Why Your Contact Form Isn’t Working (and How to Check It)

Ever thought,

“Weird, I haven’t gotten a message from my contact form in a while…”

Yeeeeah. That form?
It might be broken.

Contact forms are one of the most common silent failures I see on websites. No errors. No alerts. Just… crickets.
Let’s talk about why it happens, how to test yours, and what to do if it’s gone rogue.

⚠️ Why Contact Forms Break (Silently)

Here are the usual suspects:

The email is sending to an old or wrong address
The form plugin is outdated or glitchy
There’s no SMTP plugin installed
Deliverability issues are bouncing messages to spam (or nowhere)
The form’s markup or validation has errors under the hood

Fun, right?

🧪 How to Check If Your Form Actually Works

Don’t assume. Test it.

Submit it yourself – twice
Check your inbox and your spam folder
Look for a confirmation message on the site
Check plugin logs (some keep a record of submissions)
Ask a friend or colleague to test it, too

If you think it’s working because “it used to” – test it anyway. Trust me.

🧯 What to Do If It’s Not Working

Let’s break it down:

Form submits, but no email? That’s probably a deliverability problem.
Form won’t submit at all? It’s likely a plugin or setup issue.
Both? Oof. Let’s dig in.

Sometimes it’s an easy fix – a plugin update or a missing setting.
Other times, it’s deeper: your DNS records may be missing key authentication (things like SPF, DKIM, or DMARC), which tell inboxes,

“Hey, this message isn’t spam – let it through.”

If that sounds like alphabet soup, don’t worry – I speak fluent tech-nerd.

🧰 How I Can Help

I troubleshoot these things all the time. I’ll:

Test your form
Track down what’s broken
Either fix it myself or give you a clear, non-jargony plan

It’s part of what I include in my Website Repair services and Maintenance Plans – because what good is a website if no one can reach you?

🧠 Final Thoughts

Your contact form should be the easiest way for people to get in touch – not a digital black hole where leads go to die.

If it’s been quiet for too long, something’s up.

Let’s get your form back in action — so it actually does what it’s supposed to do: help people reach you.