If you’re not receiving emails from your WordPress site, it could be because they’re being marked as spam, not delivered at all, or delivered to the wrong email address. There are a number of possible causes for this, but the most common is that your WordPress site isn’t configured to use SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) to send emails.

In this article, I’ll show you how to configure WordPress to use SMTP so that you (and your clients) can start receiving emails from your WordPress site.

What is SMTP and Why Should You Use It?

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the standard protocol for sending emails. When you enter an email address into a form on a website or in an email program like Outlook, the email is usually sent using SMTP.

WordPress uses the PHP mail function to send emails by default. However, this function often doesn’t work correctly, which can cause email delivery issues. For example, your hosting provider may be blocking outgoing email messages or your server may not be configured correctly.

Instead of using the default PHP mail function, you can configure WordPress to use SMTP to send emails.

This will usually fix delivery issues because SMTP is a more reliable way to send emails. In some cases, it may also help deliver messages to your inbox instead of your spam folder.

Configuring WordPress to use the Post SMTP Plugin

Post SMTP is a WordPress plugin that allows you to send SMTP emails via your WordPress site. The plugin is available for free from the WordPress plugin repository. This plugin has over 1 million installs and is currently being used on over 200,000 websites.

To configure the plugin, you will need to first install and activate it. Once the plugin is activated, you go to Settings -> Post SMTP to configure the plugin.

On the settings page, you will be required to enter your email address and password. You will also need to select which mail server you would like to use. Post SMTP supports all of the most popular mail servers. (If you are not sure, check with your hosting provider).

You can optionally provide a name for the sender in the ‘From Name’ field. If you leave this field blank, then your email address will be used as the sender’s name.

Once you have entered all of the required information, you click on the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page. Your WordPress site is now configured to send emails via the Post SMTP plugin. Use the “Send test email” option to check that everything is working correctly.

How to configure WordPress Email to send with Google Workspace

One exception to the above is if you use Google Workspace as your email client.

The Gmail SMTP plugin is the way I’d recommended way to send WordPress emails with Google Workspace.

It’s more reliable, doesn’t require you to enter your password, and means you will find the automated WordPress emails in your Gmail sent folder (something I often find very useful).

To configure the plugin, you will need to first install and activate it. Once the plugin is activated, go to Settings -> Gmail SMTP to configure the plugin.

The set-up is a little more complex than that of the Post SMTP plugin, as you have to create a Google API Key.

The plugin developers have created detailed step-by-step instructions, however, so you shouldn’t have any problems.

WordPress Email Problems: Solved!

I hope this article helped you learn how to configure WordPress with the Post SMTP plugin. If you’re still having trouble, then please feel free to get in touch and I’ll be more than happy to help you out.