How to fix Gmail blocking emails from my WooCommerce WordPress site?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Neil Patel explains that improving sender reputation, authenticating emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and consistently monitoring bounce rates are essential for avoiding Gmail blocking.
Email marketer from SendLayer shares to use a tool like Mail Tester to check your emails' spam score before sending them to Gmail users. This allows you to identify and fix any issues that may cause Gmail to block your emails.
Email marketer from IsItWP explains that ensuring your domain has proper DNS records, including SPF and DKIM records, is crucial for proving to Gmail that your emails are legitimate and not spam.
Email marketer from WPBeginner shares that using an SMTP service like Sendinblue, Mailgun, or similar services is a solution to ensure WordPress emails are delivered reliably, bypassing the limitations of default WordPress email sending.
Email marketer from EmailToolTester recommends using an SMTP WordPress plugin to reconfigure WordPress to use proper SMTP settings. It avoids the issues with web hosting servers. They also recommend checking you haven't been blacklisted.
Email marketer from Reddit suggests checking your Return-Path and ensuring it's properly configured to point to a valid domain you control, to improve Gmail's trust in your emails.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that setting up the Return-Path resolved the Gmail blocking issue, and emails are now correctly received in Gmail.
Email marketer from Kinsta advises using a dedicated email sending service to manage transactional emails, rather than relying on web hosting servers to do this, as it improves deliverability and reduces the likelihood of emails being marked as spam.
Email marketer from StackOverflow explains that you need to ensure the 'from' address in WooCommerce matches the domain you're sending from. Ensure your 'From' name is consistent.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks asks if a custom return path was used to resolve the issue.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that a very high percentage of email delivery problems are the result of authentication failures. Check SPF, DKIM and DMARC records.
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that deploying good list hygiene practices (e.g. removing old emails, using double opt in) and also monitoring for spam traps are important to improve deliverability.
Expert from Email Geeks shares potential reasons for Gmail blocking emails, including sending IP problems, spam issues from other forms on the same site, authentication problems, or issues with the mail generation software's reputation.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from RFC-Editor explains the Return-Path (also known as the envelope sender), is the email address that bounce messages should be sent to. Setting this up correctly ensures bounces are managed.
Documentation from Mailjet explains the importance of maintaining a clean email list, segmenting audiences, and personalizing content to improve engagement and reduce the chances of being flagged as spam by Gmail.
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that to ensure emails aren't blocked, you should use a consistent IP address to send mail, keep your SPF records up to date, and monitor your domain's reputation through Google Postmaster Tools.
Documentation from WooCommerce recommends using a transactional email service and configuring WooCommerce to use SMTP. They recommend plugins such as the 'WP Mail SMTP' plugin.