Laravel 11 - NewsLetter Integration
Laravel 11 - NewsLetter Integration
In this tutorial, learn how to implement a newsletter system in Laravel 11. Automate email communication to keep subscribers informed, boost engagement, and improve audience retention with a seamless newsletter feature.
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Quick Overview
This guide walks you through adding newsletter subscription functionality to a Laravel application using the Spatie Newsletter package and MailChimp API. After setting up a fresh Laravel project, the necessary packages are installed and configured. A controller is created to manage subscription logic, including email validation and handling success or error messages. Routes and views are defined for the subscription form, and the process is tested on the local server. This approach provides a simple way to integrate a newsletter system into any Laravel project.
Step # 1 : Create fresh Laravel project or use existing project.
To create a new Laravel project named newsletter using the global command (requires Laravel to be installed globally) run.
laravel new newsletter
Or
Alternatively, you can use the non-global command with Composer to create the project.
composer create-project laravel/laravel --prefer-dist newsletter
After executing one of the commands, you will be prompted with the following options
- Would you like to install the starter kit? — Select none.
- Select the testing framework. — Choose Pest.
- Select the database for your application. — Choose mysql.
- Run the default database migration? — Select yes.
Step # 2 : Access the newsletter project.
Open a terminal (e.g., Git Bash) and navigate to your Laravel project's root directory.
cd c:xampp/htdocs/newsletter
Step # 3 : Install Newsletter package.
To integrate the Newsletter functionality into your Laravel project, use the following command to install the spatie/laravel-newsletter package via Composer.
composer require spatie/laravel-newsletter
This will add the necessary dependencies to your Laravel application for managing newsletter subscriptions.
Step # 4 : Publish the Newsletter configuration.
To publish the configuration for the Newsletter package, run the following command.
php artisan vendor:publish --tag="newsletter-config"
This will generate a newsletter.php configuration file inside the config directory, where you can adjust settings such as API keys and other preferences for the package.
Next, open the newsletter.php file and update the configuration. Change the driver from Mailcoach to Mailchimp, as we will be using Mailchimp for our newsletter management.
From
'driver' => env('NEWSLETTER_DRIVER', Spatie\Newsletter\Drivers\MailcoachDriver::class),
To
'driver' => env('NEWSLETTER_DRIVER', Spatie\Newsletter\Drivers\MailChimpDriver::class),
Update the endpoint from.
'driver_arguments' => [
'api_key' => env('NEWSLETTER_API_KEY'),
'endpoint' => env('NEWSLETTER_ENDPOINT'),
],
To
'driver_arguments' => [
'api_key' => env('NEWSLETTER_API_KEY'),
'endpoint' => env('NEWSLETTER_ENDPOINT', null),
],
Step # 5 : Install MailChimp package.
To integrate MailChimp with your application, you need to install the MailChimp API package. Use the following command to install it.
composer require drewm/mailchimp-api
Next, obtain your MailChimp API Key and List ID:
- Create a MailChimp account : If you don't have one already, sign up for a MailChimp account and log in. Once logged in, you'll be redirected to the Dashboard.
- Get the API Key: After logging in, click on your profile name in the top navigation bar and select Profile. Go to Extras and click on API keys. Click Create A Key to generate a new API key. Be sure to save the key securely, as you won’t be able to view it again.
- Get the List ID (Audience ID) : From the left navigation menu, click on Audience and then All contacts. Click on Settings, and you’ll find the Audience ID.
Open your .env file and add the following environment variables, replacing the placeholders with your actual API Key and List ID.
NEWSLETTER_API_KEY="Your API Key Here"
NEWSLETTER_LIST_ID="Your List ID Here"
Step # 6 : Create a controller
To handle newsletter subscriptions, you need to create a NewsletterController. Run the following command to generate the controller.
php artisan make:controller NewsletterController
Once the controller is created, replace the content of NewsletterController.php with the following code
<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Newsletter;
class NewsletterController extends Controller
{
// Render the subscription form view
public function index()
{
return view('form');
}
// Process the newsletter subscription
public function subscribe(Request $request)
{
// Validate the email input
$request->validate([
'email' => 'required|email',
]);
try {
// Check if the email is already subscribed.
if (Newsletter::isSubscribed($request->email)) {
// Redirect back with an error message if already subscribed.
return redirect()->back()->with('error', 'You have already subscribed to our Newsletters.');
} else {
// Subscribe the email to the newsletter
Newsletter::subscribe($request->email);
// Redirect back with a success message upon successful subscription
return redirect()->back()->with('success', 'You have successfully subscribed to our Newsletters.');
}
} catch (Exception $e) {
// Handle any errors and display the exception message
return redirect()->back()->with('error', $e->getMessage());
}
}
}
This controller handles displaying the subscription form and processing the email subscription logic, including validation, checking if the email is already subscribed, and managing success or error messages.
Step # 7 : Create & Update Routes.
First, import the NewsletterController class into your routes/web.php file.
use App\Http\Controllers\NewsletterController;
Next, update the default route and define a new route to handle the subscription process.
Route::get('/', [NewsletterController::class, 'index']);
Route::post('/subscribe', [NewsletterController::class, 'subscribe']);
The GET route (/) will render the subscription form on the homepage, allowing users to enter their email to subscribe, while the POST route (/subscribe) will handle the form submission, process the email input, and manage the subscription by adding the email to your MailChimp list if it’s valid and not already subscribed.
Step # 8 : Create a view.
Create a form.blade.php file with a simple subscription form, as shown in the code below, allowing users to enter their email and subscribe. It will also display success or error messages based on the subscription outcome.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Laravel Newsletter - Code Shortcut</title>
<!-- Tailwind CSS -->
<script src="https://cdn.tailwindcss.com"></script>
</head>
<body class="bg-gray-900 text-white flex items-center justify-center min-h-screen">
<div class="w-full max-w-md p-6 bg-white rounded-lg shadow-lg">
<h2 class="text-2xl font-semibold text-center mb-4 text-gray-800">Subscribe to Newsletter</h2>
<form action="{{ url('/subscribe') }}" method="post">
@csrf
<div class="mb-4">
<label for="email" class="block text-sm font-medium text-gray-800">Enter your email</label>
<input type="email" name="email" id="email" class="w-full p-3 mt-2 bg-gray-100 border border-gray-300 text-gray-800 rounded-md focus:outline-none focus:ring-2 focus:ring-blue-500" placeholder="Enter email">
<small class="block text-xs text-gray-600 mt-1">We'll never share your email with anyone else.</small>
@if(session()->has('error'))
<div class="mt-3 text-sm text-red-500">
{{ session()->get('error') }}
</div>
@endif
@if(session()->has('success'))
<div class="mt-3 text-sm text-green-500">
{{ session()->get('success') }
</div>
@endif
</div>
<button type="submit" class="w-full py-3 bg-blue-600 text-white font-semibold rounded-md hover:bg-blue-700 focus:outline-none focus:ring-2 focus:ring-blue-500">
Subscribe
</button>
</form>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Step # 9 : It's time to test.
Start the Laravel development server using the command.
php artisan serve
Then, open the browser and access the following URL.
127.0.0.1:8000
Try subscribing a user by entering their email.
If the user is already subscribed, the system will notify them with an appropriate message, such as You have already subscribed to our Newsletters.
Conclusion
By following this process, you can easily integrate a newsletter subscription system into your Laravel app. The Spatie Newsletter package and MailChimp API streamline subscription management, allowing users to subscribe and get notified accordingly. This setup is simple to implement and can be expanded for more advanced subscription features.
For more details please refer to the package documentation.
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