Emails not sending
WooCommerce emails not sending?
Order confirmations, new-order alerts and contact-form messages that never arrive cost you sales and trust. We make sure they land in the inbox.
Does this look familiar?
Email log
| To | Subject | Status |
|---|---|---|
| thandi@… | Your order #1042 has been received | Failed |
| orders@yourstore.co.za | [Your Store] New order #1042 | Failed |
| johan@… | Your order #1041 is complete | Failed |
SMTP Error: Could not authenticate.
Signs you’ve got this bug
- Customers say they never received their order confirmation.
- You don’t get new order notifications, so you find orders late.
- Emails arrive, but in spam or junk.
- Contact form messages go missing, and those are leads you never see.
- Password reset emails don’t arrive, so customers can’t log in.
Why it happens
By default WordPress sends email straight from your web server. Many hosts limit or block that, and inboxes like Gmail and Outlook treat it as suspicious. So emails either never leave, or go straight to spam.
The fix is to send through a proper mail service (SMTP) and set up your domain’s SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, which prove to inboxes that the email really comes from you. Wrong “from” addresses and disabled WooCommerce email settings are other common causes.
How we fix it
- Find where emails stopWe check WooCommerce email settings, your server’s mail logs and your domain’s DNS records.
- Set up proper sendingRoute store email through a reliable SMTP service that suits your volume.
- Authenticate your domainAdd or fix SPF, DKIM and DMARC, so inboxes trust your emails.
- Test every emailOrder received, processing, completed, new order, password reset and contact forms.
Questions
Why are my WooCommerce emails going to spam?
Usually because your domain isn’t authenticated (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) or email is sent straight from the web server. Inboxes don’t trust email they can’t verify.
Do I need a paid email service?
Not always. It depends on how many emails you send. We’ll recommend the simplest option that works reliably.
Will this affect my normal business email?
We check your existing email setup first, so fixing store emails doesn’t break your normal inbox.
Let’s get it sorted
Tell us what’s happening. A screenshot of the error helps. We’ll tell you what’s wrong and how we’ll fix it.