Why Your Website Contact Form Isn't Sending Emails After a Hosting Change

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: Why Your Website Contact Form Isn't Sending Emails After a Hosting Change. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

After migrating your website to a new hosting provider, your contact form may stop sending emails. This is a common issue caused by SMTP restrictions, missing email authentication records, or incorrect routing between your web server and your business email suite. This guide explains how to diagnose and resolve these delivery failures so your Australian small business can continue receiving customer inquiries without interruption.

Quick Fix Steps

1. Test your contact form using a different email address to confirm whether the issue affects all recipients or only your business email.
2. Check your website's contact form plugin settings and ensure the From email address matches your domain.
3. Verify that your domain's DNS records, including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, are correctly configured for your new hosting provider.
4. Review your email suite's spam or junk folder for messages that may have been flagged as suspicious.
5. If the form still fails to send, open a ticket with 220 Internet Services for further investigation.

Detailed Instructions

Check Contact Form Sender Settings

Many hosting providers block emails sent from addresses that do not belong to the server's domain. To prevent this, configure your contact form to use an email address hosted on your own domain.

1. Log in to your website's administration dashboard.
2. Navigate to your contact form plugin settings.
3. Locate the From Email or Sender Address field.
4. Enter an email address that uses your domain name, such as [email protected].
5. Save the settings and submit a test message through your live contact form.

Avoid using a generic @gmail.com or @outlook.com address as the sender, as this often triggers spam filters and authentication failures.

Verify DNS Authentication Records

After a hosting change, your domain's DNS records may no longer authorise the new server to send email on your behalf. This can cause recipient mail servers to reject your messages.

1. Log in to your domain registrar or DNS management console.
2. Locate the DNS zone for your domain.
3. Confirm that an SPF record exists and includes your new web host's mail servers.
4. Ensure DKIM records are published if your email suite supports them.
5. Check that DMARC is configured to handle authentication failures appropriately.
6. Allow up to 48 hours for DNS changes to propagate across Australian and global networks.

Incorrect DNS changes can disrupt your website and email services. If you are unsure about editing zone records, Open a Ticket and our team can assist.

Test Email Delivery

1. Submit a test enquiry through your website contact form.
2. Check the inbox of the destination email address.
3. Inspect the spam, junk, and promotions folders if the email does not appear in the inbox.
4. Ask a colleague or external contact to submit the form and report whether they receive a delivery failure notification.

Troubleshooting

Emails Arrive but Are Marked as Spam

• Confirm your SPF record authorises your web host's sending IP addresses.
• Enable DKIM signing through your email suite or hosting control panel.
• Review your DMARC policy to ensure it is not set to reject prematurely.

No Emails Are Received at All

• Check your web server's mail logs for connection errors or authentication rejections.
• Verify that your hosting plan allows outbound SMTP connections.
• Ensure your contact form is not using a disabled or deleted email account as the sender.
• Confirm your domain's MX records point to the correct email provider.

Intermittent Delivery Failures

• DNS propagation delays can cause inconsistent behaviour for up to two days after a hosting migration.
• Some recipient mail servers may greylist new sending servers temporarily.
• Monitor delivery over 24 to 48 hours before making further changes.

If you have completed these steps and your contact form still is not sending emails, Open a Ticket with 220 Internet Services. Include your domain name, the email address used by the contact form, and any error messages you have received.

Still Having Issues?