Trouble With WordPress Email Notifications?
If you’re having trouble with WordPress email notifications, and I know I’ve had my fair share, the best and easiest thing to do is to use Sendgrid to handle sending email for you instead of WordPress which uses PHP. First and foremost you should have already tested all your forms and other places where emails should be sent from (orders, contact forms, etc.). If you’re not getting those emails, then it’s likely there are issues with WordPress sending email.
Why does this happen? Well, the two main reasons are: one, due to server spam controls, and two, that your server is not configured to use the PHP mail() function. Don’t bother trying to figure out where the issue lies, save your time and setup a free Sendgrid account and use their servers to send email for your website instead. Sendgrid’s free account gives you up to 12,000 emails per month for free which should be more than enough for the average website. If you need more than that, then you probably do enough business with your website to be able to justify a paid account.
After you’ve created and configured your free account, you’ll want to download and install the free Sendgrid WordPress plugin. All you need to do with the plugin is input your API key (from your Sendgrid account), and then send yourself a test. You should also re-test all your forms and other places like before too just to make sure those work as well which they should. That’s pretty much it, you should now have emails flying out in all directions without any worries now that Sendgrid is handling them! The plugin for WordPress also provides some nice basic statistics on emails going out and you can also see much more detailed statistics in your Sendgrid account.
So, check your forms today and make sure emails are going out, and if you have any problems or need any help, drop me a line and I’d be happy to help!