We know how it feels when you send an email from WordPress and it fails to reach your audience or ends up as spam.

If your website is built on WordPress & email marketing is a vital way to connect with your audience then it’s a disaster! Because your recipients won’t receive your marketing or transactional messages.

So, you are desperately looking for a solution to get rid of this issue and we are here to help.

In this article, we’ll discuss why your WordPress site is failing to send emails and how you can fix this problem and start sending emails without any interruption.

Why is WordPress failing to send emails?

There might be several reasons why your WordPress website is failing to send emails to the recipients. So, before going into the solution you need to discover the reasons hampering your email communication. 

That’s why we have presented some of the most common causes of WordPress email deliverability issues. Let’s explore the top reasons your WordPress website isn’t sending emails:

Incorrect server configuration

One of the most common reasons for facing this problem is your WordPress hosting server isn’t set up properly. That’s because your WordPress site attempts to use your web hosting server and its wp_mail() function, which relies on the PHP mail() function for delivering emails. 

As a result, this scenario results in the following consequences:

• Some web hosts treat the PHP mail() function as spammy and ban it. This impedes your WordPress website from sending emails in the default configuration.

• In some cases, the host may permit the PHP mail() function but it’s mainly designed for hosting instead of sending emails. So, either you won’t be able to send emails, or your emails will hit the spam folder.

Emails hitting the spam folder

Some WordPress users claim that they have successfully sent the email but it’s not reaching the recipients inbox. And that’s because they are using the default PHP mail() function which lacks authenticity and ends up in the spam folder.

Nowadays email clients use powerful spam detectors which inspect the authentication of the email by using SPF and DKIM technology. So, these technologies check the emails sent from WordPress and mark them as spam.

Contact form plugin sending spoof emails

Many WordPress users send emails using contact form plugins which are sometimes flagged as spoof by the email clients. The term spoof is almost similar to spamming and email clients detect them as suspicious.

The major reason for marking them as spoofs is because they originate from an address that differs from the one listed in the From field received by the audience. 

So, when a contact form plugin is used to automatically fill in the From field with the email address of a person but the email is arriving from WordPress, it triggers the email client to mark it as spam.

Third-party plugins issue 

WordPress users often use third-party plugins to carry out various operations. On a few occasions, some WooCommerce and form plugins fail to send notifications. It’s because of bugs in the third-party plugins or the email is flagged as spam.

How to fix the WordPress email deliverability issue

If there’s a problem, there’s a solution too! The same goes for the WordPress email deliverability issue. The best and most effective solution that we can offer you is to replace the default wp_mail() function with a reliable SMTP plugin.

So, let’s discover how you can solve the WordPress email-sending problem and start sending your emails without any hassle:

Select a reliable SMTP plugin

The first thing you need to do is to select a reliable SMTP plugin for your WordPress website. Now what’s an SMTP plugin?

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol which ensures the email deliverability of a WordPress site by altering the way your email reaches the destination with proper authentication.

An SMTP plugin will replace the default wp_mail() function and use a reliable email delivery service to ensure your emails are reaching their destination.

So, you need to choose a reliable SMTP plugin for your WordPress website. Following are some of the most popular SMTP plugins which you can use:

• Fluent SMTP: If you are looking for a complete SMTP plugin that offers everything and costs you nothing then Fluent SMTP  is the go-to option. It comes with lots of powerful & impressive features and supports most email service providers. It’s an amazing SMTP plugin for WordPress because it’s super reliable and forever free.

• WP Mail SMTP: WP Mail SMTP offers both free and pro versions with amazing features. It supports popular email service providers. However, to enjoy the advanced features you need to upgrade to the pro version which starts from $99/year for a single domain.

• Easy WP SMTP: Easy WP SMTP is a simple and lightweight SMTP plugin packed with important features required for sending emails.  It supports limited email service providers and will cost you $99/year for one domain for pro features.

• POST SMTP: POST SMTP is a next-generation WordPress SMTP plugin that empowers WordPress websites for reliable mailing. It’s user-friendly and easy to set up. Also, it has some amazing features and it costs you nothing.

