How to Send a Test Email From WordPress (The Easy Way)

Sending test emails is an important step in setting up and maintaining a WordPress website. You need to ensure that WordPress is able to reliably send emails for things like new user notifications, contact forms, ecommerce order confirmations and more.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll explain why testing email is so crucial for your website and show you step-by-step how to easily send test emails from WordPress.

Why You Need to Test Your WordPress Email

Here are some of the main reasons why it‘s critical to test that email is working properly on your WordPress site:

Confirm New User Registration and Password Reset Emails are Sent

When a new user registers on your site, WordPress is configured by default to send them a welcome email. This contains their account details so they can sign in.

WordPress also sends password reset emails if a user forgets their password and requests to reset it.

Without these emails being delivered successfully, new users wouldn‘t be able to access their accounts.

Verify Contact Form Submissions are Received

Plugins like WPForms and Contact Form 7 allow site visitors to send you messages via contact forms.

These are usually configured to send you an email whenever someone fills out the contact form.

If those emails are not coming through, you could miss out on potential customer inquiries and other important messages.

Ensure eCommerce Order Confirmation Emails are Sent

If your WordPress site has an online store powered by WooCommerce, you need to make sure order confirmation emails are sent reliably.

These emails contain order receipts and payment information for your customers. If these transactional emails don‘t get delivered, it could cause major problems.

Confirm Email Notifications are Working

Whether it‘s a new comment being posted or a product being purchased, much of WordPress‘s functionality depends on emails being sent and received.

That‘s why it‘s crucial to test that notifications are being delivered correctly in WordPress. Otherwise, you could miss out on important activity happening on your site.

Check That Your SMTP Service is Configured Properly

Chances are you aren‘t sending email directly through your web host‘s servers. Most WordPress site owners use a dedicated third-party SMTP service provider.

Popular choices include Sendinblue, Mailgun, SendGrid, Gmail, Amazon SES, and Microsoft 365.

By sending a test email, you can confirm that your SMTP service is set up correctly in WordPress.

Identify Any Potential Email Deliverability Issues

There are many potential points of failure when it comes to reliably delivering email.

Testing will help you identify problems like emails ending up in spam folders.

You can then troubleshoot issues before launch to ensure your website‘s email works seamlessly.

As you can see, the ability to send email successfully is mission-critical for WordPress sites. Let‘s look at how you can easily test it.

How to Send a Test Email From WordPress

The best way to send a test email from WordPress is using the WP Mail SMTP plugin. It‘s the most popular SMTP plugin with over 3 million active installs.

WP Mail SMTP has a handy built-in tool that allows you to instantly send test emails from your WordPress dashboard.

Here is how to use it:

1. Install and Activate WP Mail SMTP

First, install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin on your WordPress site.

You can download and install it from the WordPress.org plugin repository.

Alternatively, you can install it from your WordPress dashboard by going to Plugins » Add New and searching for ‘WP Mail SMTP‘.

The free version will work, but we recommend using WP Mail SMTP Pro for the best deliverability, support, and features.

After installing, make sure to activate the plugin.

2. Configure Your SMTP Settings

Next, you’ll need to configure WP Mail SMTP to use your preferred SMTP provider.

The easiest way is to use the setup wizard, which will guide you through the process step-by-step.

Alternatively, you can manually configure your SMTP service by going to WP Mail SMTP » General and entering your details.

See our guides on setting up WP Mail SMTP with popular email services:

• Sendinblue SMTP
• Gmail SMTP
• Outlook SMTP
• Amazon SES SMTP
• Mailgun SMTP

Most SMTP providers offer either SMTP or API integration. We recommend using SMTP for best deliverability.

Make sure to enter your credentials like API keys or SMTP server details accurately.

3. Navigate to the WP Mail SMTP Test Email Page

Once your SMTP provider is set up in WP Mail SMTP, you‘ll want to send a test email.

Go to WP Mail SMTP » Tools in your WordPress dashboard. Then click on ‘Email Test‘ in the side menu.

This will bring you to the test email page.

4. Customize Your Test Email Recipient and Settings

On the test email page, you‘ll see fields to customize your test message:

• Send To: By default, the test email will be sent to the admin email address for your site. You can change this to another email that you have access to.

• Subject: Customize the subject line for your test email.

• Message: Enter a short test message or description for the body of the email.

• HTML Email: Leave this switched on to send the test email in HTML format. Turn it off for plain text emails.

Once you are happy with the details, you‘re ready to send the test email.

5. Hit Send and Check the Test Email Results

To send the test email from WordPress, simply click on the ‘Send Email‘ button.

WP Mail SMTP will instantly attempt to send the test email using your configured SMTP provider.

