If your contact form is not sending emails from your clients, there are several potential issues to investigate and resolve. Here’s a guide to help you troubleshoot and fix the problem:

1. Check Email Settings in Widget

• Valid Email Address: Ensure that you have set a valid email address in the widget settings of your contact form. This is often a common oversight.
• Browser Console: Check your browser's error console for any JavaScript errors that might be affecting the form's functionality. Address any issues found here.

2. Emails Being Sent to Spam

• Spam/Junk Folder: Check if the emails are landing in the spam or junk folder. If they are, it indicates that WordPress is capable of sending emails, but they are being flagged by the email service provider.
• Whitelisting: Ask your users to whitelist your email address by adding it to their contacts. In Gmail, for instance, they can move emails from spam to the inbox to prevent future issues.
• Email Authentication: Ensure your domain has proper email authentication set up (SPF, DKIM records). This helps verify that your emails are legitimate and can reduce the likelihood of them being marked as spam.

3. Plugin Configuration Issues

• Misconfigured Contact Form Plugin: If emails are still not being received, your contact form plugin might be misconfigured or incompatible. Check the plugin settings and ensure everything is set up correctly.
• Contact Plugin Developer: If you suspect the issue is with the plugin, contact the plugin developer for support. Provide them with details about your tests and configurations.

4. Email Spoofing Concerns

• Spoofed Emails: Sometimes, contact form emails are flagged as spoof if the sender's address doesn’t match the one in the “From” field. Make sure the "From" address in your contact form matches your domain to avoid this issue.
• Same Sender/Recipient Address: If the form sends emails from your admin email address to the same address, some email providers may flag this as suspicious. Change the "From" address to a different, legitimate email associated with your domain.

5. SMTP/Server Configuration Issues

• SMTP Plugin: Consider using an SMTP plugin to configure email sending on your WordPress site. This ensures better compatibility and reliability for email sending.
• Server Limitations: Check if your server is configured to send emails. Many web servers aren’t optimized for sending emails via the PHP mail() function, which can lead to failures.

Testing Email Sending from the Server

• Check Email Plugin: Install a free plugin like Check Email to test if your WordPress site can send emails. After installation:
  1. Go to Tools > Check Email in your WordPress dashboard.
  2. Enter an email address and click Send test email.
  3. If the email is sent successfully, your server can send emails, and the issue lies with the contact form settings.

Further Troubleshooting

• PHP Version: If emails are still failing to send, temporarily change your PHP version in your cPanel dashboard. Sometimes, compatibility issues can arise due to the PHP version in use.
• Port Blocking: If you're using SMTP and facing connection issues, verify that the port you are using for SMTP is not blocked by your hosting provider.

By following these steps, you should be able to identify and fix the issue preventing your contact form from sending emails effectively. If problems persist, consider reaching out to your hosting provider for additional support.