• WP Offload SES Lite: The last call goes to WP Offload SES Lite which will solve the email deliverability issue of your WordPress site using Amazon SES. But to extract its full potential you need to upgrade to the pro version which is called WP Offload SES and will cost you $99/year for one domain.

So, select the best match for your business from these SMTP plugins and install it on your WordPress website. 

Select an email service provider

The next thing you need to do is to select an email service provider for your website. Many email service providers will let you send a limited amount of emails for free but if you want to send a bulk amount of emails then you have to consider the paid plans.

Also, if you are a businessman who sends transactional emails regularly then you have to upgrade to the pro version to take full advantage.

Now following are some of the best email services that you can consider for your site:

• Amazon SES: Amazon SES is a reliable email service provider that can be used to send large amounts of emails. The best thing about Amazon SES is you have to pay for only the service you are using like marketing email sending, transactional email sending, newsletter campaigns, etc.

• SendGrid: SendGrid is another great option to consider because it offers 100 free emails /day. It uses its own mail server to send bulk emails to the recipients. But you have to upgrade to the pro plans to use advanced features and services.

• Mailgun: Mailgun offers 5,000 free emails for 1 month before considering the pro plans. So, it’s a great opportunity for anyone to check out their service before spending a penny. If your emails exceed the limit then you have to spend $ 1 for 1000 emails.

• Brevo: Brevo is another great alternative to consider to send transactional emails from your WordPress site. With Brevo you’ll be able to send 300 emails/day for free. It also offers competitive monthly packages depending on the business. You can select your monthly target volume and enjoy their paid service.

Configure SMTP plugin with email service

Once you are done with selecting the right SMTP plugin and email service for your WordPress site the next thing you need to do is to configure the SMTP plugin with the email service to start sending WordPress emails.

You can configure it in two ways:

• Using SMTP credentials: In this method, you can integrate the SMTP credentials within the email service that supports SMTP and start sending your emails

• Integrating API key: Another way to connect your SMTP plugin with the email service provider is to integrate the API key within WordPress. Your email service will provide you API key for configuration. 

In our case, we’ll discuss API integration since it’s the most effective and reliable approach. 

So, how to do that? No worries! Follow the following instructions to successfully integrate the API key from the email service provider with WordPress.

• First, go to your WordPress dashboard and then go to Plugins>Add New search for the SMTP plugin that you want to install

In our case, we have installed Fluent SMTP on our WordPress site.

• The next thing you need to do is create an account on your preferred email service provider’s website and select a plan/package according to your business and expected monthly email 

• After successfully creating an account on the email service provider’s website you’ll receive an API key which is required to integrate the SMTP plugin with your desired email service in WordPress. Collect the API key from them and store it carefully because you may not receive it again.

• Once you have collected the API key, go to your SMTP plugin setting. For example, if you use Fluent SMTP then go to Settings>Fluent SMTP>Settings>Add Another Connection and you’ll discover all the available connection providers.

• From this list, you need to select your email service provider. In our case, we have selected SendGrid and a new interface will appear like this:

Here you need to fill out the From Email which is the email you used to create an account on the email service provider’s website, the From Name is your name or your business name and finally, the API Key which you collected from the email service.

Once done just click on Save Connection Setting to save changes.

• Finally to check if everything is working or not, send a test email from your WordPress website. If you have followed our instructions carefully and implemented them accordingly, your test email will hit the recipient’s inbox.

That means you have successfully solved the email deliverability issue of your WordPress website and from now on, your WordPress emails will reach the recipient’s inbox without any hassle.

Final thoughts

Emails are a great way to connect with people. But failing to send emails or ending up in the spam folder means losing this great opportunity. 

But that won’t happen again! We believe this article will greatly help you overcome this challenge and make your email marketing journey flawless in WordPress.

The SMTP plugin and email service combo will fix this issue and your messages from WordPress will be delivered to your audience.

Author Bio:

Md Aminul Islam Tuhin is a content writer at WPManageNinja. He specializes in content writing & email marketing. When he isn’t doing any of these, you’ll find him playing his favorite games.