your look.
A/B subject line tests
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Send two subject lines to different halves of your audience in one campaign, and read which one was opened and clicked more.
Schedule, pause, resume, cancel and duplicate a campaign
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Schedule a campaign for a set time, then pause, resume, cancel, send early, go back to draft, duplicate or delete it, and know what each does.
How to read a campaign report
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Read the numbers, delivery bar, timeline, links and people lists of a campaign report, and use the Reports screen for the last 30 or 90 days.
The sending log
Last Updated: October 28, 2026See every email Hive Mail has sent or will send, find one by address or subject, understand its status, and retry the ones that failed.
Bounces, complaints and the suppression list
Last Updated: October 28, 2026See and manage the addresses Hive Mail will never email, block or allow an address, and connect your sending service so bounces are handled for you.
The email footer and the unsubscribe link
Last Updated: October 28, 2026See what Hive Mail puts at the bottom of every marketing email, how to edit it, use your own footer, and where the unsubscribe link goes.
Automation basics: flows, triggers and steps
Last Updated: October 28, 2026What a flow is, how triggers, steps and runs fit together, the three flow states, and where the automation screens are.
Build your first flow on the canvas
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Create a flow, add and connect steps on the canvas, fix problems, run a test and switch it on. Autosave and shortcuts included.
Triggers: every way a flow can start
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every trigger a flow can start from (contact, list, email, date, manual, WordPress, forms, webhook, shops) with its settings.
Steps: email, tags, lists, fields, status, webhook and notify
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every action step of a flow with its settings: send an email, tag, list, field, change status, call a webhook and notify someone.
Waits, conditions, goals and splits
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Use Wait, Wait until, If, Goal, A/B split, Merge and End steps to pause people, make decisions and join paths back together.
Automation recipes
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Start from a ready-made flow. How the Automation recipes screen works, how to install a recipe, and what each recipe makes.
Re-entry, existing contacts, and editing a live flow
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Control who can enter a flow again, add existing contacts by hand, and change, pause, stop or delete a flow people are already in.
Runs & Logs and flow reports
Last Updated: October 28, 2026See every person's journey through your flows, read a step log, stop a run, and read a flow report with its numbers and email rates.
WooCommerce with Hive Mail
Last Updated: October 28, 2026What Hive Mail does when WooCommerce is active: the Customers tab, the checkout sign-up box, shop rules, merge tags and flow triggers.
Abandoned cart recovery
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Track carts shoppers leave behind, see who may be emailed and why, use the restore link, and send reminders with the recovery flow.
Easy Digital Downloads with Hive Mail
Last Updated: October 28, 2026What Hive Mail does when Easy Digital Downloads is active: Customers and Purchases tabs, the checkout sign-up box, triggers and rules.
Reports and revenue attribution
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Read the Reports screen for the last 30 or 90 days, and learn the rule that credits shop orders to the email a customer clicked.
What marketing intelligence is and what it records
Last Updated: October 28, 2026What Hive Mail's optional visitor tracking is, what Anonymous and Full mode record, what is never recorded, and where the data is kept.
Turn on visitor tracking: Anonymous and Full mode
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Choose Anonymous or Full visitor tracking, decide how consent is handled, set how long visits are kept and test that a visit is recorded.
Live, Pages and Traffic Sources
Last Updated: October 28, 2026How to read the Live, Pages and Traffic Sources screens, the Dashboard Visitors card, the period buttons and first-touch versus last-touch credit.
Conversions and goals
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Set goals for orders, form submissions and page visits, then see how often visitors reach them and which channels they came from.
Visitors & Journeys and the engagement score
Last Updated: October 28, 2026See who visited your site, follow one visitor's path, read a contact's Journey tab and learn what earns engagement points.
The consent banner, its design builder and the Privacy choices button
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Set up Hive Mail's optional consent banner, style it with the live preview, let visitors change their answer and use the HiveMail JavaScript functions.
Use Hive Mail with a cookie-consent plugin
Last Updated: October 28, 2026How Hive Mail finds Complianz, CookieYes, Cookiebot, iubenda and other consent tools, follows their answer and avoids showing a second banner.
