{"id":2975,"date":"2021-08-10T21:36:45","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T18:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/?p=2975"},"modified":"2024-12-27T13:49:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T11:49:51","slug":"smtp-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/blog\/smtp-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Setup WordPress to Use SMTP for Sending Emails"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>WordPress has come a long way since it was created back in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mark Little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eventually, the open-source framework has progressed from a simple blogging platform into the most popular content management system (CMS) on the web. Over 60% of CMS websites on the web use WordPress, and 40% of all websites on the web have WordPress at their core according to W3Techs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because it is a free and open-source content management system (CMS), anyone can contribute, so its development is very community-driven. This means that there are lots of things built around WordPress from themes, plugins, and documentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h2>Table of Contents<\/h2><nav><ul><li><a href=\"#can-word-press-be-used-for-email-marketing\">Can WordPress Be Used For Email Marketing?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#how-to-use-smtp-for-sending-emails-in-word-press\">How to Use SMTP for Sending Emails in WordPress<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#setting-up-mailgun-account\">Setting up Mailgun Account<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"#installing-the-wp-mail-smtp-plugin-for-word-press\">Installing the WP Mail SMTP plugin for WordPress<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#sending-a-test-email-using-unspam-email\">Sending a Test Email using Unspam.email<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#checking-email-activity-in-mailgun\">Checking Email Activity in Mailgun<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#comparison-table-alternatives-to-mailgun\">Comparison Table: Alternatives to Mailgun<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#wrapping-up\">Wrapping Up<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"can-word-press-be-used-for-email-marketing\">Can WordPress Be Used For Email Marketing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress is also a pluggable framework. You can use any function to override specific core functions. When it comes to sending emails, the <strong>wp_mail()<\/strong> function is the most used function. While this function enables WordPress to send emails via its core system, these emails can pile up in a spam folder since PHP emails are created in the same way spam emails are formed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sending emails from WordPress is not efficient enough by default. There are times that when you send out an email from WordPress, you won&#8217;t know if the recipient has ever received the email and there are situations wherein <strong>emails are going straight to the recipient&#8217;s spam folders<\/strong>. This can be a problem for the website owner since emails are very important when it comes to confirmation and communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress email setup by default doesn&#8217;t notify users if the email was ever sent or delivered unless you installed a special plugin for it. Thankfully, there is even a better solution for this problem by using Mailgun (for sending emails) and Unspam.email (for checking emails setup).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mailgun.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Mailgun<\/a> offers reliable transactional email APIs that enable you to send, receive, and track emails to ensure email deliverability. This simply means that you can track your emails to check if they are getting sent out or not. Mailgun offers a much more efficient way to send WordPress transactional emails which can go beyond the default features including sending marketing emails right from the WordPress dashboard. Additionally, using Mailgun takes the computational load off in sending and receiving email from servers since it reduces the amount of computational power needed from email operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whereas, <a href=\"https:\/\/unspam.email\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Unspam.email<\/a> is an email spam checker and heat map prediction app. It provides a better way of email testing to check if your email is being sent out or not with full accessibility checks. With this app you can also know right away when your domain or your IP address has been blacklisted, so you can fix the problem quickly. Moreover, its eye-tracking prediction heat map will help you create impactful campaigns and get better results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-use-smtp-for-sending-emails-in-word-press\">How to Use SMTP for Sending Emails in WordPress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, you will learn how to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Set up Mailgun Account<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Install the WP Mail SMTP plugin for WordPress<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Send a test email using Unspam.email<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check email activity in Mailgun<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"setting-up-mailgun-account\">Setting up Mailgun Account<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For this part of the tutorial, let&#8217;s set up a Mailgun account. Afterward, we&#8217;re going to configure the essential setup that we will use later on our WordPress website using WP Mail SMTP plugin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To do this, we need to go to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mailgun.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Mailgun\u2019s website<\/a> and click on the \u201c<strong>Get Started<\/strong>\u201d button to register for a new account. Next, we need to fill out the basic information form and add a credit card to access Mailgun\u2019s free features. If you want to learn more about Mailgun&#8217;s other flexible plans you can visit the pricing page <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mailgun.com\/pricing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1898\" height=\"758\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1.jpg\" alt=\"How to Setup WordPress to Use SMTP for Sending Emails\" class=\"wp-image-2976\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1.jpg 1898w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1-300x120.