7 Best Transactional Email Services for WordPress

Choosing the best transactional email services for WordPress websites can be confusing because there are countless platforms in the market, and you need to consider everything from deliverability to cost.

Transactional emails play a crucial role in keeping your WordPress site running smoothly and your users informed; whether it’s a password reset, order confirmation, or a simple notification, these emails help keep your customers satisfied and maintain brand awareness and user experience. But with so many email services out there, finding the right transactional email platform can be a bit difficult.

In this post, we’ll look at the best transactional email services you can use with your WordPress, and break down what makes each one stand out. I will also cover everything from ease of integration to deliverability rates, so you can decide which transactional email service fits your website needs.

Why Use a Transactional Email Service for WordPress

When running a WordPress site, you would want your emails—whether it’s a password reset, order confirmation, or notification to reach your customers or readers’ inbox reliably. Unfortunately, WordPress’s native email function often falls short, leading to missed messages or having your emails land in the spam folder.

To ensure your email reaches inboxes reliably, you need a transactional email. Transactional email service offers a robust solution that ensures your emails are delivered promptly, and securely, and saves your emails from the SPAM folder.

Here’s why using a transactional email service for WordPress is a smart move for any website owner.

• Reliability

WordPress’s built-in email function often depends on your web host to send email and many web hosts aren’t optimized for delivering emails, which can lead to your emails getting lost, delayed, or marked as spam. Transactional email services are designed to handle email delivery efficiently, ensuring your messages reach your users.

• Deliverability

Transactional email services focus on getting your emails past spam filters and into the inbox. Transactional email services offer higher deliverability rates because they use optimized servers, and proper authentication, and have established sending reputations.

• Scalability

As your website grows, so will the number of emails you need to send, like order confirmations, password resets, and notifications. Transactional email services can handle a large volume of emails without compromising speed or reliability.

• Tracking & Analytics

Transactional email services provide detailed reports on email delivery, opens, clicks, and bounces to help you monitor the effectiveness of your email campaigns and troubleshoot any issues.

• No Sending Limits

Many shared hosts only allow a few emails to be sent over their server at a time, if you are sending emails on your WordPress website you can experience sending limits. With transactional email services, you can send as many transactional emails as you want without worrying about reaching your limit.

• Integration & Customization

Many transactional email services offer easy integration with WordPress plugins and APIs which allow you to customize your emails to match your branding and automate various email triggers based on user actions on your website.

• Security

Transactional email services offer encryption and other security features to protect your client’s sensitive information; your WordPress website needs these security features, especially for e-commerce sites, where emails often contain personal and financial data.

What happens when you don’t use a transactional email service on your WordPress Website?

If you don’t use a transactional email service on your WordPress website, you might experience several issues that can negatively impact your site’s functionality and user experience.

Without a transactional email service, you will experience unreliable email delivery, poor user experience, and potential compliance issues that can affect your site’s reputation and functionality.

Without a transactional email service on your website, the following can happen

• Emails Getting Lost

WordPress relies on your web server’s email function, which isn’t always reliable. Important emails, like order confirmations or password resets, might not be delivered at all.

• High Spam Rates

Without a dedicated transactional email service on your website, your emails may end up in the spam folder, because most standard web servers lack the necessary authentication and reputation that email providers trust.

• Delayed Emails

Most web hosting servers are not optimized for sending large volumes of emails quickly, so there may be delays in delivering your emails, which can frustrate users who expect instant communication.

• Limited Tracking

Without a transactional email service, you won’t enjoy valuable tracking and analytics features. You won’t know if your emails are being delivered, opened, or clicked, making it hard to measure the effectiveness of your transactional emails.

Top 7 Transactional Email Services for WordPress

Choosing the right transactional email service for your WordPress website can be confusing because there are many out there, as you have to consider everything from deliverability to cost. To help you decide which service is good for you, here is the list of the 7 top and most popular transactional email services: Sender, MailerLite, Amazon SES, Omnisend, HubSpot, Elastic Email, and Moosend.

