WooCommerce Not Sending Order Confirmation Emails

One of the most common WooCommerce problems small business owners contact me about is emails not being delivered — order confirmations, shipping notifications, admin alerts. Customers place an order and hear nothing. You place a test order and nothing arrives.

Here is why this happens and what to check.

Why WooCommerce emails fail

WordPress and WooCommerce send emails using PHP mail by default. This is a basic server function that many hosting providers either disable or deprioritise for security reasons. Even when it works, emails sent via PHP mail often end up in spam folders because they do not have proper authentication set up.

The fix in most cases is to route your emails through a proper SMTP service instead of relying on PHP mail.

How to fix WooCommerce email delivery

The most reliable solution is to install an SMTP plugin and connect it to a transactional email service. Options like Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), Mailgun or Gmail SMTP all work well. The plugin handles authentication and sends your emails through a proper mail server with the right DNS records in place.

Before doing this, check the basics first:

• Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Emails and check that the email type you expect is enabled
• Check your spam folder — the email may be arriving but being filtered
• Check that the recipient email address is correct on the order
• Use a plugin like WP Mail SMTP’s email test feature to send a test and see what error comes back

What if emails are enabled but still not arriving

If the emails are enabled in WooCommerce settings and the test still fails, the issue is almost certainly at the server level. Your hosting provider’s PHP mail function is either blocked or your domain does not have the right SPF and DKIM records set up to authenticate outgoing email.

Setting up SMTP properly resolves this in the majority of cases. If it does not, the next step is checking your DNS records with your domain registrar.

If you are not comfortable doing this yourself, it is the kind of thing I fix as part of WordPress and WooCommerce support. It usually takes less than an hour to diagnose and resolve.