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1-1024x409.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1-768x307.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/1-1536x613.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1898px) 100vw, 1898px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"1280\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/2.jpg\" alt=\"Mailgun Account\" class=\"wp-image-2979\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/2.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/2-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/2-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: Mailgun&#8217;s free tier account offers a three-month trial period limited to 5,000 emails and then after that, it will start charging per email which is $0.80 per 1000 emails on the basic Pay As You Grow plan.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the registration process, phone and email verification, we&#8217;ll get access to the Mailgun dashboard once we logged in to the platform as seen in the image below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1919\" height=\"965\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/4.jpg\" alt=\"Setting up Mailgun Account\" class=\"wp-image-2981\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/4.jpg 1919w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/4-300x151.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/4-1024x515.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/4-768x386.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/4-1536x772.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, we need to configure our domain within the Mailgun dashboard. To do this, click on the \u201c<strong>Sending<\/strong>\u201d link followed by the \u201c<strong>Domains<\/strong>\u201d link in the left menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"222\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/6.jpg\" alt=\"Mailgun Sidebar\" class=\"wp-image-2982\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/6.jpg 222w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/6-116x300.jpg 116w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On the Domains page, we need to click the &#8220;<strong>Add New Domain<\/strong>&#8221; button in the upper right corner of the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1917\" height=\"966\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/8.jpg\" alt=\"Use SMTP for Sending Emails in WordPress\" class=\"wp-image-2983\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/8.jpg 1917w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/8-300x151.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/8-1024x516.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/8-768x387.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/8-1536x774.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1917px) 100vw, 1917px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: Keep in mind that if the &#8220;<strong>Add New Domain<\/strong>&#8221; button is not displayed on the screen, it is likely that you have not yet entered your credit card information. It is required by Mailgun to any of its account types to provide the credit card information of users before using it&#8217;s platform&#8217;s features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the Add new domain page, we need to enter the domain name of our WordPress website and click on the &#8220;<strong>Add Domain<\/strong>&#8221; button to add it to our Mailgun domain&#8217;s list as seen in the image below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1919\" height=\"966\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/9.jpg\" alt=\"Add Domain\" class=\"wp-image-2984\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/9.jpg 1919w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/9-300x151.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/9-1024x515.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/9-768x387.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/9-1536x773.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: If your website is hosted in the European Union, you need to choose EU on the radio button below the domain name form. Otherwise, leave it on the default US option.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, we need to verify our added domain by adding records to our WordPress website&#8217;s DNS settings. Depending on your hosting provider, Mailgun will provide the proper documentation on how to add each DNS record as guided on the overview page (see image below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, we also need to add both MX and CNAME records for tracking opens, clicks, and unsubscribes as commended by Mailgun. Keep in mind that the CNAME record is not significant if you are only using Mailgun to send emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1919\" height=\"967\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/10.jpg\" alt=\"MX and CNAME\" class=\"wp-image-2985\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/10.jpg 1919w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/10-300x151.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/10-1024x516.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/10-768x387.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/10-1536x774.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1919\" height=\"961\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/11.jpg\" alt=\"Verify DNS settings\" class=\"wp-image-2986\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/11.jpg 1919w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/11-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/11-1024x513.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/11-768x385.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/11-1536x769.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After adding all the necessary DNS records, we need to verify that our domain has been properly configured and validated by clicking on each of the three &#8220;<strong>Verify DNS settings<\/strong>&#8221; as seen in the images above. Please take note that the verification process might take 24-48 hours to update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to check the status of our domain simply click again on the \u201cSending\u201d link followed by the \u201cDomains\u201d link in the left menu. After Mailgun has already verified the DNS updates we made on our WordPress website\u2019s DNS settings, it will show a green checkmark next to our domain name as seen in the image below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1914\" height=\"963\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/12.jpg\" alt=\"DNS updates\" class=\"wp-image-2987\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/12.jpg 1914w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/12-300x151.