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Why your contact form is not sending email

A contact form that delivers nothing usually has one of four faults: the message arrives and lands in spam, the website's email is not authenticated, the form is addressed to the wrong inbox, or the form fails before it sends. Test it yourself, then check the four in that order. Every day the form stays broken, enquiries are lost without anyone knowing.

Updated

This guide, surveyed at release eab6db0 on 19 October 2026: words per section.

Each sounding opens its section

  1. 01 Test it first 74 words
  2. 02 Fault 1: the message is in spam 83 words
  3. 03 Fault 2: the website’s email is not authenticated 83 words
  4. 04 Fault 3: the wrong address 29 words
  5. 05 Fault 4: the form fails before it sends 63 words
  6. 06 Keep a second record 70 words
  7. 07 Questions people ask 125 words
  8. 08 Free competitor gap report 98 words
  9. 09 More in this series 119 words
Words
744
Site 366–1,117 · median 749.5
Sections (H2)
9
Site 3–14 · median 9
Internal links
18
Site 1–36 · median 19
File
71.4 kB
HTML, uncompressed · of 83.6 kB budget · 0 scripts

Sheet

015 of 126

Release eab6db0

Standard 49 · 101 checks

Test it first

Fill the form in on a phone, using an email address that is not the one the form sends to. Then look in three places: the inbox, the spam folder, and the list of submissions that many platforms and form plugins keep.

A message in the stored list and not in the inbox means the form works and the email fails. A message in neither means the form itself is failing.

Fault 1: the message is in spam

Many forms send the notification as if it came from the visitor’s own address. The receiving mail service sees a message claiming to be from one domain and arriving from a web server that has no right to send for it, and files it as spam.

The fix is in the form’s settings. Send from an address on your own domain, and put the visitor’s address in the reply-to field, so that replying still reaches them.

Fault 2: the website’s email is not authenticated

Google’s rules for email senders require everyone sending to Gmail accounts to set up SPF or DKIM for the sending domain. A web server’s built-in mail function often has neither, and its messages are rejected or filtered.

The fix is to send the form’s email through an authenticated mail service, with the SPF and DKIM records for it added to the domain’s DNS. On WordPress, an SMTP plugin connects the site to such a service.

Fault 3: the wrong address

Check where the form sends. Common findings are the address of someone who has left, a mistyped address, and a mailbox that is full.

Fault 4: the form fails before it sends

If the form shows an error, spins without finishing or reloads empty, the fault is in the form. The usual causes are a script error after an update, spam protection whose key has expired, and a conflict between plugins. Try the form in a second browser, then undo the most recent change to the site.

Keep a second record

Email is the weakest link in a form. Three precautions keep an enquiry from being lost.

  • Store every submission on the site as well as emailing it.
  • Send the notification to two addresses.
  • Test the form on a set day each month.

A form that works and still brings nothing is a different problem. Our guide to a website that is not getting enquiries covers it.

Questions people ask

Why is my contact form not sending emails?

The four usual causes are a message filtered as spam, email sent without authentication, a wrong or abandoned recipient address, and an error in the form itself. Submit a test message and look in the spam folder first.

Why do emails from my website go to spam?

Most often because the message is not authenticated. Google requires every sender to Gmail accounts to set up SPF or DKIM for the sending domain, and a form that sends in the visitor's name fails that check.

How often should a contact form be tested?

Once a month, and after every update to the site. A form can stop delivering without showing any error to the visitor.

Free competitor gap report

A working form is the last step of a visit. Name up to three competitors and we measure the steps before it, your pages against theirs, then send you where a visitor would choose them.

  1. Speed and technical health, side by side
  2. On-page SEO and site structure
  3. The content they are found for and you are not
  4. Who holds the searches that matter in your market
  5. A prioritised list of what to fix first
Request your free report by email
Address
contact@hadalmedusa.com
Include
your site; up to three competitors; where you compete

More in this series