WHMCS e-mails landing in spam or not sent: SMTP settings, sender address and templates

Choosing the Right Plan·· 10 views· 4 min read

This article is for resellers who run their own WHMCS. WHMCS is another company’s product: we neither sell nor resell licences, as explained in what WHMCS is. Menu names change from one WHMCS version to the next. The short answer: WHMCS sends invoices, reminders and ticket replies. When those messages do not arrive or land in spam, the cause is rarely WHMCS itself: it is the sending method (plain PHP mail instead of authenticated SMTP), a sender address that does not match the domain, or a domain without SPF, DKIM and DMARC. If messages never even leave the queue, check the cron job first in the most common WHMCS problems.

What goes wrong, and where it is fixed

Symptom Most likely cause
No customer receives anything Sending is set to PHP and the receiving server refuses, or the SMTP details are wrong. The WHMCS e-mail log shows whether the message left.
It arrives, but in spam The sender address belongs to a domain without SPF, DKIM and DMARC, or to a different domain from the one sending. See SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
Spam only at Gmail, or only at Outlook The domain has no reputation yet, or the templates look like advertising. See a new domain sending e-mail.
The SMTP test hangs and ends with no answer The wrong port for the encryption type, or the network will not let that port out. See ports 465 and 587.
Customers reply and the reply goes nowhere The sender address is not a real mailbox, or it is not linked to the support department.

Setting up sending through your own mailbox

1 Create a mailbox on your domain in cPanel, just for WHMCS (for example “billing@” or “support@”). A real mailbox that receives replies.
2 In WHMCS, open the mail settings: Configuration > System Settings > General Settings, Mail tab. Recent versions have a button to choose the mail provider: pick SMTP.
3 Fill in the server details: server mail.yourdomain, port 465 with SSL (or 587 with TLS if 465 will not get through), username set to the mailbox’s full address, and the mailbox password (not the cPanel or Meu Interweb password).
4 Set the sender: on the same tab, the system “From” name and address should be those of the mailbox you just created. An address on another domain, or a free one, is the shortest road to spam.
5 Send the test e-mail the screen offers, to an outside account of your own. Open it and read the header: reading an e-mail header.
6 Review the templates in Configuration > System Settings > Email Templates: a clear subject, your business name, no all-capitals, no image-only messages, no link shorteners. The fields WHMCS fills in itself, such as {$client_name}, stay as they are.
7 Check the domain’s SPF, DKIM and DMARC. If your mail lives with another provider and WHMCS sends through our server, SPF has to include both: creating your SPF record.
Do not stay on plain PHP mail. Without authentication the receiving servers cannot tell the mail is yours, and invoices are the first to get lost. See mail() or SMTP. And if you point WHMCS at another provider’s SMTP and the connection never opens, ask us whether outbound connections to that server are allowed, rather than trying ports at random.
The e-mail log is the proof. WHMCS keeps a list of every message sent to each customer. If it is there and the customer says it never came, look in their spam; if it is not there, the problem is the sending or the cron job.

WHMCS mail still not arriving? Send us the sender address, one recipient that failed and the time it was sent.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

SPF, DKIM and DMARC: why your e-mail lands in spam

Creating your SPF record, step by step

SMTP ports 465, 587 and 25: SSL, STARTTLS and which one to use

Reading an e-mail header: did SPF, DKIM and DMARC pass?

A new domain sending e-mail: how to build a reputation without landing in spam

The most common WHMCS problems, and what causes them

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