Ghost Newsletter Setup — Mailgun, Email Design and Sending Frequency

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to set up newsletters in Ghost — configuring Mailgun for reliable email delivery, designing newsletter appearance, setting sending frequency, and understanding email analytics and deliverability.

What You'll Learn

• How Ghost's newsletter system works
• Configuring Mailgun for email delivery
• Alternative email transports: SMTP, SendGrid
• Newsletter design: header image, footer, branding
• Setting sender name and email address
• Controlling newsletter sending frequency
• Understanding email analytics: opens, clicks, deliverability
• Managing newsletter subscriber segments
• Best practices for email engagement

Why It Matters

Newsletters are the engine of member engagement. Every time you publish a post, Ghost can automatically send it as an email to your subscribers. This drives repeat traffic, keeps members engaged, and is the primary channel for building a direct relationship with your audience. But none of this works without correct email configuration. Emails that land in spam or never get delivered mean zero engagement.

Real-World Use

A weekly newsletter publisher configures Ghost to send every new post as an email. She sets up Mailgun with proper DNS records (DKIM, SPF) so emails authenticate correctly. She customizes the email design with her publication logo and brand colors. Members receive beautifully formatted emails that match the site theme. Open rates average 45% because the emails are consistent, branded, and arrive reliably in the inbox.

Learning Path

flowchart LR
  A["Content Gating"] --> B["Newsletter Setup
You are here"]:::current
  B --> C["Subscriber Management"]
  C --> D["Membership API"]

  classDef current fill:#38bdf8,color:#0f172a,stroke-width:2px

How Ghost Newsletters Work

Ghost's newsletter system is tightly integrated with the publishing workflow.

The Publishing Flow

1. You write a post in the Koenig editor.
2. Before publishing, you toggle the "Send as newsletter" option.
3. When you publish, Ghost:
   • Makes the post live on your site
   • Renders the post content into an email template
   • Sends the email to all subscribed members
4. Ghost tracks who opened and clicked the email.
5. The email appears in the member's inbox with your branding.

Newsletter Delivery Architecture

flowchart LR
  A["Ghost publishes post"] --> B["Ghost builds email HTML"]
  B --> C["Ghost sends to Mailgun API"]
  C --> D["Mailgun delivers to inbox"]
  D --> E["Member opens email"]
  E --> F["Open/click tracked"]

  style C fill:#38bdf8,color:#0f172a
  style D fill:#4ade80,color:#0f172a

Configuring Mailgun

Mailgun is the recommended email delivery service for Ghost. It handles bulk email sending reliably.

Step 1: Create a Mailgun Account

1. Go to mailgun.com and create an account.
2. Choose a plan (the Flex plan starts free with 5,000 emails/month).
3. Verify your domain or use a Mailgun sandbox domain (for testing only).

Step 2: Configure DNS Records

For production, add DNS records to your domain:

These records:

• SPF: Tell receiving servers that Mailgun is authorized to send for your domain
• DKIM: Cryptographically sign your emails to prove authenticity
• MX: Enable Mailgun to receive replies (optional)

Step 3: Get Mailgun Credentials

In Mailgun Dashboard:

1. Go to Sending > Domains.
2. Click your domain.
3. Note the SMTP hostname (typically smtp.mailgun.org).
4. Create an SMTP password under "SMTP credentials."
5. Note the API key (for Mailgun API transport).

Step 4: Configure Ghost

In Ghost admin, go to Settings > Email Newsletter:

Using SMTP (recommended):

Email Settings:
  Newsletter name: My Weekly Digest
  Sender name: Jane Doe
  Sender email: newsletter@example.com
  Transport: SMTP
  SMTP host: smtp.mailgun.org
  SMTP port: 587
  SMTP username: postmaster@mg.example.com
  SMTP password: your-mailgun-password

Using Mailgun API (alternative):

Transport: Mailgun
Mailgun API key: key-xxxxxxxxxxxx
Mailgun domain: mg.example.com

Step 5: Test Email Delivery

1. Create a test post.
2. Toggle "Send as newsletter."
3. Publish.
4. Check the email arrives in your inbox (not spam).
5. Check Ghost analytics for the sent email.

Alternative Email Transports

SMTP (Generic)

Any SMTP provider works:

transport: SMTP
options:
  host: smtp.sendgrid.net
  port: 587
  auth:
    user: apikey
    pass: your-sendgrid-api-key

SendGrid

transport: SMTP
options:
  host: smtp.sendgrid.net
  port: 587
  auth:
    user: apikey
    pass: SG.xxxxxxxxxxxx

Direct

Built-in but unreliable on cloud servers:

transport: Direct

Not recommended for production. Most cloud providers block port 25, and you have no deliverability controls.