Do Not Track, Global Privacy Control and who is never tracked
Last Updated: October 28, 2026How Hive Mail respects Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control, and how to keep your own visits, private pages and account pages out of visitor tracking.
Settings: General
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every field on Settings > General: the default sender, your business details, who gets alerts, and what happens to your data on delete.
Settings: Sending
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every control on Settings > Sending: choose how email is delivered, set the speed, receive bounce reports and run the readiness checklist.
Settings: Scheduler
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Settings > Scheduler shows whether Hive Mail's once-a-minute scheduler runs on time and gives copy-and-paste steps to set up a real cron job.
Settings: Compliance
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every card on Settings > Compliance: double opt-in, confirmation email, public pages, footer text and the rules for your contacts data.
Settings: Tracking & Privacy
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every field on the Tracking & Privacy tab: email open and click tracking, the system log, visitor tracking, the consent banner, exclusions and storage.
Settings: Email
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Settings > Email holds your brand kit: logo, colours, font, button style, footer wording and social links that new emails start from.
Settings: WooCommerce
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Settings > WooCommerce controls the email sign-up box at checkout and how abandoned carts are tracked, with every field and default.
Settings: Easy Digital Downloads
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Settings > Easy Digital Downloads controls the email sign-up box on the EDD checkout: the switch, the wording and the list people join.
Settings: Integrations
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Settings > Integrations lists the form plugins and shops Hive Mail found on your site, how many forms are connected and what each can start.
Settings: Notifications
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Settings > Notifications chooses which alerts Hive Mail emails to you and turns on a weekly summary. Contacts never receive these emails.
Settings: Tools
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Settings > Tools has six cards: system status, system log, data cleanup, settings export and import, setup wizard and a protected Delete all data.
Settings: Forms
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Settings > Forms sets the CAPTCHA service that protects your signup forms from robots: the service, the two keys and the reCAPTCHA v3 strictness.
What data Hive Mail stores and where
Last Updated: October 28, 2026A plain list of the data Hive Mail keeps in your WordPress database, what each kind is used for, how long it stays and what leaves your site.
Privacy tools: export and erase a person’s data
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Use WordPress's Export Personal Data and Erase Personal Data tools to handle a person's request, and copy Hive Mail's suggested privacy-policy text.
Email tracking: opens and clicks
Last Updated: October 28, 2026How Hive Mail counts opens and clicks in your emails, the three levels (per contact, anonymous, off), Apple Mail privacy opens and who is ignored.
Consent and the law: a plain-language guide for site owners
Last Updated: October 28, 2026A plain guide to what Hive Mail does about consent, tracking and unsubscribing, and what you, the site owner, still have to decide. Not legal advice.
Uninstalling and Delete all data
Last Updated: October 28, 2026What deactivating, deleting and the Delete all Hive Mail data switch really remove, and how to wipe everything or keep it all.
Emails are not sending
Last Updated: October 28, 2026What to check when a campaign stays on Sending or emails stay Queued: the scheduler, sending method, From address, speed and skipped people.
A scheduled campaign did not go out
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Why a scheduled campaign started late or not at all: a late scheduler, the wrong timezone, a draft that was never scheduled, or slow sending.
The confirmation email does not arrive or goes to spam
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Why a double opt-in confirmation email is missing or in spam: the scheduler, delivery, settings, throttles, your From address or the link.
Visitor tracking shows nothing
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Why Live, Pages or Traffic Sources stay empty after you switch tracking on: mode, consent, your own visits, privacy signals and caching.
Import errors and how to fix them
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every message the CSV import can show, what it means and how to fix it, plus why imported people stay Pending and why an import can seem stuck.
A connected form does not add people
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Why people who send a connected form do not become contacts, and how to check each step from the switch to the Runs & Logs screen.
Conflicts with other plugins and caching
Last Updated: October 28, 2026What to do when Hive Mail screens do not load, links in emails fail, or forms and tracking break behind a cache or another plugin.
Frequently asked questions
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Short answers about Hive Mail: sending, limits, shops, moving from another plugin, scheduling, forms, tracking, privacy and developer tools.
