There are many common issues that you might encounter while using WordPress. Sometimes it could be hard to send or receive emails through your website.
Whether you want to receive messages from WordPress contact forms or send out transactional emails, you need to make sure the website’s email sending protocol is set up correctly.
You can’t rely on WordPress native environment for that. Since WordPress uses wp_mail() function to send emails, they are likely to be flagged as spamming and hence are hard to send through. To tackle this issue, setting up a WP SMTP plugin can help consolidate your email deliverability.
This tutorial is showing you how to do that step by step by using YaySMTP WordPress plugin and my favorite SMTP services such as SendGrid.
YaySMTP is a WordPress postman that helps WP mails go directly from Sender through the SMTP server and all the way to the user’s mailbox. Thanks to this connection and the authentication within your chosen SMTP provider, you will gain a better inbox delivery rate.
It reduces the chance of WordPress emails ending up in the recipient’s junk or spam folders.
So go ahead and download the plugin WP Mail SMTP – YaySMTP for free.
You can also navigate to WordPress dashboard > Plugins > Add New and search for yaysmtp.
You then can click Install Now and activate the plugin to start using it right away without being asked for any upgrade or license.
After installing and activating the plugin, a new YaySMTP menu is created under the Settings menu. That’s where you find all the options you need in order to successfully send and receive emails via WP SMTP.
In the first step, simply fill in the From email and From email address in the following fields.
In case you are not sure which one to choose, pick the same email address that you’ll be using for the SMTP service. As for the From name, that could be your website name, your store or brand. Remember to keep it short and sweet!
Many SMTP services allow you to send contact form’s messages, transactional emails, promo notifications, etc., right from your website.
In this second step, there are multiple SMTP service providers that are available in Mailer list. Take a look in their pricing plans, sending limit, analytics dashboard and many other available features.
Among these, Amazon SES is the obvious choice if you have the advanced skill and technical experience. It is the most prestigious provider. The only downside is that it is quite hard to configure for non-techies.
If you are from smaller sites and companies, you can go with SendGrid or SendinBlue as they are very user-friendly. Their technical support team is fast and effective. They also let you start free and then scale up when you are growing.
Additionally, Gmail is also a widely trusted mailing server. And it is also reasonable for those with a Google Workspace account (formerly G Suite) to opt for Gmail server.
With all of these considerations in mind, we will go ahead and show you the configuration for one of the best SMTP service providers: SendGrid.
To connect with other SMTP service providers, you can easily find their guide in the detailed YaySMTP documentation.
SendGrid is an ideal choice for WordPress starters who want to start with a quick and affordable plan. They offer a forever free plan for you to send 100 emails per day. That’s cool, huh?
SendGrid allows you to send WooCommerce emails, newsletters, receipts, delivery notification and other updates. In order to start using their service, you need to create a SendGrid account.
With the free plan, you are not required to fill in your credit card info. Yet they might ask for your phone number verification to make sure you are you. With the 2-factor authentication, they protect your account better and prevent abuse.
After signing in successfully, navigate to your account details and you will see the plan you are using. Plus, they have just come up with an extended free plan which allows you to send out 6,000 marketing emails per month.
This is a significant step to adjust what your recipients see in their inbox. With SendGrid, there are 2 ways around creating a sender identity:
We strongly recommend domain authentication since this can improve your brand reputation and email deliverability. Now with the help of SendGrid setup wizard, you can easily authenticate your domain for WP Mail SMTP.
Next step, you will be asked to enter your domain and verify DNS records. The verification method differs depending on which hosting provider you are using. Please contact your hosting support and ask them on how to properly add these 3 DNS records.
Then you go back to SendGrid and tick the checkbox where it says I have added these records > Verify. When all is done, you will see the success message.
In this step, you will create a new API key for the current website and also limit access of API users if you want to.
So go ahead and give it a simple name but enough to distinguish its purpose just in case you will be creating multiple APIs in the future.
Here I name my first API as YayCommerce API and set the permission at Full Access.
Then, copy the newly created API and go back to the WordPress dashboard.
Now that you have chosen SendGrid as your preferred Mailer, the config section for SendGrid will show accordingly.
All you need to do is to paste the API key that you have just copied. Then click Save changes and you’re good to go!
Now get the button Send test email on the right top corner. Give it a try with your individual email address, and what are you waiting for?
Just hit that Send button and enjoy your work!
Got an email delivered to your inbox? Great and Yay!
Now that we have walked you through the process of setting up WordPress to send and receive emails using WP Mail SMTP – YaySMTP plugin.
Not only that your emails will be sent to the recipient’s inbox, I hope you can have transactional and promotional emails delivered without any delay.
So which SMTP server is your favorite one? Don’t forget to let us know after you configure it successfully!
