As an eCommerce store owner, it’s essential to ensure that customers promptly receive their receipts and order update emails.
When WooCommerce fails to send order emails, it can disrupt your operations and cause concern for customers. Fortunately, this is a frequent issue that can be easily resolved.
We manage multiple eCommerce stores where we routinely send emails to customers regarding their orders, payments, and more. We utilize plugins like WP Mail SMTP to guarantee that our emails reach our customers’ inboxes without fail.
In this article, we will guide you through a straightforward method to resolve the issue of WooCommerce not sending order emails.
What Causes WooCommerce Emails to Fail?
If you operate an online store, you depend on email communication to keep your business functioning effectively.
Emails are essential for welcoming new customers and nurturing your relationship with them. They are used to confirm orders, follow up on abandoned shopping carts, and allow customers to reset their passwords.
Unfortunately, many eCommerce sellers report issues with WooCommerce not sending emails.
This problem often arises from common issues within your WooCommerce settings. We will guide you on how to review those settings first.
Sometimes, the issue lies in how WordPress handles email delivery. By default, WordPress uses PHP mail to send emails, but not all hosting providers have PHP mail configured correctly.
Even if your emails are sent without errors, they might end up in the spam folder. This could result in them being automatically deleted before anyone has a chance to read them.
To ensure your emails are delivered consistently, it’s best to use an SMTP service for sending them.
We will guide you through the process of setting up an SMTP server later in this guide. First, let’s troubleshoot to confirm that your WooCommerce settings are properly configured.
Verify WooCommerce Email and Order Settings
The first step is to review your WooCommerce email and order settings. If any setting is incorrect, your order emails may not be sent.
Review WooCommerce Email Settings
We will begin by ensuring that your email notifications are not accidentally turned off. To do this, go to WooCommerce » Settings in your WordPress dashboard and select the Emails tab.
In this section, you will find a list of all the notification emails that WooCommerce sends. Some are directed to you, while others go to your customers. It’s important to check the settings for each email.
Let’s begin by checking the ‘New Order’ email by clicking the ‘Manage’ button on the right.
You need to verify two settings. First, ensure that the email is enabled. It can sometimes be accidentally disabled, which means the email won’t be sent unless the box is checked.
Second, confirm that the recipient’s email address is accurate. This setting is only available for emails that will be sent to you.
When an email is sent to the customer, the correct email address will be automatically used.
You can repeat this process for each type of email in the list. If everything appears to be in order, we should check the status of each order where WooCommerce did not send an order email.
Check WooCommerce Payment Status
You will need to go toWooCommerce » Ordersto review the status of recent orders. If you don’t have any orders yet, create a test order and return to this step.
If the order status is ‘Pending Payment’ as shown in this example, that explains why an email was not sent. By default, WooCommerce does not send an order email for pending transactions.
This is intentional because the transaction has not been completed yet. WooCommerce waits for payment confirmation before sending a receipt to prevent customer confusion.
If the order status shows ‘Processing,’ it indicates an issue. An email should have been sent to both you and the customer. If it’s not in the inbox, it may have been filtered into the spam folder.
This is a frequent issue with WooCommerce and WordPress emails. The most effective solution is to utilize an SMTP server for sending your emails.
Enhance WordPress Email Reliability with an SMTP Server Plugin
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the industry standard for email transmission. To grasp its advantages, consider the default WordPress email function as akin to sending a letter without a return address.
While it might reach its destination, there’s a significant chance it could get lost or classified as junk mail.
Employing an SMTP service is comparable to hiring a reputable courier like FedEx or UPS. It ensures proper authentication, allowing email providers to recognize your messages as valid and deliver them directly to the inbox.
WP Mail SMTP is the top SMTP plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce. It’s the simplest way to guarantee that your order emails reach your customers’ inboxes.
We implement it on our own eCommerce sites, and it has noticeably enhanced our email deliverability rates. For more details on its features and performance, check out our comprehensive WP Mail SMTP review.
You can integrate it with any leading SMTP service provider, such as SendLayer, by using an API key. This allows you to send a high volume of emails securely while avoiding spam filters.
Additionally, SendLayer’s Starter plan allows you to send up to 1,000 emails each month. Their pricing plans are budget-friendly, and you receive valuable insights into your bounce rates to help identify any delivery problems.
To sign up, go to the SendLayer website and click on the ‘Get Started With SendLayer’ button.
Next, select a plan that suits your needs on the pricing page and create your account.
After setting up your account, you will see a ‘Continue to Dashboard’ button. Click it to proceed to the next step.
This will take you to your SendLayer dashboard, where you need to verify your domain name so that email servers recognize you as an authorized sender.
To verify your domain, click the ‘Add Domain’ button located at the top right corner.
This action will open a new page where you can enter your website address.
Then, click the ‘Add Domain’ button to complete the process.
💡Bonus Tip:Before moving on to the next step, let’s briefly discuss what DNS records are.
Consider these as a digital signature for your website. They confirm to email services that your emails are genuinely sent by you, not by a spammer.
Incorporating these is essential to ensure your emails are recognized as trustworthy and successfully delivered. Fortunately, this is typically a one-time setup.
After completing this step, SendLayer will create five different types of DNS records for your domain. You will need to input these records into your hosting dashboard.
Please note that the specific location of the DNS settings may vary based on your hosting provider, but SendLayer offers documentation to assist you.
Once you’ve added these details, return to your dashboard and check the box labeled ‘I have added these DNS records and am ready to proceed.’ Then, click the ‘Verify DNS Records’ button.