Developer guide: where to start
Last Updated: October 28, 2026A map of everything a developer can use in Hive Mail: the REST API, webhooks, hooks, database tables, extension points, shortcodes and WP-CLI.
REST API: introduction and authentication
Last Updated: October 28, 2026How to call the Hive Mail REST API: create an application password, use Basic auth or a nonce, test it, fix 401, 403 and 404, and see each capability.
REST API: the main endpoints
Last Updated: October 28, 2026The Hive Mail REST API at a glance: base URL, every resource and the page that documents it, error format, paging and three tested requests.
Incoming webhooks, bounce webhooks and API keys
Last Updated: October 28, 2026The Webhooks & API screen, how to start a flow with a signed incoming webhook, and how to send bounce reports from Mailgun, SendGrid or code.
Hooks: actions
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every Hive Mail action hook grouped by area, with its arguments and when it fires, for code that reacts to contacts, campaigns and flows.
Hooks: filters
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every Hive Mail filter hook grouped by area, with its arguments and return value, for changing emails, limits, tracking and extension lists.
Shortcodes and the signup form block
Last Updated: October 28, 2026The Hive Mail signup form shortcode and block with every attribute, the three public page shortcodes, and how to place a form from PHP or a template.
WP-CLI commands
Last Updated: October 28, 2026The three wp hivemail commands: worker runs the scheduler from a cron, status prints queue and system state, migrate updates the tables.
Check my list: find risky email addresses
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Check your contacts or a pasted list for mistyped, disposable and team addresses before you send, so fewer emails bounce.
Starter designs and seasonal recipes
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every ready-made starter email design and seasonal automation recipe in Hive Mail, with what each is for and the dates the seasonal ones use.
Flow Studio
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Build automations in Flow Studio, a second editor for the same flows, with colour-coded steps, a plus on every line and one search to add a step.
Automation integrations
Last Updated: October 28, 2026See which shop and form plugins Hive Mail found on your site, which automations each can start, and where to connect a form or open its customers.
Settings: Email footer
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Edit the text, address, social links and look of the small print at the bottom of your marketing emails, with a live preview.
Settings: Roles & Permissions
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Choose which WordPress roles and which single people can open Hive Mail and use its parts, and see what each permission lets them do.
Activate and manage your license
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Enter your license key, read the status and banner, learn what an expired license means and when Hive Mail contacts the store.
The AI assistant: ask Hive Mail for help
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Use the Hive Mail assistant to ask email marketing questions and draft subject lines and emails, and learn what it can do, what it sends and what it cannot.
AI assistant: chat history and memory
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Find, rename and delete your past assistant chats, and see, edit, pin, pause and clear the short notes the assistant remembers about your brand.
Settings: AI assistant
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Connect the Hive Mail assistant to your own AI account, choose the models, set a monthly limit and control what is kept, with every setting explained.
Migrate from FluentCRM
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Move the lists, people, tags, fields, automations and sender settings you choose from FluentCRM into Hive Mail, check the plan first.
Integrations overview: what Hive Mail connects to
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every plugin and service Hive Mail connects to: shops, form plugins, importers, sending services, bounce handling, consent tools, webhooks and the REST API.
Database tables
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every hm_ table Hive Mail creates: what it holds, its key columns, how contacts, lists, tags and fields relate, and why to use the API for writes.
Extending Hive Mail: registries and custom code
Last Updated: October 28, 2026The registries and extension points a site can use, with three working examples (delivery method, flow trigger, settings tab) and what is internal.
REST API: contacts, lists, tags and custom fields
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every REST route for contacts, lists, tags, custom fields, import, export and background jobs, with capabilities, parameters and runnable examples.
REST API: campaigns, segments, templates and reports
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every REST route for segments, campaigns, templates, reports, the sending log, suppressions, sending services, settings and tools, with examples.
REST API: flows, recipes, forms and shops
Last Updated: October 28, 2026Every REST route for flows, runs, recipes, the incoming webhook, signup and connected forms, WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads and visitor reports.