How to Create a Contact Form with Multiple Recipients

Do you need your WordPress contact form to send notifications to multiple email addresses? Maybe a team member needs a copy of every submission, or you want your site visitor to get a confirmation email while you get the full details.

WPForms handles all of these scenarios without any code. You can send the same notification to several people, create completely separate emails for different recipients, or route notifications based on how someone fills out the form.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to set up multiple email notifications for your WordPress forms using WPForms.

Create Multiple WordPress Form Notifications! 🙂

How to Make a Contact Form With Multiple Email Addresses

First of all, make sure that you’ve installed and activated the WPForms plugin. You can follow this step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin for help.

Also, make sure you’ve created a form to follow this tutorial. WPForms allows you to create different types of forms, such as a simple contact form, survey form, employee information form, and almost anything you can think of.

Method 1: Send the Same Notification to Multiple Email Addresses

This is the simplest method. If you want the same notification email to go to more than one person, you just add their email addresses to a single field. In the form builder, go to Settings » Notifications.

In the Send To Email Address field present in the right panel, you can type in each person’s email address. Be sure to separate each email address with a comma (,).

When someone submits the form, every address in that field gets the same notification. Each recipient gets a completely separate email, so they won’t see each other’s email addresses.

Click Save when you’re done. For more details, check out the full guide on how to set up form notifications in WPForms.

Method 2: Send a Confirmation to the Person Who Submitted the Form

Since you don’t know the visitor’s email address ahead of time, you use Smart Tags to pull it from the submission. In the Send To Email Address field, keep the {admin_email} that’s there by default. Then click Show Smart Tags.

WPForms will show you any Email fields in your form. Click Email to add a Smart Tag that automatically inserts the submitter’s email address.

Now whenever someone submits the form, both you and the visitor get a notification. This is useful when you want to send visitors a confirmation email letting them know their submission was received.

If you want the visitor to receive a completely different message than you do (which is usually the case), see Method 5 instead for creating separate notification emails.

Method 3: Route Notifications to Different People Based on Form Answers

This is the most powerful method. With conditional logic, WPForms sends notifications to specific people depending on how someone fills out the form.

Go to Settings » Notifications. Scroll to the bottom of the notification and check Enable Conditional Logic.

Set the condition to match your form field. For example, “Send this notification if Department is Sales” and enter the sales team email in the Send To Email Address field.

Then create additional notifications (one for each department) using the same pattern. Each notification fires only when its condition is met.

For more help setting this up, check out the conditional form notifications documentation. You can also let users select recipients directly from a dropdown on the form, without exposing the actual email addresses.

Method 4: Use Carbon Copy (CC) for Reply-All

The other methods send completely separate emails to each recipient. CC keeps everyone visible. To enable CC, go to WPForms » Settings from your WordPress dashboard and click the Email tab.

Scroll down and check the Carbon Copy checkbox. Click Save Settings.

Now when you go back to Settings » Notifications in the form builder, you’ll see a new CC field.

Add any email addresses you want CC’d on the notification. Recipients will be able to see each other’s addresses and use Reply-All.

Method 5: Create Separate Notifications With Different Content

In the form builder, go to Settings » Notifications and click Add New Notification.

Give it a name (this is for your reference only). Click OK. You now have a second notification to configure independently.

For a notification going to the site visitor, click Show Smart Tags next to the Send To Email Address field and select Email so WPForms sends it to whatever email the visitor entered on the form.

Then configure the rest of the fields for this notification.

• Email Subject can be something like “Thanks for reaching out!”
• From Name should be your business name
• From Email should be your business email
• Reply-To is where responses go if the visitor replies to the notification
• Message controls what the visitor sees in the email body

If you want the visitor to see all the data they submitted, use the {all_fields} Smart Tag in the Message field. If you only want to show them specific fields, click Show Smart Tags in the Message section and pick the ones you need.

You can also type a personalized message alongside the Smart Tags. If you need help using Smart Tags beyond the basics, check out this guide on how to use Smart Tags in WPForms.

File and CSV Attachments

Expand the Advanced settings in your notification. If your form has a File Upload field, toggle on Enable File Upload Attachments to include uploaded files with the notification email.

You can also toggle on Enable Entry CSV Attachment to include a CSV file with the entry data. This is handy if the recipient needs the data in a spreadsheet.

Check out the tutorial on exporting form entries to CSV for more on this. You can create as many separate notifications as you need. Just repeat the process for each one. Click Save when you’re done.

Bonus Tip: Make Sure Your Notifications Actually Arrive

Sending notifications to multiple email addresses means more chances for emails to land in spam or not arrive at all. WordPress uses PHP mail by default, which many hosting providers limit or block entirely.

If your notifications aren’t arriving reliably, set up WP Mail SMTP. It routes your WordPress emails through a proper SMTP server instead of PHP mail, and it makes a significant difference for deliverability.

Check out the guide on how to send emails in WordPress using SMTP or see how to fix SMTP connection issues if you’re running into problems.

FAQs About Sending WordPress Forms to Multiple Emails

Here are answers to common questions about setting up multiple email notifications for your WordPress forms.

Why use multiple form notifications?

Sending several email notifications from a single form saves time and keeps everyone in the loop automatically.

Instead of making visitors fill out multiple forms, or manually forwarding submissions yourself, the process runs on its own. You can use multiple email notifications to do things like this.

• Send a purchase receipt to a customer and a fulfillment order to a vendor
• Deliver a lead magnet as a PDF attachment in a notification email
• Email a thank you message to a client for a support request and a bug report to a developer
• Confirm event registration for attendees and send special request details to the caterer

Will recipients see each other’s email addresses?

No. When you add multiple addresses to the Send To Email Address field (comma-separated), each recipient gets a completely separate email. They won’t see anyone else’s address. If you need reply-all capability, use the CC method covered in Method 4.

How many email notifications can I create per form?

Unlimited. WPForms doesn’t cap the number of notifications you can add to a single form.

Can I send different notifications based on what someone selects on my form?

Yes. With conditional logic (Method 3), you can set conditions so specific notifications only fire when certain criteria are met. For example, you can route sales inquiries to your sales team and support requests to your help desk automatically.

Can I send AI-generated notifications?

Yes. WPForms integrates with ChatGPT to generate notification content dynamically. Check out the guide on sending AI-generated form notifications to set it up.

Why am I not receiving form notification emails?

This is usually a server-side email deliverability issue, not a WPForms problem. WordPress uses PHP mail by default, which many hosts block. Set up WP Mail SMTP to fix it. See the troubleshooting email notifications guide for step-by-step help.

Next, Customize Your Notification Templates

Now that your notifications are set up, you might want to customize how they look. WPForms lets you add custom headers, change colors, and create branded email templates.

Check out the guide on how to customize form email notifications for the full walkthrough. And for inspiration, browse our email notification examples and best practices.

Send Forms to Multiple Emails Now!

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