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/12-1024x515.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/12-768x386.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/12-1536x773.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1914px) 100vw, 1914px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"installing-the-wp-mail-smtp-plugin-for-word-press\">Installing the WP Mail SMTP plugin for WordPress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After configuring all the necessary setup on our Mailgun account, we are now ready to configure our WordPress website for efficient email deliverability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To do this, we need to login into our WordPress account and head on to the plugins page to add a new plugin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the plugins page, click on the &#8220;<strong>Add New<\/strong>&#8221; button in the upper left corner of the page or click on the &#8220;<strong>Add New<\/strong>&#8221; link in the menu panel as seen in the image below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"921\" height=\"723\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/14.jpg\" alt=\"Installing the WP Mail SMTP plugin for WordPress\" class=\"wp-image-2988\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/14.jpg 921w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/14-300x236.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/14-768x603.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 921px) 100vw, 921px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, on the Add Plugins page search for &#8220;<strong>WP Mail SMTP<\/strong>&#8221; plugin and then click on the &#8220;<strong>Install Now<\/strong>&#8221; button. Finally, click on the &#8220;<strong>Activate<\/strong>&#8221; button to activate the plugin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1908\" height=\"912\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/16.jpg\" alt=\"WP Mail SMTP\" class=\"wp-image-2989\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/16.jpg 1908w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/16-300x143.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/16-1024x489.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/16-768x367.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/16-1536x734.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1908px) 100vw, 1908px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, we need to configure the settings of WP Mail SMTP. Head on to &#8220;<strong>WP Mail SMTP<\/strong>&#8221; and then click on the &#8220;<strong>Settings<\/strong>&#8221; link in the WP menu panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1236\" height=\"945\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/19.jpg\" alt=\"Settings\" class=\"wp-image-2990\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/19.jpg 1236w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/19-300x229.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/19-1024x783.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/19-768x587.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1236px) 100vw, 1236px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There are a few things that we need to configure on this page before finally making an email test with the Unspam.email app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1125\" height=\"1112\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20.jpg\" alt=\"Email test\" class=\"wp-image-2991\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20.jpg 1125w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20-300x297.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20-1024x1012.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/20-768x759.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1125px) 100vw, 1125px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>First, we need to configure our &#8220;<strong>From Email<\/strong>&#8220;, &#8220;<strong>From Name<\/strong>&#8221; and &#8220;<strong>Mailer<\/strong>&#8221; setup as seen in the image below. Since we&#8217;re using Mailgun as our email API service, we will select Mailgun on the Mailer option as seen in the image below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lastly, we need to provide our Mailgun&#8217;s &#8220;<strong>Private API Key<\/strong>&#8220;, &#8220;<strong>Domain Name<\/strong>&#8221; and &#8220;<strong>Region<\/strong>&#8221; as seen in the image below. Keep in mind that the Domain Name and Region should match with the one that we set up on our Mailgun\u2019s account above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are not sure how to get your Mailgun&#8217;s API Key, simply click <a href=\"https:\/\/app.mailgun.com\/app\/account\/security\/api_keys\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> to get your API Key or follow these <a href=\"https:\/\/help.mailgun.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/203380100-Where-Can-I-Find-My-API-Key-and-SMTP-Credentials-#:~:text=Click%20on%20Settings%20on%20the,the%20full%20API%20key%20visible.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">instructions<\/a> to learn more. Don\u2019t forget to click on the \u201c<strong>Save Settings<\/strong>\u201d button to save your changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"968\" height=\"607\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/22.jpg\" alt=\"SMTP API Key\" class=\"wp-image-2992\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/22.jpg 968w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/22-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/22-768x482.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 968px) 100vw, 968px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And that&#8217;s it! Our WordPress setting is all set up. Just make sure that the DNS changes we&#8217;ve made on our Mailgun account are fully verified before proceeding with the email testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"sending-a-test-email-using-unspam-email\">Sending a Test Email using Unspam.email<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that our DNS records are all verified along with the WP Mail SMTP setup, we&#8217;re going to do an email deliverability test to make sure that all our setup is working properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For our email testing, we&#8217;re going to use Unspam.email as our email tester app. As mentioned above, Unspam.email works as an email spam checker and map heat map prediction app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To use this app, we need to <a href=\"https:\/\/unspam.email\/register\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">signup<\/a> for a free account and once done we can login <a href=\"https:\/\/unspam.email\/login\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"790\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/23.jpg\" alt=\"Sending a test email using Unspam.email\" class=\"wp-image-2993\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/23.