Keep in mind that it may take up to 48 hours for the changes to the DNS records to take effect. For further information, refer to our tutorial on configuring your WordPress email settings correctly.
Now, it’s time to obtain your SendLayer API key. To do this, click the ‘Settings’ tab in the left column, then navigate to the ‘API Keys’ tab.
Here, click the ‘Show API Key’ link and copy the key to your clipboard.
First, go to your WordPress dashboard to install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin. For detailed instructions, refer to our guide on installing a WordPress plugin.
Important:The free version of WP Mail SMTP is sufficient for this tutorial. However, the Elite plan offers a White Glove Setup service, where a professional will configure the plugin for you.
Once activated, the WP Mail SMTP setup wizard will launch automatically. Click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button to proceed.
Next, select SendLayer as your preferred SMTP service and click the ‘Save and Continue’ button.
You will then need to configure your mailer settings.
At this stage, enter the API Key you copied earlier into the provided field.
The specific steps you need to follow will vary based on the mailer service you selected.
👆 Important:If you would rather skip the wizard and set up WP Mail SMTP manually, you can find detailed manual instructions in our comprehensive guide on configuring WP Mail SMTP with any SMTP service.
The setup wizard will prompt you to enter a ‘From Email.’ Ensure you use the same business email address that you provided when setting up your SMTP mailing service.
You will be prompted to choose which email features you want to enable.
To resolve the issue of WooCommerce not sending emails, you need to enable ‘Improved Email Deliverability’ and ‘Email Error Tracking,’ which are selected by default.
If you have purchased WP Mail SMTP Pro, you will gain access to additional features.For instance, the ‘Detailed Email Logs’ feature allows you to verify individual emails to ensure they are being sent successfully.
The Pro version also provides the option to resend any failed emails.
This feature is particularly useful if a customer has entered an incorrect email address. Additionally, you will receive email reports and a weekly summary regarding your email deliverability status and statistics.
After selecting your preferred email features, click the ‘Save and Continue’ button.
Next, you will be asked how you want to store the contents of your emails. We recommend selecting all available options.
By checking the option ‘Store the content for all sent emails,’ you will be able to resend emails if they fail to deliver.
Be sure to enable the options ‘Track when an email is opened’ and ‘Track when a link in an email is clicked.’
This way, you can monitor when your emails and links are accessed, helping you assess the performance of your email campaigns.
After configuring the email logs, click ‘Save and Continue.’
Send a Test Email
WP Mail SMTP will automatically perform a test to verify that your email service is properly connected.
Wait a few seconds for the test to complete.
WP Mail SMTP will send a test email using your email service.
If the API Key is entered correctly, you will see a confirmation message indicating that your test email was sent successfully.
Bonus: Enhancing WooCommerce Order Emails
Now that you know your emails are reaching your customers’ inboxes, you can focus on improving the emails themselves.
Customizing your WooCommerce emails can help establish trust and make your brand more memorable.
For this purpose, we recommend FunnelKit Automations, one of the top marketing automation tools for WooCommerce.
With FunnelKit Automations, you can completely customize your WooCommerce emails to align with your brand, helping to build customer trust and increase brand recognition.
During our testing, we found that this tool allows you to create automated email and SMS marketing campaigns directly from your WordPress dashboard. It also includes pre-built workflows for shipment tracking updates, customer re-engagement coupons, cart abandonment reminders, and more.
For more information, check out our comprehensive review of FunnelKit Automations.
Simply install the plugin to get started. For detailed instructions, refer to our guide on installing a WordPress plugin.
FunnelKit Automations features a visual builder for customizing your order emails, enabling you to add images, text, product tags, and more.
The strength of this software lies in its ability to create email sequences that nurture new customers after their first order, encouraging them to make future purchases.
With each email in your workflow, you’ll have access to in-line analytics, allowing you to optimize your order emails for improved open and click-through rates.
To learn more, please refer to our tutorial on customizing WooCommerce emails.
Common Questions About WooCommerce Emails
Here are some frequently asked questions from our readers regarding the sending of WooCommerce emails:
Why are my WooCommerce emails being marked as spam?
This issue often arises because WordPress defaults to using PHP mail, which does not provide the necessary authentication expected by email providers.
Consequently, email services like Gmail or Outlook may categorize these emails as suspicious.
Utilizing an SMTP service introduces that essential layer of authentication, assuring email clients that your messages are legitimate and should be delivered to the inbox.
Is it possible to use my Gmail account for sending WooCommerce emails?
Yes, you can set up WP Mail SMTP to send emails through your Gmail account. However, keep in mind that there are sending limits, and it’s generally not advisable for stores that send a high volume of emails.
A dedicated provider such as SendLayer offers a more scalable and dependable solution for expanding businesses.
How can I verify if my WooCommerce emails are being sent?
The simplest method is to use a plugin like WP Mail SMTP. The free version includes a built-in test email feature to verify that your settings are functioning correctly.
The Pro version provides comprehensive email logs, detailing the status of each email sent from your site, including whether it was delivered, opened, or clicked.
What is the top SMTP provider for a WooCommerce store?
For small to medium-sized online stores, we recommend using SendLayer. It is a reliable, cost-effective solution that is easy to integrate with WP Mail SMTP.
Other excellent alternatives include Brevo (formerly known as Sendinblue) and SMTP.com, both designed to efficiently manage high volumes of transactional emails.
We hope this guide has helped you resolve the issue of WooCommerce not sending order emails. Additionally, you might want to explore how to limit purchase quantities in WordPress or check out our list of essential WooCommerce plugins to enhance your store.
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