How It Works

The Email Marketing plugin automatically syncs contacts to external providers when platform events occur.

Event-Driven Sync

The plugin hooks into two platform events:

User Registration

When a new user registers:

1. Plugin captures the user.registered event
2. Extracts user details (name, email, user type)
3. Calls syncContact() with tags: user_type:<type>, source:xilancer
4. Contact is pushed to all enabled providers

Order Payment

When an order is paid:

1. Plugin captures the order.paid event
2. Extracts client (buyer) details
3. Calls syncContact() with tags: source:xilancer, event:order_paid
4. Contact is pushed to all enabled providers

Sync Process

Platform Event (registration/order)
        │
        ▼
  EmailMarketingPlugin hook handler
        │
        ▼
  syncContact() — iterates enabled providers
        │
        ├──▶ MailchimpProvider::subscribe()
        ├──▶ SendGridProvider::subscribe()
        ├──▶ BrevoProvider::subscribe()
        ├──▶ ... (all enabled providers)
        │
        ▼
  Each makes HTTP call to provider API
  Failures logged, never break platform flow

Contact Data

Each synced contact includes:

Tags Applied

• source:xilancer — All contacts
• user_type:client or user_type:freelancer — Registration events
• event:order_paid — Order payment events
• test-connection — Test subscriptions

Fire-and-Forget Design

Contact pushes are non-blocking:

• Platform events (registration, order) complete immediately
• Provider API calls happen asynchronously
• Failures are logged via report() but never interrupt user flow
• No retry mechanism for failed API calls

Data Flow

No Local Storage

The plugin does NOT store contacts locally:

• No database migrations
• No local contact table
• All data goes directly to external providers
• Plugin configuration stored in static_options table

Provider Fan-Out

A single event can push to all 10 providers simultaneously:

• Each provider receives the same contact data
• Each provider handles the data according to their API
• Failures in one provider don't affect others

Limitations

• No unsubscribe — Only subscribe operations supported
• No webhooks — No inbound bounce/complaint handling
• No retry — Failed API calls are logged once
• Synchronous HTTP — 30-second timeout per provider
• Test contacts — Test endpoint creates real contacts in provider accounts

Last updated: September 2026