In the table below, we’ve outlined key features, pricing models, ease of use, and more, giving you a clear view of what each service offers.

Best Transactional Email Services for WordPress

Not all transactional email services are created equal, so choosing the best one for your WordPress website can make a lot of difference.

Here are our best-picked transactional email services to keep your emails out of the spam folder and in your users’ inboxes.

1. Sender.net

Sender.net is an award-winning user-friendliness and unparalleled transactional email service for WordPress, it is a platform designed to help businesses of all sizes create, send, and analyze their email campaigns. Sender is designed for e-commerce platforms, bloggers, enterprise-level marketers and any other digital business. Sender.net offers a suite of tools to make email marketing more efficient and effective.

If you’re looking for a robust email marketing solution that’s easy to use, packed with features, and won’t break the bank, Sender.net is a solid choice. It’s perfect for beginners who need something simple yet powerful enough for more experienced marketers who want advanced features like automation and segmentation.

One of the standout features of Sender.net is its intuitive drag-and-drop email editor. You don’t need to be a tech wizard to create beautiful, professional-looking emails. Just drag the elements you want into place, customize them to fit your brand, and you’re good to go!

Sender.net allows you to set up automated email sequences, so you can engage with your audience without lifting a finger. You can easily set up a welcome email for new subscribers, a follow-up for abandoned carts, or a re-engagement campaign, Sender’s automation feature makes it easy to keep your audience engaged.

Not all subscribers are the same, and Sender.net knows it, the platform lets you segment your audience based on various criteria like behaviour, demographics, and engagement level. This means you can send more targeted and relevant emails to increase the chances of conversion.

Sender.net integrates seamlessly with popular platforms like WordPress, WooCommerce, and Zapier. This makes it easier to sync your email marketing efforts with your existing tools and workflows.

Features

Price

Sender is free to get started for up to 2500 subscribers and sends 15,000 emails per month; you can also integrate with any platform you are currently using, as your business grows, you can easily upgrade to one of their paid plans.

You can get their standard plan which includes 60,000 emails and 5000 subscribers for just $33/month. If you are a frequent sender, you can also opt-in for the Pay as you plan, pay as low as $5.80 per 1000 emails.

2. MailerLite

MailerLite is another user-friendly and robust transactional email service for WordPress. MailerLite is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses, bloggers, and entrepreneurs who need a straightforward, effective transactional and marketing email solution. If you value simplicity without sacrificing functionality and are looking for a tool that can grow with your business, MailerLite is worth considering.

One thing that sets MailerLite apart from others is its drag-and-drop feature. Creating emails with MailerLite is as easy as eating pie. The drag-and-drop editor lets you build stunning emails without effort; you can customize templates, and add images, buttons, and even dynamic content blocks to create personalized messages.

MailerLite allows you to set up workflows that automatically send emails based on user behaviour. You can also create beautiful landing pages and pop-ups to grow your email list. MailerLite’s segmentation feature lets you divide your audience based on different criteria like location, behaviour, or purchase history. You can also track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to see how your campaigns perform.

MailerLite provides an official WordPress plugin that lets you connect your site with your MailerLite account in just a few clicks. Once installed and activated, the plugin syncs your WordPress site with MailerLite, enabling you to manage your email marketing activities from your WordPress dashboard.

With MailerLite as your transactional email service on your WordPress, you can create a cohesive online presence that drives traffic and conversions.

Features

Price

MailerLite Transactional email offers a free plan for up to 3,000 emails; if you exhaust the 3,000 emails, you can send 1000 emails for just $1.00 (or $0.001 per email) on the free plan. Paid plans start at $35 for 50,000 emails, 100 SMS and 100 email verification credits monthly. You can also pay for extra usage if you exhaust your monthly usage for just $0.95/1000 emails and $1.40/100 SMS

3. Amazon (SES)

Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) is a cloud-based transactional email solution designed for businesses that send a large volume of emails for almost free. If you’re running a WordPress site that requires reliable, high-volume email delivery you can rely on Amazon SES SMTP API to send transactional and marketing emails.

