Why Do My Emails Fail to Send? Quick Solution

Kanti Kashyap

Are you facing the issue of email-delivery while working with WordPress?

It is one of the most common problems that many bloggers and digital marketers usually face. This is especially troublesome if you often send emails to communicate with the customers of your eCommerce website.

If you’re one of those WordPress users facing this issue, then don’t worry, we have a solution here.

In this article, I’ll discuss an awesome WordPress plugin i.e. WP Mail SMTP Pro by WPForms that will help you to fix email related issues.

What is SMTP?

SMTP is the main reason behind the failed email-delivery. The term SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol which is used to send emails across servers.

To ensure the email delivered successfully, you need to configure SMTP properly. If there is an authentication error, your emails can either go to the spam folder or fail to deliver.

Most Common Reasons When WordPress fails to Send Emails

The main reason behind the email sending failure is that WordPress uses the default PHP mail function to send emails by default. However several hosting servers are not configured to use this mail() function.

In general, when you choose a cheap hosting provider, it may not include email services in your pack. That’s why I recommend using a good web hosting provider for your WordPress website.

Most of the hosting services use various tools to reduce the number of email spam. These tools generally detect the email origin and its location.

And WordPress fails to send out an email. It put the email into the spam folder or even denies sending as well. That’s why you should consider SMTP to send emails from WordPress.

How to Fix If WordPress is Not Sending Email?

To resolve the issue of email delivery failure, you need to change the way of sending emails using SMTP. For this, there is a one-stop solution i.e. WP Mail SMTP by WPForms which is also known as the best SMTP plugin for WordPress.

It is a very flexible plugin that allows you to send emails through a trusted provider like Gmail, SendGrid, GSuite, Mailgun, and many other SMTPs.

This plugin is used by more than 1 million websites for SMTP emails. You can install WP Mail SMTP plugin for free but to access all the features, you have to upgrade to its PRO version.

Some of the powerful features of Pro Version are:

  • Outlook 365 — Send emails with Outlook 365 with Microsoft mailer
  • Amazon SES Mailer — Use the power of AWS with Amazon SES integration
  • Email Logging — Keep track of every email sent from your WordPress site
  • Email Control — Control notification that your WordPress site sends

How to get started with WP Mail SMTP Pro?

To fix this issue using WPForms plugin here’s the step by step process you need to follow:

1. Install the WP Mail SMTP Plugin

Firstly, you need to install and activate the plugin. For this, go to Plugins >> Add New. Now, type WP Mail SMTP in the search bar. Install and activate the plugin.

To unlock all features, upgrade to WP Mail SMTP Pro version.

Once you upgraded, enter and activate your license key to get started.

WP Mail SMTP License Key

2. Configure Settings

After activating the plugin, it’s time to configure the settings. To do this, WP Mail SMTP >> Settings and go to General Tab.

Under the Mail section, enter your email address and name which emails are sent from.

Configure Settings of WP Mail SMTP

Now, check the box next to Set the return-path to match them from email. If you left it unchecked, your bounce messages may be lost.

After scrolling below, you will be prompted to choose a mailer option. It allows you to set up SMTP using different options like PHP, Gmail, SendGrid or Mailgun. If your SMTP provider is different from them, you have to click on “Other SMTP“ option.

Select Mailer option

Now, enter the SMTP details you got from your hosting service provider or email service.

  • SMTP Host: the address of your mail (SMTP) server
  • Encryption: select the required encryption method. For secure manner, TLS and SSL is the recommended option.
  • SMTP Port: for TLS, use port 465 and for SSL, use port 587
  • Auto TLS: must be set to On.
  • Authentication: must be set to On.
  • SMTP Username: enter the username of your account.
  • SMTP Password: then enter the password for that email account

Other SMTP Settings

Below are the SMTP settings you’ll need to enter for the popular email services.

For Gmail SMTP Settings:

  1. SMTP Host: smtp.gmail.com
  2. SMTP Port: 465
  3. Encryption: Use SSL Encryption
  4. Authentication: YES

For Yahoo SMTP Settings:

  1. SMTP Host: smtp.mail.yahoo.com
  2. SMTP Port: 465
  3. Encryption: Use SSL Encryption
  4. Authentication: YES

3. Test your email

After configuring the settings, now it’s time to check whether email issue is resolved or not. So, in order to test the plugin to send emails, go to the Email Test tab next to the General settings section.

Next, enter the email address where you want to send the test email. You will get a confirmation message once the email was sent successfully.

confirmation message

Congratulations! you’ve successfully configured SMTP on your WordPress site. Now, you’ll surely get every single email in your inbox.

Final Words

After reading this article, you get the idea about how to fix if WordPress not sending emails. The free version of WP Mail SMTP plugin is good but in order to access the great features, I recommend you to upgrade to the Pro Version.

If you have any queries or suggestions about this tutorial, feel free to ask in the comment section below.

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About the author

Kanti Kashyap is a full-time Blogger, affiliate marketer, creative writer, and a big thinker. She loves to share her knowledge with others through blogging.

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