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Keeping MailerLite as a pipe: the MailerLite bridge

Some services, BookFunnel among them, can only send new readers to a short list of email platforms, and Penomaly may not be on that list yet. The MailerLite bridge lets you keep a MailerLite account just for that job. A reader claims your book on BookFunnel, BookFunnel adds them to a MailerLite group, and the bridge brings them onto your Penomaly list a moment later. You write and send from Penomaly as normal.

The bridge does nothing at all until you paste your MailerLite API key, choose your groups and press Turn on.

What it does

  • New readers come across. When a reader is added to a MailerLite group you ticked, they are added to the Penomaly list you chose for it, with the tags you set. The tag starts as the group's name, which is the same tag your readers imported from that group already have.
  • No second confirmation email. The reader already signed up with MailerLite, so Penomaly does not ask them to confirm again, even on a list that normally asks. Penomaly keeps a consent record for them that names where they came from (BookFunnel via MailerLite, when it can tell) and the date and IP address MailerLite recorded.
  • Welcome emails, if you want them. With Start automations for these readers ticked (it starts ticked), a bridged reader starts the welcome series for their list or tags, exactly as if they had signed up on one of your Penomaly pages. Untick it to add them quietly.
  • Leaving works both ways. A reader who unsubscribes, reports spam or bounces in MailerLite is blocked in Penomaly too. A reader who unsubscribes, reports spam or hard-bounces in Penomaly is set to unsubscribed in MailerLite within a minute or so.
  • Blocked readers stay blocked, with one exception. If someone is on your blocked list in Penomaly, the bridge does not add them back. The exception is a reader who unsubscribed and then signed up again in MailerLite (for example, claimed your book on BookFunnel a second time) after they left: their latest choice wins, so they come back onto the list they signed up through. A spam complaint, a bounce, or someone you removed yourself is never brought back, and neither is a reader who unsubscribed on Penomaly after their last MailerLite signup.
  • Returning readers are caught too. When a reader who is already in MailerLite signs up again, MailerLite simply sets them back to active and does not report a new signup. The bridge listens for that change as well. If you turned the bridge on before 15 October 2026, Penomaly adds this to your MailerLite webhook by itself the next time you open the bridge page (or within a few minutes, from the background worker); you do not need to turn the bridge off and on.
  • An hourly check for anyone missed. Once an hour, while the bridge is on, Penomaly reads the active readers in each MailerLite group you ticked and brings across anyone who signed up since the bridge went on but is not active on your Penomaly list, using exactly the same rules as above. It only ever adds: it never unsubscribes, blocks or removes anyone, and it never changes anything in MailerLite. Bridge status shows the result under Reconciled. Readers who were in the group before you turned the bridge on are left to your import and to Catch up.

Setting it up

  1. In MailerLite, open Integrations, then API, and press Generate new token. Give it a name you will recognise, such as Penomaly bridge, and copy the token.
  2. In Penomaly, open Settings, find Integrations, and press Set up or check beside MailerLite bridge.
  3. Paste the token into API key and press Save and test. You should see "Connected" and the number of groups MailerLite has. From then on Penomaly shows only its last four characters; the settings page says whether the stored key is encrypted.
  4. Under Which groups to bring across, tick the group BookFunnel adds your readers to. Choose the Penomaly list they should join, check the tags, and press Save.
  5. Press Turn on. The heading changes to The bridge is ON. Penomaly has asked MailerLite to tell it about new readers, and you will see a webhook called Penomaly bridge in MailerLite under Integrations, Webhooks. Leave it there.

Testing it with your own address

Do this once after turning the bridge on, so you know it works before a real reader relies on it.

  1. In MailerLite, open Subscribers, press Add subscriber, type an email address of your own (one that is not already on your Penomaly list), and add it to the group you ticked.
  2. In Penomaly, open Settings, MailerLite bridge, and look at Bridge status. Within a minute, Last event from MailerLite should show the time, and Readers added to a list should go up by one.
  3. Open Subscribers in Penomaly and search for your address. It should be on the list you chose, with the tag.
  4. Now unsubscribe that address in MailerLite (open the subscriber and choose Unsubscribe). Back in Penomaly, refresh Bridge status: Unsubscribes, bounces and complaints from MailerLite goes up by one, and the address shows as unsubscribed.
  5. Delete the test address from both places when you are done.

If nothing arrives after a few minutes, wait for the hourly check (the Reconciled line shows when it last ran) or check Last problem on the same page, then press Test connection. If the key works and still nothing arrives, turn the bridge off and on again, which registers a fresh webhook.

Catching up

The bridge passes opt-outs on from the moment you turn it on. Anyone who left before that, in either place, is not covered by it. 4. Catch up on the bridge page finds them.

  1. Press Check what is out of step. Penomaly reads every unsubscribed, bounced and spam (junk) reader in your whole MailerLite account, not only the groups you ticked, because leaving anywhere means they asked not to be emailed. It also checks every reader who unsubscribed, reported spam or hard-bounced on Penomaly against MailerLite. Keep the page open while it runs; a big account can take a few minutes. Checking changes nothing in either place.
  2. Read what it found. You see two numbers, to block on Penomaly and to unsubscribe in MailerLite, and a list of addresses with the reason for each. The list shows the first 200; Download the full list (CSV) has them all.
  3. To apply it, the bridge must be on. Type the number shown and press Catch up now. Readers to block on Penomaly are blocked straight away, with the reason MailerLite gave: unsubscribed, bounced, or spam complaint. Readers to unsubscribe in MailerLite are queued and go through about one a second. Bridge status shows the result under Last catch-up.

What it will never do:

  • It never subscribes anyone, in either place, and never adds a new contact to MailerLite. Someone Penomaly blocked who is not in MailerLite at all is simply skipped.
  • It never changes a reader who is already blocked on Penomaly. A spam complaint stays a spam complaint, even if MailerLite says they only unsubscribed.
  • It does not send back what came from MailerLite. Readers you imported from MailerLite, or that MailerLite already reported, are left alone. So are readers you removed by hand and soft bounces (full mailboxes).

A check is good for 24 hours. After that, press Check again. Running it again after catching up is safe: it should say "Nothing is out of step".

Turning it off

Press Turn off. Penomaly stops acting on anything from MailerLite straight away and removes the webhook from your MailerLite account. Readers already brought across stay on your Penomaly list. If MailerLite cannot be reached at that moment, the bridge is still off in Penomaly; the page tells you to delete the webhook called Penomaly bridge in MailerLite by hand.

To change or remove the key, turn the bridge off first.