When a customer fills out a form on your site, they are likely trying to reach out to you. Be it a service inquiry or a booking request, not responding means potentially losing a customer. A prompt response makes you appear reliable trusting and increases your chances of closing the deal.
Given your business requirements, setting up instant notifications is helpful for a variety of reasons. You will be able to receive alerts in real-time whenever someone submits a request, which ensures you can respond in a timely fashion and help keep your business running with ease.
In this walkthrough guide, we will show you how to set up form notifications in WordPress so that you are never left wondering if important requests are slipping through the cracks.
Out of the box, WordPress does not offer a built in method for tracking form submissions. Instead it relies on plugins like Contact Form 7, WPForms, or Gravity Forms to capture and submit data. When a user fills out a form, the information is usually sent to the admin email linked in WordPress through the plugin. So if your email settings are not set in the desired manner, chances are you will not be getting any form submissions.
Also bear in mind the constancy and security of email.
WordPress employs PHP mail to send notifications regarding forms, but a lot of hosting companies do not allow or restrict these emails which results in them not being delivered. This is the reason why SMTP services are recommended to be used in order to make sure that the notifications do actually show up in your mailbox.
In the absence of proper configuration, form submissions can get lost very easily, which means that potential customers might not get a response from you. In the subsequent sub-section of the article, we will demonstrate how you can configure precise notifications for your WordPress forms so that you can be sure of never missing an important query.
Establishing Trustworthy Email Alerts For Your Forms.
Worry not because a lot of other users have the same issue of not receiving notification forms. A lot of people have this issue while they are using WordPress which relies on PHP mail to send emails and unfortunately, many Hosting Providers tend to block or filter them as spam. What this means is that crucial form submissions might be getting lost without your knowledge.
Using an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) service is the best solution. PHP mail cannot guarantee that emails will be sent through a reliable sender, whereas SMTP does. It is the primary reason as to why direct delivery of your emails is prominent. Services with good reputation like WP Mail SMTP, SendGrid, and SMTP.com assist in ensuring that your inbox actually receives the notifications.
Start by checking your WordPress admin email settings in order to see whether your email is correct or not.
Next, set where you want to receive notifications in your form plugin settings; to your inbox, a colleague, or even multiple people.
With top-of-the-line configuration, missing any inquiry will be a thing of the past. Lastly, we will look at notification enhancements for your forms in WordPress.
Looking for Features that Improve Notification Functions
WordPress cannot manage form notifications on its own and so it depends on plugins. Some form plugins provide basic email notification features, while other form plugins allow for greater customization and flexibility in setting and receiving alerts.
If you need instant and accurate notifications, you should use the WP Mail SMTP plugin. It guarantees email delivery by sending through a trusted SMTP provider and eliminates getting lost or flagged as spam. FluentSMTP is an equally important plugin that helps you monitor and manage the sent emails if you need more control.
Real-time alerts are available with SMS or app notifications through Twilio and Push Notifications for WP & AMP. That way, you will receive alerts instantly to your phone so you don’t have to open your email to see if a new form was submitted.
By staying on top of all inquiries, you are sure to improve response time and grow interest from new customers.
Getting Instant Alerts Through SMS or Push Notifications
Do you have to wait for emails before checking your submissions? That’s rather unorthodox. What if the email never arrives or is placed in the spam/junk folder? You could be missing out on something very important. Therefore, receiving notifications as SMS or through app alerts is a much more efficient way to receive information.
With SMS, things are much more direct. You will receive a text notification the instant someone completes your form. WP SMS or Twilio for WordPress will forward these messages to your phone’s SMS inbox so you will never miss an inquiry.
Push alerts are a little different. Instead of sending a SMS, these get sent as a pop-up message which appears on your phone or computer. When a form gets submitted, tools like OneSignal or PushEngage can send out the alerts so you receive them instantly.
Once you switch to this system, you will never miss a text message and all your queries will always be answered in the blink of an eye. There’s no having to wait, no spam folder issues, just messages, and notifications. Now, let’s explain methods to resolve common issues that prevent notifications from being displayed.
Fixing Issues When Notifications Do Not Arrive On Your Device
There is no need to panic if your notifications are not arriving. It seldom happens, but if it does, it is something that can be fixed easily. Here is a checklist of areas that require your attention.
To begin with, ensure that the emails are set to the correct address. Head over to check the settings of your form. Notifications emails are meant to be sent to a specific email address. If there was some mistake made while typing the email address, then you are not going to receive anything.
Lastly, always check your spam folder the next time you decide on checking your emails. In some cases, WordPress email can go directly to spam. If you do find it in there, it is recommended that you install SMTP plugins like WP Mail SMTP in order to enhance your email deliverance.
If everything seems to be alright and you still cannot see any emails, it is possible that your service provider has blocked them. This problem can be solved by switching to SMTP services like SendGrid or Gmail SMTP. These service providers send emails through their server which makes sure that they are delivered.
With SMS or push alerts, check that your plugin is properly configured. Ensure that your phone number addresses are correct so that notifications can reach them directly.
If you resolve these minor glitches, you can be certain that you will never overlook a form submission. Now, let’s look at the most effective ways to handle and monitor notifications of your forms.
Conclusion
Monitoring form submissions is crucial. It is never advisable to let a hot prospect get away without making contact, especially due to a simple thing such as an email being misplaced. Ensuring accurate notifications through email, SMS, or even push notifications makes sure that you can respond sooner as you get the messages instantly.
You may use an SMTP service to resolve delivery issues such as emails not coming through. SMS and push notifications also work great for real time messages, but always ensure that you have accurate settings so that the messages are delivered as they should.
If you need to prevent losing critical leads, setting things up doesn’t need to be complicated. You’re now aware of how to set up notifications for form submissions from WordPress so follow through with what you have learned and don’t ever miss a message again!