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/23-300x185.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/23-1024x632.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/23-768x474.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"892\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/24.jpg\" alt=\"Sign up\" class=\"wp-image-2994\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/24.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/24-300x209.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/24-1024x714.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/24-768x535.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After logging in to our account, we\u2019ll be redirected to the homepage. From here, we need to copy the email address from the email input box provided by Unspam.email for email testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1917\" height=\"961\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/25.jpg\" alt=\"Copy email\" class=\"wp-image-2995\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/25.jpg 1917w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/25-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/25-1024x513.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/25-768x385.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/25-1536x770.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1917px) 100vw, 1917px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, we need to go back to our WordPress dashboard particularly on the WP Mail SMTP Settings Page and click on the &#8220;<strong>Email Test<\/strong>&#8221; tab as seen in the image below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On this tab, we need to paste the email we copied from the Unspam.email dashboard to the \u201c<strong>Send To<\/strong>\u201d input box and turn on the HTML option so we can send our test email in HTML format. Finally, to send the test email, simply click on the \u201c<strong>Send Email<\/strong>\u201d button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"709\" height=\"566\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/26.jpg\" alt=\"Send Email\" class=\"wp-image-2996\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/26.jpg 709w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/26-300x239.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After sending the test email, we should see a success message similar to the image below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1759\" height=\"698\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/27.jpg\" alt=\"Email sent\" class=\"wp-image-2997\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/27.jpg 1759w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/27-300x119.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/27-1024x406.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/27-768x305.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/27-1536x610.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1759px) 100vw, 1759px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Now to check the email deliverability of our email test, we need to go back to the Unspam.email homepage and click on the &#8220;<strong>Step 2: View Result&#8221;<\/strong> button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1917\" height=\"961\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/28.jpg\" alt=\"Step 2: View Result\" class=\"wp-image-2998\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/28.jpg 1917w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/28-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/28-1024x513.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/28-768x385.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/28-1536x770.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1917px) 100vw, 1917px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After clicking the &#8220;<strong>Step 2: View Result<\/strong>&#8221; button, it will process the email spam checker and will return the result with Unspam Score as seen in the image below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1016\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/31-1016x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Unspam Score\" class=\"wp-image-2999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/31-1016x1024.jpg 1016w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/31-298x300.jpg 298w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/31-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/31-768x774.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/31.jpg 1270w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1016px) 100vw, 1016px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can see, Unspam.email presented our email test with a score of 91 out of 100 and gave an overview report on what is good and what needs to improve on our email setup to avoid getting sent to our recipient\u2019s spam folders. In this case, the List-Unsubscribe Header, HTML Body Best Practices and Subject Line need to improve to get better results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: If you want to share the result of your email test, simply copy the link provided by the result page at the bottom of the page.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"369\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/32.jpg\" alt=\"New test\" class=\"wp-image-3000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/32.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/32-300x86.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/32-1024x295.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/32-768x221.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, we can also do a couple of things on the result page including email preview, heat map checking and preview previous results as seen on the tabs on the result page. Keep in mind that both heat map checking and preview previous results are not available in a free plan. If you are interested in these features, you need to upgrade to a paid plan. See <a href=\"https:\/\/unspam.email\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pricing<\/a> for more details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lastly, if we want to make a new test using our free account, simply click on the &#8220;<strong>New Test<\/strong>&#8221; button on the upper right corner of the result page and we&#8217;ll be redirected again on the homepage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"170\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/33.jpg\" alt=\"Copy link\" class=\"wp-image-3001\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/33.