Moving this over from the main support forum.

Is it possible to present users with a "join our mailing list" form (they enter their email address without needing to create an account), and then have this populated into the email addresses list in the backend? It would be easy to use a third-party service, but it would be nicer to be able to manage all this under one roof (public newsletter + member emails).

I don't mind writing a plugin if necessary, just want to know if b2evo architecture even allows it.

Running on 5.2.1-stable.

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After getting into it a bit, I can think of two approaches that might work.

The first is to implement the "join our mailing list" form as a blank comment form. So I would build a widget that contains a modified comment form, which only collects Name and Email. The problem is that while these emails are collected, and we have the option of emailing these users (via link on their comment -- not sure if it is available anywhere in the backoffice), it does not seem possible to add them to a new email campaign. I don't mind having to treat these emails a little differently, but would need some way of emailing them as a group.

The second is to create a modified registration form, that does not require a password -- one would be auto-generated and emailed to the user, and they would have to change their password on first login / when they validate their email account. This way they actually have user accounts, and can be included in email campaigns (even if they haven't validated their email??)

Both approaches seem to have pros and cons. I think I prefer the first approach - more transparent to the user - but it seems like it would involve a significant change to the admin interface (allowing email campaigns to people who have only submitted a comment). I am interested to hear which approach sounds more viable to you.