The Email Settings page configures how QuillCRM sends emails to your contacts, including rate limiting, email footers, and double opt-in confirmation. Navigate to Quill CRM → Settings → Email to access these settings.
Email Rate Limiting
Control the rate at which emails are sent to prevent server overload and improve deliverability. These limits apply to all outgoing emails from QuillCRM, including campaigns, automations, and individual messages.
Max Emails per Second
Set the maximum number of emails that can be sent per second. This prevents your mail server from being overwhelmed during large campaign sends. A lower value (e.g., 1–5) is recommended for shared hosting or transactional email providers with strict rate limits.
Max Emails per Day
Set the maximum number of emails that can be sent per day. Once this limit is reached, remaining emails are queued and sent the following day. This helps you stay within your email provider’s daily sending quota and protects your sender reputation.
Email Footer
Add a footer that appears at the bottom of all outgoing emails sent from QuillCRM. Use the rich text editor to format your footer content.
Common footer elements include:
- Unsubscribe link — Use the
{{unsubscribe_url}}merge tag to insert a one-click unsubscribe link. This is required for compliance with email regulations (CAN-SPAM, GDPR) and Gmail/Yahoo sender requirements. - Company address — Your physical mailing address (required by CAN-SPAM).
- Company name and website — Brand identification for recipients.
Note: The email footer is appended to campaign emails and automation emails. Individual emails sent from the contact detail page do not include the footer by default.
Double Opt-In
Double opt-in requires new contacts to confirm their email address before being marked as subscribed. When enabled, contacts receive a confirmation email with a verification link after signing up.
Confirmation Email
Email Subject
The subject line of the confirmation email sent to new contacts. Example: “Please confirm your subscription”.
Email Content
The body of the confirmation email. Use the rich text editor to customize the message. Include the {{confirmation_url}} merge tag to insert the verification link that contacts must click to confirm their subscription.
After Confirmation
Choose what happens after a contact clicks the confirmation link:
- Show Message — Display a custom confirmation message on the page. Use the rich text editor to customize the message (e.g., “Thank you! Your subscription has been confirmed.”).
- Redirect to URL — Redirect the contact to a specific URL after confirmation (e.g., a welcome page or special offer).
How Email Sending Works
QuillCRM sends emails through WordPress’s built-in wp_mail() function. For reliable delivery, an SMTP plugin like QuillSMTP is strongly recommended. Without an SMTP plugin, emails are sent via your server’s default PHP mail function, which often results in poor deliverability.
Email Delivery Methods
| Method | Description | Recommended For |
|---|---|---|
| QuillSMTP + Transactional Provider | Routes emails through services like SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Amazon SES, etc. | Production sites with high volume |
| QuillSMTP + Gmail/Outlook | Sends via your Gmail or Outlook account using OAuth | Small teams, personal sending |
| QuillSMTP + Custom SMTP | Connects to any SMTP server (e.g., your domain’s mail server) | Self-hosted email infrastructure |
| Default PHP Mail | Uses the server’s built-in mail function (no SMTP plugin) | Testing only (not recommended for production) |
Email Types
QuillCRM sends several types of emails, all subject to the rate limits configured above:
- Campaign emails — Bulk emails sent to lists or segments via the Campaigns feature.
- Automation emails — Emails triggered by automation workflows (e.g., welcome series, follow-ups).
- Individual emails — One-to-one emails sent from a contact’s detail page or deal page.
- Double opt-in emails — Confirmation emails sent when a new contact subscribes.
Email Tracking
All outgoing emails include invisible tracking elements:
- Open tracking — A tracking pixel detects when a contact opens the email.
- Click tracking — Links in the email are wrapped with tracking URLs to record clicks.
- List-Unsubscribe header — Compliant with RFC 8058 (Gmail/Yahoo 2024 requirements), enabling one-click unsubscribe directly from the email client.
Tracking data is visible in the contact’s email list (Opened/Clicked columns) and in the campaign analytics dashboard.
Email Threading
QuillCRM automatically adds Message-ID, In-Reply-To, and References headers to outgoing emails. This enables:
- Email clients (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) to group related emails into conversation threads.
- The IMAP inbound processor to match incoming replies to the original sent email, creating a complete conversation view in the contact timeline.
For more details on configuring your email inbox for two-way communication, see Mailbox Settings.