Newsletter Design

Default Email Template

Ghost uses your site's theme styles to render newsletter emails. The email template is based on your post template with these modifications:

• Header: Your publication logo (optional)
• Post content: Full post content as rendered by Ghost
• Footer: Your publication name, unsubscribe link, and mailing address

Customizing Email Appearance

In Settings > Email Newsletter:

Newsletter Design:
  Header image: Upload a header image for emails
  Show header image: Toggle
  Footer text: Custom footer text
  Logo: Publication logo
  Accent color: Matches your site accent color

Email-Only Content Design

Email-only posts have the same design as regular newsletter posts. You can use the full Koenig editor — images, galleries, buttons, and cards — and they render beautifully in email.

Mobile Email Rendering

Ghost's email template is responsive. It renders well on mobile devices, which account for 50-70% of email opens.

Sending Frequency

When Ghost Sends Emails

Ghost sends an email when:

• A new post is published with the newsletter toggle enabled
• An email-only post is published
• A scheduled post goes live with the newsletter toggle enabled

Ghost does NOT send separate "broadcast" emails outside of the publishing workflow. Every email is tied to a specific piece of content.

Default Recipients

You can set who receives newsletters by default:

Default recipients:
  - All members (free + paid)
  - Free members only
  - Paid members only

Members can also control their own email preferences in the Portal.

Frequency Best Practices

The key is consistency. Subscribers should know when to expect emails. Irregular sending patterns lead to lower engagement and higher unsubscribe rates.

Email Analytics

Ghost provides built-in email analytics:

Metrics

Viewing Analytics

1. Go to the Posts list.
2. Posts sent as newsletters have an email icon.
3. Click the post to see email-specific analytics below the content.

Typical Benchmarks

Email Deliverability Best Practices

Do

• Authenticate your domain: Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records
• Use a consistent sender name: Use the same "From" name and email for all sends
• Warm up a new domain: Start with low volume and gradually increase
• Monitor bounce rates: Remove hard bounces from your list
• Provide clear unsubscribe: Ghost adds an unsubscribe link automatically

Do Not

• Buy email lists: This guarantees spam complaints and damages your sender reputation
• Send too frequently: High frequency leads to fatigue and unsubscribes
• Use misleading subject lines: Clickbait subject lines increase unsubscribe rates
• Ignore spam complaints: Analyze why people mark your email as spam

Common Mistakes

1. Not setting up DNS authentication: Without SPF and DKIM, email providers flag your newsletters as spam. Always configure Mailgun DNS records before sending to real subscribers.

2. Forgetting to click the newsletter toggle: The "Send as newsletter" option in the post editor defaults to your last choice. Check it before publishing. Missing this means your post is published but no email goes out.

3. Using a sandbox Mailgun domain: Mailgun sandbox domains can only send to authorized recipients. For real subscribers, use a verified custom domain.

4. Sending too frequently: If you publish 5 posts a day and all go as newsletters, subscribers get 5 emails daily. This causes fatigue and high unsubscribe rates. Be selective about which posts become emails.

5. Ignoring email analytics: If open rates are below 20%, your subject lines need work. If click rates are below 2%, your content is not compelling enough. Use analytics to improve.

Practice Questions

1. What DNS records are required for Mailgun email delivery? Answer: SPF (authorizes Mailgun to send for your domain), DKIM (cryptographically signs emails), and optionally MX (handles replies). Without these, emails are likely to land in spam.

2. How does Ghost decide when to send a newsletter? Answer: Ghost sends a newsletter when a post is published (or a scheduled post goes live) with the newsletter toggle enabled. Every newsletter is tied to a specific piece of content — there are no separate "broadcast" emails.

3. What email metrics does Ghost track? Answer: Ghost tracks sent count, unique opens (open rate), unique clicks (click rate), unsubscribes, and failed/bounced emails. These are shown per-post in the post analytics section.

4. Challenge: Set up complete email delivery for a Ghost site. Configure Mailgun with proper DNS records (SPF, DKIM), connect it to Ghost, create a test newsletter post with an engaging subject line, send it, verify delivery, and analyze the open/click analytics. Then create a "welcome email" Strategy for new subscribers.

FAQ

Mini Project

Your task: Set up a complete newsletter operation.

1. Create a Mailgun account and verify a domain with SPF, DKIM, and MX records.
2. Connect Mailgun to Ghost via SMTP or Mailgun API.
3. Configure newsletter settings: name, sender, header image, footer, colors.
4. Create a "Welcome" post that is sent as a newsletter to all new members.
5. Create a regular content post and send it as a newsletter.
6. Check email analytics for opens and clicks.
7. Document your email deliverability setup for future reference.

This exercise gives you a working newsletter system that reliably delivers branded emails to your subscribers.

What's Next

Now that newsletters are set up, learn how to manage your subscriber base:

Continue to Lesson 23: Subscriber Management — Member profiles, segments, and analytics.

Related lessons:

• Membership API — Custom member management
• Content Gating — Content strategies for members