How to Hire Someone to Fix WordPress Email and Contact Forms Not Sending

A customer calls to ask why you never answered their message. You check your inbox. No form email, not even in spam.

Your form still says “Thank you, your message has been sent”. Weeks of enquiries could be missing before you notice.

Here’s what to check in ten minutes, and if that doesn’t help, how to hire someone to fix WordPress email without handing over your domain or mailbox.

Why WordPress emails go missing

The form usually works. The email it sends is what fails, either on your server or at the inbox on the other end.

By default, WordPress sends email through your hosting server with PHP’s mail function. That mail often leaves with no proof that it really comes from your domain. Here’s where it usually breaks:

• Host limits on mail Many shared hosts restrict mail sent straight from PHP to fight spam. The form says “sent”, but the message never leaves the server.
• Rejected by Gmail or Outlook Since February 2024, Gmail’s sender guidelines ask every sender to set up SPF or DKIM, two DNS records that prove a domain allows a server to send for it. Mail without them can be rejected or sent to spam.
• Wrong From address A form that sends “from” the visitor’s Gmail address, or any address on another domain, looks forged to the receiving inbox. Some hosts also block mail from an address on your domain that has no real mailbox behind it.
• Notifications to an old address Someone set the form up years ago, and it still sends to a mailbox nobody reads.

When a client’s form stops working, I check the sending first. If your form plugin saves entries, the messages are often still in the dashboard.

Try this first (10 minutes)

The first two checks change nothing. Step 3 adds a free plugin, and step 4 changes one setting.

1. Send yourself a test message. Fill in the form from your phone, using a personal email address. Wait a few minutes and check the inbox, spam and any “Promotions” tab.
2. Check where the form sends to. Open the form’s notification or mail settings (in Contact Form 7, the Mail tab; in WPForms, Settings → Notifications) and read the “To” address. An old employee’s mailbox is a common answer.
3. Send a test from a mail plugin. The free WP Mail SMTP plugin has an Email Test tool. If its test email doesn’t arrive either, the problem is your site’s sending, not the form. For DIY setup, see the mail and form tools I recommend.
4. Fix the From address. In the same form settings, set “From” to an address on your own domain, like hello@yourdomain.com. Put the visitor’s address in “Reply-To” instead, as the Contact Form 7 mail guide recommends.

Skip the DIY and hire straight away if your store’s order emails stopped too (a WooCommerce developer can check the rest of the store at the same time), if your domain’s email runs on Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, or if you don’t know where your domain’s DNS is managed.

If the test emails still don’t arrive, stop here and hire a developer. Changing DNS records you don’t understand can break the email you send from your normal inbox too.

Where to hire a developer

I recommend Fiverr for WordPress email and contact form fixes. I work there myself and know how orders, payments and reviews work. Setting up email sending suits a fixed-price order with a clear scope.

What it costs

At the time of writing, these are the typical Fiverr prices:

Package prices don’t include Fiverr’s service fee, which is added at checkout.

What the cheap price usually skips

A $20 order often means a plugin installed and one test email sent. Check whether the package includes:

• DNS records for your domain, not only the plugin settings
• a check that your normal mailbox still sends afterwards
• a test of every form and, on a store, the order emails
• a sending service account in your name, not the seller’s
• a note of what was set up and where

Without the DNS records, mail may reach the inbox for a while and then slide back into spam.

How to choose the right developer

An email fix needs someone who understands your domain’s email as well as WordPress. Look for questions about your mailbox and DNS.

Check reviews for the same problem

Look for reviews that mention SMTP, contact forms, spam folder or your form plugin by name: Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms, Elementor forms. Read the one- to three-star reviews and the seller’s replies.

Watch how they answer your message

A good seller asks where your domain’s email is hosted, which form plugin you use and where your DNS is managed. A promise to “fix all email issues in one hour” without questions tells you little.

The questions I’d ask before ordering

• Will you send mail through my existing mailbox or a sending service?
• Whose account will the sending service be in?
• Will you take a backup before starting?
• Which DNS records will you add, and will they affect my normal email?
• Will you test every form and the store emails?
• Will you install any plugins? Which ones, and are they licensed?
• What happens if emails stop arriving again next month?

Red flags

• asks for your domain registrar password
• sets up the sending service in their own account
• asks to chat or pay outside Fiverr
• a “free” premium plugin with no license key behind it, which is a pirated copy and can carry malware
• adds a second SPF record instead of editing the one you have
• says nothing about DNS records at all

How to give access safely

An email fix needs a WordPress login and, usually, a DNS change. Keep the most sensitive accounts to yourself.

1. Take your own backup first. Use your hosting panel or a backup plugin, and keep a copy off the server.
2. Create a separate WordPress user for the developer. Installing and setting up a plugin needs the Administrator role, so use a temporary login. The Temporary Login Without Password plugin lets it expire on its own. Never share your own login.
3. Add the DNS records yourself if you can. Ask the developer to send the exact records, then add them where your domain’s DNS is managed (your nameservers show which company that is). Your host’s support can help.
4. Connect mail accounts yourself. If the fix uses a sending service or your Google or Microsoft mailbox, create the account in your name and click through the connection with the developer on a call, so they never need your mailbox password.
5. Never share your domain registrar, payment accounts or admin email. An email fix doesn’t need any of them.

Give access after placing the order. Send passwords through a password manager, not as text in chat. When the job is done, delete the temporary WordPress user and change any password you shared.

What to send before the work starts

• your site address and the pages with the forms
• which emails don’t arrive: form messages, password resets, store orders
• the intended recipient and whether messages reach spam or disappear
• your form plugin and any page builder
• where your domain’s email is hosted: your host, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365
• where your DNS is managed, if you know
• what you’ve tried, and any SMTP plugin already installed
• what counts as done: each affected form’s email reaches its recipient
• your deadline
• the access you’re ready to give

Use the order requirements to agree on what the developer will fix and how you’ll test it.

After the fix: check, accept, prevent

Fiverr gives you three days to review a delivery before the order completes on its own. Check right away:

• every form on the site, filled in from your phone with a personal address
• a reply to a form message, to see that it goes to the visitor
• a password reset and, on a store, a test order email
• an email from your normal inbox to a Gmail address, to see that it still lands

Ask for any changes through Fiverr before you accept. Ask what caused the failure, which records changed and where sending is set up.

Delete the developer’s WordPress user and change any shared passwords. Test each form once a month, after big plugin updates and after a host move. Regular maintenance can catch a silent form before your customers do.

Summary

WordPress email usually fails quietly, so the fix is less about the form and more about how your site sends. For a WordPress contact form not sending email, start with a one-issue order and keep every account in your name. Test each form before accepting the work.