diff --git a/lib/Config/Database.php b/lib/Config/Database.php
index 1fba7cd9b3..aa77a7db1c 100644
--- a/lib/Config/Database.php
+++ b/lib/Config/Database.php
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ class Database {
     $driver_options = array(
       'TIME_ZONE = "' . Env::$db_timezone_offset . '"',
       'sql_mode=(SELECT REPLACE(@@sql_mode,"ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY",""))',
+      'NAMES ' . Env::$db_charset . ' COLLATE ' . ENV::$db_collation,
     );
     $current_options = ORM::for_table("")
       ->raw_query('SELECT @@session.wait_timeout as wait_timeout')
@@ -91,4 +92,4 @@ class Database {
       define('MP_STATISTICS_FORMS_TABLE', $statistics_forms);
     }
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/lib/Config/Env.php b/lib/Config/Env.php
index a98c81220d..a9b24cdba4 100644
--- a/lib/Config/Env.php
+++ b/lib/Config/Env.php
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ class Env {
   static $db_username;
   static $db_password;
   static $db_charset;
+  static $db_collation;
+  static $db_charset_collate;
   static $db_timezone_offset;
   static $required_permission = 'manage_options';
 
@@ -62,7 +64,9 @@ class Env {
     self::$db_name = DB_NAME;
     self::$db_username = DB_USER;
     self::$db_password = DB_PASSWORD;
-    self::$db_charset = $wpdb->get_charset_collate();
+    self::$db_charset = $wpdb->charset;
+    self::$db_collation = $wpdb->collate;
+    self::$db_charset_collate = $wpdb->get_charset_collate();
     self::$db_source_name = self::dbSourceName(self::$db_host, self::$db_socket, self::$db_port);
     self::$db_timezone_offset = self::getDbTimezoneOffset();
   }
@@ -90,4 +94,4 @@ class Env {
     $mins -= $hrs * 60;
     return sprintf('%+03d:%02d', $hrs * $sgn, $mins);
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/lib/Config/Menu.php b/lib/Config/Menu.php
index d7fd69b633..d8ff36bf26 100644
--- a/lib/Config/Menu.php
+++ b/lib/Config/Menu.php
@@ -438,6 +438,7 @@ class Menu {
     wp_enqueue_media();
     wp_enqueue_script('tinymce-wplink', includes_url('js/tinymce/plugins/wplink/plugin.js'));
     wp_enqueue_style('editor', includes_url('css/editor.css'));
+
     $this->displayPage('newsletter/editor.html', $data);
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/Config/Migrator.php b/lib/Config/Migrator.php
index 9d4a2509c6..636926f559 100644
--- a/lib/Config/Migrator.php
+++ b/lib/Config/Migrator.php
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php');
 class Migrator {
   function __construct() {
     $this->prefix = Env::$db_prefix;
-    $this->charset = Env::$db_charset;
+    $this->charset_collate = Env::$db_charset_collate;
     $this->models = array(
       'segments',
       'settings',
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ class Migrator {
     $sql = array();
     $sql[] = "CREATE TABLE " . $table . " (";
     $sql = array_merge($sql, $attributes);
-    $sql[] = ") " . $this->charset . ";";
+    $sql[] = ") " . $this->charset_collate . ";";
 
     return implode("\n", $sql);
   }
diff --git a/lib/Config/Populator.php b/lib/Config/Populator.php
index 44dd1a4270..896b4559ca 100644
--- a/lib/Config/Populator.php
+++ b/lib/Config/Populator.php
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ class Populator {
   }
 
   function up() {
-    global $wpdb;
+    $this->convertExistingDataToUTF8();
 
     array_map(array($this, 'populate'), $this->models);
 
@@ -308,4 +308,60 @@ class Populator {
       )
     );
   }
+
+  /*
+   * MailPoet versions 3.0.0-beta.31 and older used the default MySQL connection
+   * character set, which usually defaults to latin1, but stored UTF-8 data.
+   * This method converts existing incorrectly stored data that uses the
+   * default character set, into a new character set that is used by WordPress.
+   */
+  public function convertExistingDataToUTF8() {
+    global $wpdb;
+
+    if(!version_compare(get_option('mailpoet_db_version'), '3.0.0-beta.31', '<=')) {
+      // Data conversion should only be performed only once, when migrating from
+      // older version
+      return;
+    }
+
+    $source_charset = $wpdb->get_var('SELECT @@GLOBAL.character_set_connection');
+    $destination_charset = $wpdb->get_var('SELECT @@SESSION.character_set_connection');
+
+    if($source_charset === $destination_charset) return;
+
+    $tables = array(
+      'segments' => array('name', 'type', 'description'),
+      'settings' => array('name', 'value'),
+      'custom_fields' => array('name', 'type', 'params'),
+      'sending_queues' => array('type', 'newsletter_rendered_body', 'newsletter_rendered_subject', 'subscribers', 'status'),
+      'subscribers' => array('first_name', 'last_name', 'email', 'status', 'subscribed_ip', 'confirmed_ip', 'unconfirmed_data'),
+      'subscriber_segment' => array('status'),
+      'subscriber_custom_field' => array('value'),
+      'newsletters' => array('hash', 'subject', 'type', 'sender_address', 'sender_name', 'status', 'reply_to_address', 'reply_to_name', 'preheader', 'body'),
+      'newsletter_templates' => array('name', 'description', 'body', 'thumbnail'),
+      'newsletter_option_fields' => array('name', 'newsletter_type'),
+      'newsletter_option' => array('value'),
+      'newsletter_links' => array('url', 'hash'),
+      'forms' => array('name', 'body', 'settings', 'styles'),
+    );
+
+    foreach($tables as $table => $columns) {
+      $query = "UPDATE `%s` SET %s";
+      $columns_query = array();
+      foreach($columns as $column) {
+        $columns_query[] = sprintf(
+          '`%1$s` = convert(cast(convert(`%1$s` using `%2$s`) as binary) using %3$s)',
+          $column,
+          $source_charset,
+          $destination_charset
+        );
+      }
+      $wpdb->query(sprintf(
+        $query,
+        $this->prefix . $table,
+        implode(', ', $columns_query)
+      ));
+    }
+  }
+
 }