Symptoms

Signs your WordPress email is broken

If any of these sound familiar, PHP mail is almost certainly the problem.

โœ•
Contact form submissions never arrive
Form confirms sent โ€” but the email never shows up
โœ•
WooCommerce order confirmations going to spam
Or not arriving at all
โœ•
Password reset emails not received
Admin and customer resets both affected
โœ•
New user registration emails missing
Both admin notification and user welcome email
!
Emails arrive from different recipients but not others
Provider-specific filtering or blacklisting
!
Works on some servers but breaks on others
Hosting-specific PHP mail configuration
Our process

How we fix it

We replace unreliable PHP mail with proper SMTP and authenticate your domain properly.

01
Audit current setup

We check your current mail config, DNS records, and SPF/DKIM/DMARC โ€” identifying exactly what's failing.

~30 mins
02
Configure SMTP

We replace PHP mail with a reputable transactional provider (Postmark, SendGrid, or Mailgun) via WP Mail SMTP.

1โ€“2 hrs
03
Authenticate domain

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records configured on your DNS so major providers trust your outbound mail.

~1 hr + DNS propagation
04
Test & verify

Every email type tested end-to-end โ€” forms, orders, password resets. We confirm inbox placement before signing off.

~30 mins
Root cause

Why it's broken

PHP mail โ€” WordPress's default โ€” is fundamentally unreliable.

PHP mail is unauthenticated
WordPress's default mail() function sends from your web server with no authentication. Modern email providers treat this as spam.
No SPF/DKIM records
Without these DNS records, recipients can't verify your email is genuinely from your domain โ€” it goes straight to spam.
Shared hosting IP reputation
On shared hosting, you share an IP with other senders. If any are sending spam, your legitimate mail suffers.
No bounce handling
PHP mail has no mechanism for handling bounces or complaints, which degrades your sender reputation over time.
How it works

Get your email working

We handle fixes as part of a care plan โ€” so you're not just sorted today, you're protected going forward by the same team who fixed it.

Build
ยฃ149/mo +VAT
4 hrs / quarter

Good for:

  • Sites that need more than just maintenance
  • Owners who want things done, not managed
  • Businesses actively growing their web presence

No contracts ยท UK support team ยท 3-month minimum

FAQ

Common questions

Will this affect my Google Workspace inbox?
+
No โ€” they're separate. SMTP setup only affects mail sent by your WordPress site (forms, orders, resets). Your Google Workspace inbox is unaffected.
Do I need to pay for a transactional email service?
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Yes, but most small sites qualify for a free tier (Postmark and SendGrid both offer up to ~100 emails/day free). Paid plans start at around ยฃ8โ€“15/month for higher volumes.
How long does it take?
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The technical work takes a few hours. DNS changes can take up to 24 hours to propagate, but we schedule the work around that.
Will WooCommerce emails be fixed too?
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Yes. WooCommerce uses WordPress's mail system, so configuring SMTP fixes all transactional emails โ€” orders, status updates, customer notifications, everything.
Related

Also useful

Emails not arriving? We'll fix it properly.

SMTP setup, DNS authentication, and end-to-end testing โ€” included in every care plan. Apply and we'll sort it as part of onboarding.

UK team ยท No contracts ยท Reply within 1 business day