If the test email sends successfully, you‘ll see a ‘Success‘ message displayed on the screen.

You should also receive the test email in your inbox shortly after. If you do, then your WordPress email configuration is working properly.

If the test fails, you‘ll see an error message describing the issue, such as incorrect SMTP credentials or server connection failure.

Follow the troubleshooting steps to identify and fix any configuration problems in WP Mail SMTP. Then resend the test email to confirm everything is working.

The test will also check your domain settings and suggest improvements for optimal deliverability.

That‘s how easy it is to send test emails from your WordPress dashboard using WP Mail SMTP. Next let‘s look at some other ways to test WordPress email.

Other Ways to Send Test Emails from WordPress

While the WP Mail SMTP test tool is the easiest way, there are a couple of other methods you can use to send test emails from your WordPress site.

Use a Plugin‘s Built-In Email Test Feature

Some popular plugins like WPForms and Gravity Forms have their own email testing capabilities.

For example, WPForms has a handy Send Test Email button on the notifications settings page that will send a sample contact form notification to your email address.

So if you already have the plugin installed, you may want to test email using its internal tools.

Send an Email via Code

You can also send a test email from your WordPress theme‘s functions.php file by using the wp_mail() function:

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

Just replace $to with the email address to send to, $subject with the subject line text, and $message with the body content.

This isn‘t the most user-friendly option, but it will manually trigger WordPress to send an email using your SMTP configuration allowing you to confirm it is set up properly.

Troubleshooting Email Delivery Problems

If your test emails are failing to send successfully from WordPress, here are some common issues to check:

• Incorrect SMTP credentials – Triple check that you entered your SMTP username, password, host, port, encryption, etc accurately into WP Mail SMTP. Just one incorrect character will cause authentication failures.

• Firewall blocking access – Your web host, server, or network firewall may be blocking access to your SMTP server. You may need them to whitelist access to your SMTP host.

• Server connection issues – There could be a problem connecting to your SMTP server, either due to network problems or incorrect SMTP details. Verify that your server name/IP address, port number, and encryption match your SMTP provider‘s instructions.

• Email getting flagged as spam – If your emails go to spam folders during testing, it likely means your SMTP IP address or domain has a poor sender reputation. Work on improving your email deliverability to resolve this.

• WordPress email not configured – Double check that an SMTP plugin like WP Mail SMTP is properly activated and configured on your WordPress site. The native PHP mail() function often results in failed deliveries.

Start by resending your test email after verifying your settings are correct. If problems persist, you may need to open a support ticket with your SMTP provider or web host for further troubleshooting.

How to Test New WordPress Email Addresses

When you first set up a new email address or domain for your website, it‘s always a good idea to test that new address by sending yourself a test email.

For example, if you purchase a new domain like yourcompany.com for your site, you will probably want email addresses associated with it like [email protected].

Here are a couple tips on testing your new email:

• Test via webmail – If your domain is registered with a provider like GoDaddy or Namecheap, sign into your webmail and try sending a test message to your new email from there.

• Create email forwarder – Set up a forwarder to send email from your new address through to an existing email account you can access. Then you can confirm messages to your new domain are being received.

• Update WordPress sender address – Configure your site‘s sender email address and name in your SMTP plugin settings. Then use the test email tool to send a message from your new email.

Testing any new email addresses right away helps identify potential issues early on so they can be fixed before launching your site.

Send Unlimited Test Emails with a Free WP Mail SMTP Trial

WP Mail SMTP has a free 30 day trial available for their Pro plan, which unlocks more test emails, emails per month, and premium support.

Having the ability to send unlimited test emails during initial WordPress setup and whenever making email configuration changes is invaluable.

We highly recommend starting your free 30 day trial of WP Mail SMTP to test your WordPress email until you have everything working reliably.

Next Steps After Testing Email Delivery

Once you have confirmed that WordPress emails are sending successfully from your site, here are some important next steps:

• Monitor your email logs – Check your WordPress email logs regularly through WP Mail SMTP or your SMTP provider to detect future delivery failures as soon as possible.

• Fine tune your settings – Adjust your ‘From Name‘ and sender details to avoid getting flagged as spam. Turn on email open and click tracking.

• Funnel messages to your inbox – Set up Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) to bypass spam filters.

• Build your mailing list – With reliable email in place, start collecting subscribers by adding opt-in forms and lead magnets to your site.

• Send newsletters and broadcasts – Use your list to engage visitors through emails like newsletters, promotions, drip campaigns, and more.

• Monitor engagement – Track opens, clicks, and unsubscribes to optimize your emails for maximum impact.

Reliable WordPress email delivery is crucial for any website. Follow the steps in this guide to easily test your email so that all your WordPress notifications and messages reach inboxes consistently.