How to use Mandrill with Zippy Courses to Send your Site's Emails

Most of the time, your web host will be able to deliver your Zippy Courses emails quickly and reliably. However, each web host is different. Sometimes, your host's emails will get caught by spam filters, or not be properly delivered. In those cases,  adding a dedicated email service to your site can resolve the issue. Tools like Mandrill are designed to reliably deliver your emails. 

In this tutorial, we will install the Mandrill plugin, create our API Key, and configure out Mandrill settings. 

If you haven't done so already, make sure you also set your System Emails' email address by going to Zippy Courses -> Settings -> System Emails. For the best deliverability, this email address should match the email address you use in Mandrill.

Install the wpMandrill Plugin

First, download the wpMandrill Plugin and install it on your Zippy Courses site.

Once you have activated the plugin, you can configure your settings under Settings -> Mandrill.

Before we can continue, we need an API key from Mandrill. We’ll enter this later, but first, we need to create a Mandrill Account.

Get an API Key from Mandrill

You can register for a Mandrill account by going to https://mandrill.com/signup/ and entering your Email Address and a Password.

Once you have created an account, select “Settings” from the sidebar. You will be taken to the Mandrill settings menu.

To create an API key, select the “New API Key” button.

Enter a description for this key, such as “My Zippy Courses Mandrill API Key.” You can leave the other options blank and create your key.

Once that is done, Copy the API Key that is generated, and go back to your WordPress site.

Enter your API Key

Once you are back on the Mandrill settings page of your WordPress site, paste your API key and click Save Changes.

Once your changes have saved, you will be prompted for some additional information.

• Sender Settings: Enter these settings the same way they are entered for your Zippy Courses email settings. You can find these under Zippy Courses -> Settings -> System Emails.
• Tracking: You can add some tracking information to your WordPress emails. If you don’t want to worry about this, you can leave these blank.
• General Design: Usually, you can leave these settings as-is. If your emails appear to not be formatted correctly, you can check the Replace all line feeds box.
• General Tags: Unless you are using Mandrill for non-Zippy Courses tracking, you can leave these blank.

Then click “Save Changes”. To test that your configuration is working correctly, use the Send Test form to send a test email.