MARKETING TIPS
Have you or your marketing team ever run into this issue? Your website forms stop sending emails, or worse, leads seem to disappear entirely. Your first instinct might be to call your web developer. That’s a logical place to start. After all, the form lives on the website, so it must be a website problem, right?
Not always. The issue may be with IT, a third-party system, your email platform (such as Outlook/Microsoft 365), or a combination of these. Website notifications going to spam, emails from specific senders being blocked, or misconfigured DNS can be issues associated with a developer when, in fact, it is out of their control.
While web developers can absolutely help diagnose and fix certain email-related issues, there are many situations where the root cause lives outside the website. Understanding where those boundaries exist can save time, reduce frustration, and help you get to a resolution faster.
Let’s walk through a few of the most common scenarios where developers have limited control over email issues.
In many organizations, email systems are not managed by the marketing team or web developer; they’re handled by an internal IT department or an outsourced IT provider. These teams control the infrastructure behind your email, including servers, security settings, and domain-level configurations.
This includes things like:
If your website is sending form submissions but emails aren’t arriving, the issue may not be with the form at all. It could be that the emails are being flagged as spam, blocked entirely, or rejected due to authentication failures.
Here’s the challenge: web developers usually don’t have access to these systems. Without the ability to review or update these settings, they can’t fully resolve the issue. They can identify that something is wrong and can often point to where the breakdown is happening, but the actual fix requires IT involvement.
Marketing automation has made simple website forms more complex. Before this type of automation, a potential customer would fill out a form on your website, and it would go to your email. But now, embedded forms from many CRM systems, such as Salesforce or HubSpot, have advanced features to help convert leads into customers.
In this case, the website acts more like a front-end interface. When someone fills out a form, the data is passed to a HubSpot or Salesforce system, which then handles:
If something breaks in the third-party chain (e.g., a failed API connection, a misconfigured workflow, or a permission issue), the problem is not with the website.
Developers can confirm whether the website is correctly sending the data, but they typically don’t control what happens once that data leaves the site. Fixing the issue often requires your web developer to have access to the CRM or platform itself, and someone from the platform to make the changes. Third-party software companies aren’t too keen on giving other companies access to their workflow setup.
And then, there is Microsoft 365 (Outlook). This adds another layer of complexity. Microsoft has created strict security protocols to prevent spam, spoofing, and any other “phishy” activity.
While these protections are valuable, they can interfere with legitimate website-generated emails.
Common issues include:
So, even when a web developer sets up everything exactly right, Microsoft 365 may still reject the configuration if the web developer is not the admin.
Once again, access is the issue. These settings typically need admin-level access in Microsoft 365, which most developers don’t have. So, unless the IT department managing the email or a Microsoft rep gives the developer access, the problem will not be resolved.
The key takeaway is this: email issues are often a shared responsibility.
Your web developer should absolutely be your first call. They can:
But if the issue extends beyond the website — as it often does — the solution will require collaboration between multiple teams:
Understanding these limitations isn’t about assigning blame; it’s about setting realistic expectations. Web developers are experts in building and maintaining your website, but email systems today are often part of a much larger ecosystem.
When everyone involved understands their role, issues get resolved faster, communication improves, and your marketing efforts stay on track.
And ultimately, that means fewer missed leads and more confidence that your website is working exactly the way it should.
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