WordPress Transactional

View markdown

Send WordPress Transactional Emails Through Bento

This guide shows you how to route your WordPress transactional emails through Bento. Setup takes about five minutes with the official plugin.

WordPress Transactional Emails with Bento

5 Minute Setup Guide

1Install and activate the Bento WordPress plugin

Download the source zip from the latest Bento WordPress plugin release. Upload it in Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin and activate Bento Helper. The plugin is not listed on WordPress.org.
2Open `Bento` in your WordPress admin menu
After activating the plugin, open the Bento settings page from the Bento item in your WordPress admin menu.
3Enter your Bento API credentials

If you have not already, generate your Bento API keys from your teams screen. Fill in the following keys:

  • Site Key
  • Publishable Key
  • Secret Key

Then click Save & Validate Connection.

4Turn on 'Enable Transactional Emails'
This tells the plugin to route your WordPress email through Bento.
5Configure your From Email address
Once transactional emails are on, the plugin shows a list of your Bento authors in the From Email drop down. Pick the author to send from.
6Send a test email
Turn on Mail Logging, then trigger an email, such as a password reset for your own account. Check the Mail Logs menu item to confirm it was sent through Bento with the author you picked.

Features

  • Hooks into WordPress's native wp_mail() function
  • Mail logs and debug logging for troubleshooting
  • Support for HTML emails
  • Optional Reply-To passthrough
  • Fallback to WordPress mail for emails with attachments

Configuration Options

Required Settings

  • Site Key: Your Bento site identifier
  • Publishable Key: Your Bento public API key
  • Secret Key: Your Bento private API key
  • From Email: Configured Author in your Bento Account

Optional Settings

  • Transactional Override: Send to all users, including unsubscribes. Use with care, because spam reports hurt your sending reputation
  • Include Reply-To Header: Pass any Reply-To value from WordPress to Bento
  • Mail Logging: Record each email under the Mail Logs menu item
  • Debug Logging: Write detailed logs to wp-content/debug.log for troubleshooting

What Gets Sent Through Bento?

When enabled, the plugin routes every wp_mail() call through Bento, including mail sent by other plugins:

  • Password reset emails
  • New user notifications
  • Comment notifications
  • Contact form submissions
  • WooCommerce order confirmations
  • Custom plugin notifications

What Does NOT get Sent Through Bento?

  • Emails with attachments. These fall back to WordPress mail.
  • Email that a plugin sends through its own SMTP or API connection instead of wp_mail().

Benefits of Using Bento for Email

  • Improved deliverability with dedicated email infrastructure
  • Email tracking and analytics
  • Detailed delivery insights
  • Mail logs for troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

If emails aren't being delivered:

  1. Verify your API credentials are correct
  2. Turn on Mail Logging and check the Mail Logs menu item
  3. Turn on Debug Logging and review wp-content/debug.log for errors
  4. Ensure your From Email is properly configured
  5. Verify Bento service status

Need Help?

For support with the Bento WordPress plugin:

Note: Make sure to test the email functionality thoroughly on a staging site before enabling in production.