How to ensure reliable email sending from your WordPress website

You may not have given it much thought, but your website can send emails just like you do. Well, not just like you do. But when actions occur on your website — when a form is submitted or a password reset is requested — an email notification can be sent.

WordPress is built to tap into the basic email setup of most web hosts so that sending emails works without too much tinkering. However, problems often arise that prevent emails from sending properly. And you may not notice when you don’t receive that first contact form submission. Or the second or third one…

Use a transactional email service

So how can you ensure that emails get where they are supposed to go? Instead of relying on your web host’s server to send your email, use a transactional email provider. For years now, we’ve partnered with one such provider — Postmark —with great success.

There are three reasons you should consider using a transactional email service:

1. Transparency: Not sure if all the emails your website sends are getting through? Wouldn’t it be nice to know? With Postmark integrated you can see a full log of emails sent along with a status to confirm if each was received or encountered an error.
2. Branding: Emails sent through your web host won’t appear as coming from you. They may have an obscure email address and are often flagged as spam because of their generic nature. Using Postmark, emails can be sent from your actual email address, e.g.: name@myorginization.com.
3. Quantity: Many web hosts place a limit on the number of emails your website can send per hour or day. There is no such limit using a transactional service. So there’s no worry if you suddenly have a lot of contact form submissions, payment notifications, or petition signatories.

We provide Postmark for email to all of our clients with support plans, and it’s proved invaluable for its reliability (always works!) and clarity (“Yes, you did get that password reset email on…”).

Downside? We haven’t found one yet. Postmark maintains a plugin that makes getting set up easy, and they offer a free plan of up to 100 emails per month.

Questions about your email reliability or capabilities? Speak up today at https://fiatinsight.com/contact.