Create a Daily Digest Email of New Posts Sent to Subscribers in WordPress (with PHP & wp_cron)

 

Want to keep your users engaged without bombarding them with emails every time a new post goes live? A daily digest email is the perfect solution — it summarizes all published content within the last 24 hours and sends it automatically to your subscriber list.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to build a lightweight digest system in WordPress using wp_cron and native wp_mail() — no third-party plugins required.

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🧩 What You’ll Build

• A wp_cron task that runs daily

• A query to fetch all posts published in the last 24 hours

• A formatted HTML email with post titles and links

• An email delivery function sent to admin or subscribed users

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✅ Step 1: Schedule the Daily Cron Event

You’ll first set up a recurring task using wp_schedule_event.

function setup_daily_digest_cron() {

    if (!wp_next_scheduled('send_daily_digest_event')) {

        wp_schedule_event(time(), 'daily', 'send_daily_digest_event');

    }

}

add_action('wp', 'setup_daily_digest_cron');

And register the callback hook:

add_action('send_daily_digest_event', 'send_daily_digest_email');

🔍 Step 2: Fetch Posts Published in the Last 24 Hours

Use WP_Query to retrieve content between now and yesterday:

function get_posts_from_last_day() {

    $args = array(

        'post_type'      => 'post',

        'post_status'    => 'publish',

        'posts_per_page' => -1,

        'date_query'     => array(

            array(

                'after' => '24 hours ago',

            ),

        ),

    );

    return get_posts($args);

}

Step 3: Format the Digest Email

Build a basic HTML layout with post titles and links:

function generate_daily_digest_body($posts) {

    if (empty($posts)) {

        return false;

    }

    $output = '<h2>Daily Digest - Latest Posts</h2><ul>';

    foreach ($posts as $post) {

        $title = esc_html(get_the_title($post->ID));

        $link  = esc_url(get_permalink($post->ID));

        $output .= "<li><a href='{$link}'>{$title}</a></li>";

    }

    $output .= '</ul>';

    return $output;

}

 Step 4: Send the Email

Now put it all together and send the email using wp_mail().

function send_daily_digest_email() {

    $posts = get_posts_from_last_day();

    $body = generate_daily_digest_body($posts);

    if (!$body) {

        return;

    }

    $to = get_option('admin_email'); // or your custom subscriber list

    $subject = 'Your Daily Blog Digest';

    $headers = array('Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8');

    wp_mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers);

}

 Step 5: Testing and Customization

You can test the function manually:

// Run it once manually for testing

// send_daily_digest_email();

Optional enhancements:

• Add a settings page to let admins customize recipients

• Use a custom user role or checkbox to opt-in users

• Track delivery or open rate with UTM links

• Send different digests per category or tag

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🧠 Summary

This simple system runs daily and emails your site’s latest posts automatically — perfect for:

• Blogs

• News portals

• Member communities

• Intranets

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