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/33-300x40.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/33-1024x136.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/33-768x102.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"checking-email-activity-in-mailgun\">Checking Email Activity in Mailgun<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>With Mailgun, it&#8217;s easy to know if there are any issues delivering our emails since warnings and errors will show up in the Mailgun log. This makes it easy for users to plan ahead on how to rectify the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To check the Mailgun logs, we need to go to our Mailgun&#8217;s dashboard. Then, on the bottom of the screen, click on the \u201c<strong>Logs<\/strong>\u201d link of the domain we want to check as seen in the image below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"983\" height=\"699\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/34.jpg\" alt=\"Checking email activity in Mailgun\" class=\"wp-image-3002\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/34.jpg 983w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/34-300x213.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/34-768x546.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 983px) 100vw, 983px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After clicking the &#8220;<strong>Logs<\/strong>&#8221; link, we will be redirected to the logs page which contains all the necessary data including the delivered emails which are in green and failed emails which are red. These logs can then be selected and reviewed to find out what the issue was if there is any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1471\" height=\"1562\" src=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/35.jpg\" alt=\"Mailgun logs\" class=\"wp-image-3003\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/35.jpg 1471w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/35-283x300.jpg 283w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/35-964x1024.jpg 964w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/35-768x816.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/35-1447x1536.jpg 1447w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1471px) 100vw, 1471px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"comparison-table-alternatives-to-mailgun\">Comparison Table: Alternatives to Mailgun<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th><strong>SMTP Provider<\/strong><\/th><th><strong>Best For<\/strong><\/th><th><strong>Key Features<\/strong><\/th><th><strong>Pricing<\/strong><\/th><th><strong>Ease of Use<\/strong><\/th><th><strong>Support<\/strong><\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Mailgun<\/strong><\/td><td>Transactional &amp; Marketing<\/td><td>Reliable APIs, tracking, analytics<\/td><td>Free tier (5,000 emails\/month for 3 months), then $0.80\/1,000 emails<\/td><td>Moderate<\/td><td>Email &amp; detailed documentation<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>SendGrid<\/strong><\/td><td>Transactional &amp; Marketing<\/td><td>User-friendly interface, robust analytics<\/td><td>Free tier (100 emails\/day), paid plans start at $15\/month<\/td><td>Easy<\/td><td>24\/7 chat &amp; email support<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Postmark<\/strong><\/td><td>Transactional<\/td><td>Ultra-fast delivery, simple integration<\/td><td>$10\/month (10,000 emails)<\/td><td>Very Easy<\/td><td>Email, chat during business hours<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Amazon SES<\/strong><\/td><td>High-Volume Sending<\/td><td>Cost-effective, flexible APIs<\/td><td>$0.10\/1,000 emails<\/td><td>Requires technical setup<\/td><td>Limited (paid support optional)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>SparkPost<\/strong><\/td><td>High-Volume Sending &amp; Analytics<\/td><td>Advanced reporting, email optimization<\/td><td>Free tier (100 emails\/day), paid plans start at $20\/month<\/td><td>Moderate<\/td><td>24\/7 chat &amp; email support<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"wrapping-up\">Wrapping Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>WordPress by default has its own mailing features but it sometimes tends to fail since emails from <strong>wp_mail()<\/strong> have a risk of not getting delivered or even spammed, and website owners would have no way of knowing when or why it\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some practical tips:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Use a Professional Domain-Specific Email Address<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Regularly Test Email Deliverability<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Implement Proper Email Authentication<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Keep Your Email List Clean<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monitor Email Sending Limits<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Different SMTP providers cater to various needs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Optimize Email Content<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Using services like Mailgun for ESP and Unspam.email for testing, makes it a lot easier for users to check and improves email deliverability. Setting up Mailgun with WP Mail SMTP plugin to work with WordPress takes only a few steps. Just make sure that all DNS configurations are properly set up. To <a href=\"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/blog\/create-status-page-wordpress\/\">create a custom status page in WordPress<\/a> that may help you get new subscribers, read our guide next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WordPress has come a long way since it was created back in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mark Little. Eventually, the open-source framework has progressed from a simple blogging platform into the most popular content management system (CMS) on the web. Over 60% of CMS websites on the web use WordPress, and 40% of all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[48,49],"class_list":["post-2975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","tag-emails","tag-smtp"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2975"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12332,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2975\/revisions\/12332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/creativethemes.com\/blocksy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}