01 logo

Sending Emails in WordPress: Everything You Need to Know

Learn how to send emails in WordPress utilizing various methods.

By Sofia TarhonskaPublished about a year ago 5 min read
1

With WordPress, send email function could be tricky to master. Sure, there’s wp_mail, but it’s unreliable for several reasons.

For example, WordPress web hosting services have different PHP mail configurations. Or they even block sending entirely to prevent spamming. Then, the native wp_mail has very limited capabilities when it comes to the type of emails you can send.

There are WordPress hosting providers that include usable configuration for each WordPress site, but it’s an exception rather than a rule. And if you’re tech-savvy, it’s possible to configure WordPress manually to ensure your emails get delivered.

Either way, this is a developer-minded guide that will lead you through different scenarios and show you how to integrate Mailtrap SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) with your WordPress site.

How does WP send emails?

In a nutshell, WP sends emails using PHP. And you have three options to send emails in WordPress – use the native wp_mail function, use a WordPress plugin, or manually set up an SMTP server using wp-config.php.

The following sections give you the steps for each method and tell you about potential downsides. Beyond that, you’ll learn how to test sending on WP, include CC and Bcc, format emails to HTML, and resolve common email service issues.

How to send emails from WordPress using wp_mail() function?

Wp_mail() represents a PHPMailer class wrapper that utilizes the hosting web server when sending emails. But there are 24 more WP functions that use wp_mail(); combine that and web server sending, and it’s not surprising that this method is unreliable.

Here are the steps wp_mail() function takes when attempting to send your emails.

1. The code snippet to specify the recipient, subject, message, etc., and prepare an email.

wp_mail( $to, $subject, $message, $headers, $attachments );

2. After preparation, wp_mail() calls the PHP mail function, which is in the PHPMailer lib, to give instructions to the server to send emails.

mail(to, subject, message, headers, parameters);

3. Your WordPress hosting provider attempts to deliver the email. More specifically, the hosting side servers request to use PHP mail to send emails. Then, these servers typically use SendMail or Postfix to route the emails to their destination, and the receiving host rejects or accepts them.

Rejects are quite often, and it’s not uncommon that your email won’t be sent out at all. As mentioned, this depends on several factors, primarily your WP hosting provider and the limitations of wp_mail() function.

Note that WordPress native function makes it tricky to build HTML templates or add attachments and images without additional tweaks. More importantly, it struggles with email headers, which is one of the reasons emails sent using native wp_mail() may land in spam.

How to send emails using the WordPress SMTP plugin?

Installing a WordPress SMTP plugin resolves many of the native configuration issues.

How?

For starters, a plugin reconfigures wp_mail () function to use SMTP rather than relying on PHP. Then, a plugin routes the outgoing email through an email sending service.

This may mean that you need to set up an account and verify your WordPress site with a third-party sending service.

Of course, there are a few steps to the process, and you’ll need an additional tool to get a reliable SMTP. But a combination of an email delivery platform such as Mailtrap and an email plugin gives you the upper hand to streamline your email delivery and protect your sender and domain reputation.

The following sections guide you through Mailtrap and WP Mail SMTP plugin setup.

1. Set up Mailtrap and verify your domain

Go to Mailtrap and create an account. Then, access Mailtrap in-app homepage and click Setup Domain under Email API.

Type your domain name into the designated field and click the Add Your Domain button. Next, copy-paste all DNS records Mailtrap provides to your domain provider’s DNS records.

Ensure all the DNS records are verified before moving to the next step. For more information about domain verification, check our Sending Domain Setup guide.

2. Mailtrap SMTP and Plugin installation

After verifying your domain, go to the next step and choose SMTP under API and SMTP Integrations.

Now, open your WordPress admin dashboard in another window, select Plugins, then Add New and install the WP Mail SMTP by WP Forms plugin.

After installation, hit Activate, go to WP Mail SMTP in the side menu, and then navigate to the plugin’s setting page.

Under the General tab, you can change the From Email (email sender) and From Name. The plugin populates these automatically with the WordPress account email and your domain name, respectively.

Scroll down to the Mailer section of the General tab, and select the Other SMTP to set up Mailtrap SMTP. The Mailer section also features Sendinblue, Mailgun, SendGrid, Amazon SES, Gmail SMTP, etc. Keep the selection at Other SMTP, and note that it’s important not to use PHP, which is selected by default.

3. Set up Mailtrap with WP Mail SMTP

Scroll down to add credentials for Other SMTP, and start copy-pasting Mailtrap SMTP settings into the designated fields.

The SMTP Host is send.smtp.mailtrap.io, as listed in the Integrations box. Then, choose TLS encryption in the plugin settings, and make sure the SMTP Port is 587, as recommended. Beyond that, keep Auto TLS and Authentication toggled on.

Then, copy-paste the Username and Password to the respective fields in the WP Mail SMTP plugin settings.

The default SMTP Username for Mailtrap users is api, and each user gets a unique password. We hide a chunk of the password for security reasons, so just hit the Copy button and paste it into the SMTP Password field.

Lastly, click the Save Settings button; you’ll see the confirmation notifications at the top of the WP Mail SMTP General tab.

Security Tip:

In this setup, the SMTP password gets stored as plain text. So it’s best to introduce another security layer within the wp-confonfig.php file using the two lines of code below.

define( 'WPMS_ON', true );

define( 'WPMS_SMTP_PASS', 'your_password' );

Note that the action disables the password field from the settings. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to securely access and use the SMTP service.

4. Test the settings

Click the Email Test tab in the WP Mail SMTP plugin menu, type the email to Send To, and hit the Send Email button. Keep the HTML option toggled on; once the test email is successfully sent, you’ll get a notification at the top of the tab.

Lastly, go back to Mailtrap and click the Verify Setup button to confirm the sending test. The email you send will also appear under Email Logs in our app.

Thank you for reading a part of our guide! Here’s a link to a complete version if you’d like to learn how to send emails in WordPress with attachments and other useful ways.

tech newshow tohackers
1

About the Creator

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

Sofia Tarhonska is not accepting comments at the moment

Want to show your support? Send them a one-off tip.

Find us on social media

Miscellaneous links

  • Explore
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Support

© 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.