One of Amazon SES’s biggest attractions is its pricing; you pay only for what you use, making it an economical choice for websites that need to send thousands—or even millions—of emails each month. Plus, if your WordPress site is hosted on AWS EC2, you can send up to 62,000 monthly for free, plus a dedicated IP address – making it the most cost-effective transactional email service for WordPress.

While Amazon SES offers unmatched scalability and pricing, it’s not as plug-and-play as other services on this list. Setting it up requires technical expertise, especially when integrating it with WordPress.

However, you can use a plugin like WP Mail SMTP or FluentSMTP to bridge the gap between your site and Amazon SES. These plugins make it easier to configure your SES settings, ensuring your transactional emails are sent smoothly and efficiently.

Features

Price

If you send emails from an Amazon EC2 instance, you get the first 62,000 emails free each month; if you use up the 62,000 emails, you will pay $0.10 per 1,000 emails. However, if you send emails from a non-EC2 source (using them to send emails alone), the cost is $0.10 per 1,000 emails from the first email you sent.

4. Omnisend

Omnisend is another robust transactional email service with a strong focus on eCommerce, making it a top choice for WordPress sites running online stores. Omnisend is known for its advanced automation and segmentation capabilities that help businesses deliver highly personalized transactional emails that can drive engagement and boost sales.

If you’re looking for a transactional service that combines powerful automation with deep segmentation, Omnisend is a perfect choice. It’s perfect for online retailers who want to engage customers with personalized, timely emails that can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty.

Omnisend is built with eCommerce in mind, offering features tailored to online retailers. Whether you’re sending order confirmations, shipping updates, or abandoned cart reminders, Omnisend makes it easy to create and automate these critical transactional emails.

One of Omnisend’s standout features is its ability to segment your audience based on behaviour, purchase history, and other criteria. Omnisend excels in automation, allowing you to set up sophisticated workflows with ease.

You can automate everything from welcome series to post-purchase follow-ups and ensure your customers receive timely and relevant information on time

Features

Price

Omnisend offers a free plan for up to 250 contacts and 500 emails per month, but to unlock its full potential, you may need to invest in the standard paid plans. The standard plan costs $16/month for up to 500 contacts, 6,000 emails and unlimited web push notifications.

5. HubSpot

HubSpot is more than just a CRM or marketing tool; it’s a comprehensive solution for managing transactional emails on WordPress. With its seamless integration, powerful automation features, reliable deliverability, and detailed analytics, HubSpot stands out as a top choice if you need a transactional email service for your WordPress website.

It is known for its robust CRM and marketing tools that also offer transactional email capabilities that can be seamlessly integrated with your WordPress site to send order confirmations, password resets, or account notifications quickly.

HubSpot offers a dedicated WordPress plugin that makes integration easy With this plugin, you can sync your WordPress data with HubSpot’s CRM, capture leads, and automate your transactional emails directly from your WordPress site. The plugin also allows you to manage your forms, pop-ups, and email campaigns without leaving your WordPress dashboard.

With HubSpot, you can set up workflows that automatically send transactional emails based on specific triggers, such as order confirmations, password resets, or account updates.

With HubSpot, you get access to in-depth analytics that track the performance of your emails. You can monitor open, click-through and conversion rates, giving you valuable insights into how your transactional emails are performing and where there’s room for improvement.

Features

Price

You can start free on HubSpot as a small business owner and upgrade to a marketing plan to enjoy the transactional email feature for just $15/month for up to 1000 contacts.

6. Moosend

Moosend is another transactional email service that strikes a balance between affordability and functionality, making it an attractive option for small business owner who need a reliable service for their transactional emails. Moosend is known for its ease of use and powerful automation tools, Moosend is a great choice for businesses of all sizes, especially those looking for a budget-friendly solution without compromising on features.

Moosend is one of the most cost-effective email marketing services available on this list. Moosend’s user interface is designed with simplicity in mind, making it easy for anyone to create, manage, and send transactional emails. The drag-and-drop email editor allows you to design stunning emails with ease.

