If you’ve noticed contact form submissions or order confirmations from your website going missing, you’re not alone. Email deliverability has become more complex in recent years — and the rules keep changing.
What’s changed?
To protect people from spam and fraud, major email providers (like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo) have tightened the rules for what they’ll accept as legitimate email. This means they’re looking for certain “proofs” that a message truly comes from your domain — things like:
- Properly configured SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records (these are domain settings that verify your email’s legitimacy)
- Messages sent through verified mail servers rather than basic hosting servers
- Clear, authenticated sending practices
If your website’s email setup doesn’t meet these expectations, your messages are more likely to get flagged as spam or blocked altogether — even though they’re genuine.
How this affects your website
Many WordPress websites (and other platforms too) rely on basic server-based email functions by default. These setups often don’t include the advanced configurations that today’s email providers want to see. As a result:
- Contact form submissions may not reach you
- Order confirmations or password reset emails might land in spam folders
- Notifications to your customers may not arrive
What you can do
✅ Test your website forms regularly. Make sure messages are coming through as expected.
✅ Upgrade your website’s email system. Using dedicated mail servers and properly configuring your domain can dramatically improve deliverability.
At Fireside, we offer an email upgrade package that replaces the standard setup with a more advanced system. This ensures your website emails are sent through properly configured mail servers with all the necessary domain records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) in place — giving your messages the best chance of reaching inboxes.
If you’d like to learn more or schedule your upgrade, contact us here.
