Customers are not receiving email notifications — troubleshooting guide
Overview
If customers are subscribing, wishlisting, or signing up for alerts but are not receiving emails, the cause is usually one of a few common issues: the email was never triggered, the subscription was not verified, the email is disabled, the sender setup is incomplete, or the message was delivered but filtered by the recipient's inbox provider.
Use this guide to check each possibility in the right order so you can find the problem quickly and fix it with confidence.
Start with Email History. It tells you whether the app sent the email, queued it, failed to send it, or never created it at all. That immediately narrows down where to troubleshoot next.
Quick checklist
Check whether the email appears in Email History.
For Back in Stock alerts, confirm the customer completed email verification.
Make sure the correct email notification type is enabled.
Verify your From Email and sender setup.
Review any send delay or scheduling settings.
Confirm the trigger actually happened, such as a product coming back in stock.
If the email was sent successfully, check for delivery-side issues like spam filtering or an incorrect address.
Troubleshooting steps
Before changing any settings, confirm whether the app actually tried to send the email.
Go to Apps → WC Wishlist & Back in Stock → Wishlist Activity → Email History.
Search for the customer's email address.
Review the Email Status column.
How to interpret the status
Sent — the email left the app successfully. The issue is likely on the delivery side, such as spam filtering, promotions tab placement, or a typo in the email address.
Pending — the email is queued and has not been sent yet. Check whether you have a send delay configured.
Failed — the app tried to send the email but could not. Review your sender email configuration.
Not listed — the email event may not have been triggered. Continue through the remaining steps below.
If you do not see a record in Email History, the problem is usually not inbox delivery. It usually means the notification did not trigger or the email type is turned off.
Back in Stock notifications only send to verified subscribers. If a customer entered their email but did not click the verification link, their alert remains inactive.
Ask the customer to:
Check their inbox for a verification or confirmation email.
Check their spam, junk, and promotions folders.
If they cannot find it, return to the product page and click Notify Me again to request a new verification email.
This is the most common reason a customer says, “I subscribed but never got the Back in Stock email.”
If the notification type is turned off, the app will not send that kind of message even if the trigger happens correctly.
Go to Apps → WC Wishlist & Back in Stock → Settings → Email Customization.
Find the email you expect to send, such as Wishlist Items, Back In Stock Notification, or Price Drop Alert.
Check that the Enable toggle is turned ON.
Click Save.
It is possible for one email type to be enabled while another is disabled. Always check the exact notification the customer expected to receive.
If sender details are incomplete or use an unsuitable address, emails may fail to send or be more likely to land in spam.
Go to Apps → WC Wishlist & Back in Stock → Settings → Email Customization → Email Configuration.
Confirm that From Email is set to a valid email address on your store's domain, such as
[email protected].Avoid free email addresses like Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook if possible.
Save your changes if you update anything.
Using a branded sender address usually improves trust and deliverability compared with using a personal or free email account.
If Email History shows Pending, the message may be intentionally delayed rather than broken.
Review your email timing settings in the app.
Confirm whether the email is scheduled to send later instead of immediately.
Wait until the configured delay has passed, then check Email History again.
A pending email does not mean sending failed. It usually means the email is waiting for the configured send time.
If the customer subscribed correctly but no email was created, check whether the event that should trigger the notification really occurred.
For Back in Stock notifications
Confirm the product was previously out of stock.
Confirm it is now back in stock.
Make sure inventory changes were saved successfully.
For Wishlist or Price Drop emails
Confirm the customer actually added the product to their wishlist.
Confirm the email type matches the event you are expecting.
For price alerts, confirm the product price changed in a way that should trigger the email.
If the expected event never happened, the app will not create an email record in Email History.
If Email History shows Sent, the app has already done its job. At that point, the problem is usually related to inbox delivery.
Ask the customer to check:
Spam or junk folders
Promotions or other filtered inbox tabs
Whether they entered the correct email address when subscribing
Whether their mail provider may be blocking or filtering the message
If possible, ask the customer to add your sender email address to their contacts or safe sender list before trying again.
What to do based on what you find
The email left the app successfully. Focus on inbox delivery:
Ask the customer to check spam, junk, and promotions folders.
Confirm the email address they entered is correct.
Review your sender address and use a branded domain email if possible.
The email is queued.
Check whether a send delay is configured.
Wait until the delay window has passed.
Check Email History again later for a status change.
The app could not send the email.
Review your sender email settings.
Make sure the From Email is valid and properly formatted.
Use a branded sender address on your store domain.
Save the configuration and test again.
The notification likely never triggered.
Confirm the customer completed any required email verification.
Make sure the specific email type is enabled.
Confirm the event actually happened, such as restocking the product or changing the price.
Most common causes
The customer did not complete the Back in Stock verification email.
The relevant email notification is disabled.
The email is still pending because of a configured delay.
The From Email is invalid or uses a weak sender setup.
The email was sent, but it landed in spam or another filtered inbox folder.
The expected trigger never happened, so no email was generated.
Best practices to reduce future email issues
Use a branded sender address such as
[email protected].Review Email History regularly after making changes to email settings.
Test your main notification types after enabling or editing them.
Make sure staff understand that Back in Stock alerts require customer verification before emails can be sent.
When helping a customer, always check Email History before changing settings.
Need help?
If you are not sure which file to edit, or you would rather have us handle the installation, contact our support team:
Email: [email protected]
Live chat: available from the app admin
Free onboarding 1:1 call