Moosend excels in automation, allowing you to set up workflows to trigger transactional emails based on user actions. Moosend also provides detailed analytics to help you track the performance of your emails. You can monitor key metrics like open, click-through rates, and conversions, giving you valuable insights into how your emails are performing and where you can optimize.

Moosend integrates seamlessly with WordPress through a dedicated plugin or API, making it easy to connect your site and start sending emails right away.

If you want to know how good MailerLite is, read my comprehensive review of MailerLite email marketing

Features

Price

When compared to the other email services on this list, Moosend is very affordable, you can get started on the free plan to send unlimited emails to up to 1000 contacts. The Pro plan starts at $7/month for up to 500 contacts and enjoys unlimited emails, you will need to request a transactional add-on to be able to send transactional emails as a Moosend+ user.

7. Elastic Email

Elastic Email is another flexible and powerful transactional email service that combines affordability with a rich set of features, making it an attractive choice for WordPress users who need a reliable platform for sending transactional and marketing emails. With its robust API, detailed analytics, and customizable options, Elastic Email can be used by any business and scale as it grows.

Elastic Email offers one of the most competitive pricing models in the market, especially for high-volume senders. You can choose between a pay-as-you-go plan or a monthly subscription, with the flexibility to manage costs according to your email volume.

Elastic Email’s API is a standout feature, providing extensive control over your email campaigns. Whether you need to send transactional emails, manage lists, or access detailed reports, the API also makes it easy to integrate Elastic Email into your WordPress site.

Elastic Email drag-and-drop email editor allows you to create professional emails quickly and provides comprehensive analytics to track your emails’ performance in real-time. Elastic Email integrates smoothly with WordPress through the official Elastic Email’s official plugin. These integrations make it simple to connect your WordPress site to Elastic Email, allowing you to send transactional emails directly from your website.

Features

Price

You can send transactional emails with Elastic email API or SMTP relay and reach your customer’s inbox for just $19/month. The starter plan allows you to send up to 50,000 emails to unlimited contacts monthly.

Tips to Choose the Best Transactional Email Service

Selecting the right transactional email service is crucial to ensure your emails are delivered reliably and efficiently.

Here are some tips to help you choose the best transaction email service for your WordPress site

• Assess Your Email Volume

Estimate the number of transactional emails you send each month. Services like Amazon SES and Elastic Email are great for high volumes, while others like MailerLite, Sender and Moosend are more suited for smaller to medium-sized lists.

• Examine Pricing Plans

Compare pricing plans based on your budget and needs. Some transactional email services, like Amazon SES, offer pay-as-you-go pricing, which can be cost-effective for low to moderate volumes. Others, like Sender and MailerLite, offer tiered pricing based on the number of subscribers or emails sent.

• Evaluate Integration Options

Choose a service that integrates smoothly with WordPress. Services like MailerLite, Sender, Omnisend and HubSpot have WordPress plugins or APIs that make integration straightforward, while others might require more technical setup or third-party platforms like Zapier to connect.

• Consider Automation and Features

Always look for services that offer robust automation features, automated workflows for tasks like order confirmations or password resets can save you time and ensure consistency. Depending on your needs, you might want features like segmentation, advanced analytics, or custom templates. Choose a service that provides the tools that will benefit your specific use case.

• Consider Ease of Use

A user-friendly interface can save you time and help you design email quickly. Choose a service with intuitive dashboards and easy-to-navigate features. Email Services like MailerLite, Sender and Omnisend are known for their straightforward user experiences.

• Look for Scalability

Choose a service that can scale with your business. As your email volume grows, you’ll want a provider that can handle increased traffic without compromising performance.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right transactional email service for your WordPress website is crucial to ensure effective communication with your audience. With the transactional email service in place, you’ll be well-equipped to enhance your WordPress site’s email communications, improve engagement, and drive better results for your business.

You should assess your budget, integration requirements, and desired features to narrow your choices to the transactional email service that best aligns with your objectives. Services like Amazon SES offer cost-effective solutions for high volumes, while Omnisend and HubSpot excel in automation and CRM integration, making them ideal for eCommerce sites.