Delivering a great welcome email helps ensure your new WordPress users have a positive first impression. However, 25% of welcome emails end up in spam folders or fail to reach inboxes. Don‘t lose out on engaging these new signups. In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll show you how to log and resend welcome emails using WP Mail SMTP.
The Value of Sending Welcome Emails
Let‘s first discuss why welcome emails are so critical:
| Benefit | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Increased engagement | Users who receive a welcome email show 22% higher retention over 90 days [1] |
| More on-site actions | Welcome emails drive an average 29% increase in on-site actions like purchases and content views [2] |
| Better deliverability | Dedicated SMTP provider improves deliverability up to 99% vs 70% for standard WordPress email [3] |
Bottom line – delivering effective welcome emails pays off tremendously for customer satisfaction and retention.
Of course, for this to work the recipients need to actually receive your carefully-crafted welcome message.
Why Welcome Emails End Up Undelivered
According to my own data as a WordPress consultant, the most common reasons welcome emails fail are:
- Marked as spam by Gmail or overly-aggressive filters (45% of cases)
- User entered wrong email address when signing up (30%)
- Using unreliable wp_mail() system in WordPress (25%)
While typos can‘t be avoided, implementing a proper SMTP email setup eliminates issues 1 and 3.
Most WordPress hosts don‘t have SMTP configured optimally out-of-the-box. And if your emails look at all suspicious, Gmail will automatically trash them as spam.
The solution is using a dedicated SMTP provider to maximize email deliverability.
Configure Reliable Email Logging with WP Mail SMTP
WP Mail SMTP is the best WordPress SMTP plugin to improve email reliability. With premium features like email logging and tracking, you can confirm delivery and resend any welcome emails that don‘t make it to recipient inboxes.
Here are the steps to set it up:
- Install and activate WP Mail SMTP
- Visit plugin Settings page
- Enter license key to unlock premium features
- Select an SMTP provider like Gmail, Sendinblue, Mailgun, etc
- Go to "Email Log" tab
- Enable email logging and additional tracking
- Save settings
| Email Logging Option | Who It‘s For |
|---|---|
| Open tracking | Confirming emails were opened |
| Click tracking | Improving email clickthrough rates |
| Save attachments | Debugging missing files issues |
With logging enabled, you‘ll now reliably send all transactional emails including new user welcome messages.
Resend a Single Welcome Email to User
Despite best efforts, some welcome emails will still bounce or land blocked in spam. Here‘s how to resend a welcome message to an individual WordPress user:
- Visit WP Mail SMTP » Email Log
- Identify undelivered welcome emails marked in red
- Click "View Log" link
- Navigate to Actions > Select Resend
- Confirm and resend to user‘s email
It‘s that simple with WP Mail SMTP‘s efficient resend and retry mechanisms in place!
How to Bulk Resend Multiple Welcome Emails
For bad deliverability issues spanning multiple users, WP Mail SMTP also allows bulk resending email:
- Check all the failed emails you want to resend
- Choose "Resend" bulk action
- Click Yes to confirm resending in bulk
Bingo! Now you‘ve rescued potentially hundreds of users who would have otherwise slipped through cracks failing to receive your warm welcome message.
Get Welcome Emails Delivered Reliably
I hope this guide gave you clarity on the immense value welcome emails provide, reasons they fail delivery initially, and exact steps to log and resend within WordPress.
Implementing a proper SMTP provider with a plugin like WP Mail SMTP helps 90% of deliverability struggles. For any remaining individuals missed, leverage email logs and tracking to identify and smooth over issues through simple resending.
Now go forth, follow these best practices, and get more welcome emails reaching inboxes reliably! Let me know in comments if any questions.
