Contact Form 7 Fix (what do try when you get the Failed to Send Message error)
One of the WordPress plugins I like to use is Contact Form 7, but it seems half the time I install it, I end up with that “Failed to Send Message” error, and it takes me a while of trial and error to remember how to fix it.
Well, I just fixed it on the website I’m currently building, so I figured I’d document the fixes for you guys, and for myself the next time!
A caveat- this is what works for Bluehost hosted sites, using Contact Form 7 Version 1.9.5.1, WordPress 2.9
1. Set up a admin@yourdomain.com email address on your server. (I forward that to my email while I ‘m testing the site, then that can be forwarded to the administrators current email later)
2. Ensure admin@yourdomain.com is set up as the admin email in WordPress (General settings: Email Address)
3. When you set up your form, Make sure the “To: ” email in the contact form settings is set to admin@yourdomain.com
(the key to all this being that I think the site domain needs to match the email address domain – it doesn’t have to be admin@, I just use that.)
Another thing that might help as well that I found in my research:
- Set up a wordpress@yourdomain.com email address on your server.

ABSOLUTE LIFESAVER! This worked! Been struggling with this for hours, and my prob was on bluehost. THANK YOU! Version 3.04 of WP and version 2.4 of contactform7.
Glad to help!
Awesome info! Really appreciate you posting this. It helped save me much time troubleshooting since I was lucky enough to find this first.
Great site too!
You’re a lifesaver. For real.