How to fix missing spf on WooCommerce

Steps for WooCommerce

1. WooCommerce sends email through your WordPress hosting server's PHP mail function by default — this is the most common cause of SPF failures for WooCommerce stores.
2. Install a transactional email plugin such as WP Mail SMTP (free) or FluentSMTP: WordPress Admin → Plugins → Add New → search for 'WP Mail SMTP' → Install → Activate.
3. Configure the plugin to route all WordPress/WooCommerce email through an authenticated SMTP service (SendGrid, Mailgun, Gmail/Google Workspace, etc.) — follow the plugin's setup wizard.
4. Log in to your domain registrar's DNS panel (where your domain is registered or where DNS is hosted).
5. Add a TXT record: Name = '@', Value = v=spf1 include:[your-smtp-provider-spf-hostname] -all. Your SMTP provider's documentation lists the exact include: string (e.g. 'include:sendgrid.net' for SendGrid, 'include:mailgun.org' for Mailgun).
6. Verify with MXToolbox SPF Lookup and send a WooCommerce test order email to confirm delivery.

What is missing spf?

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a DNS record — a single line of text you publish at your domain — that lists every mail server and service allowed to send email from your domain address. When someone receives an email claiming to be from you, their mail server looks up this record and checks whether the sending server is on your approved list. If there is no SPF record at all, there is nothing to check against, and your domain is completely open to impersonation. Think of it as a guest list for who is allowed to send email in your name.

Without an SPF record, criminals can forge your domain in the "From" address of phishing or spam emails — a technique called email spoofing — and your customers, suppliers, or partners may receive fraudulent messages that appear to come from your business. This directly harms customer trust and can expose you to legal liability. Beyond fraud risk, major email providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo) now treat domains without SPF as suspicious and are more likely to send your legitimate transactional emails — order confirmations, shipping notices, password resets — straight to spam, costing you sales and customer satisfaction. A missing SPF record also contributes to OWASP A05:2021 Security Misconfiguration findings, which can affect security audits and partner due-diligence reviews.

See the complete Missing spf guide for every platform and the full background.