What Was Going Wrong
A client’s contact form emails included a link to a key application page. But users reported that the link either broke or redirected incorrectly. The email was being sent using WP Mail SMTP and SendGrid.
Root Cause
🔁 Link Rewriting by SendGrid
SendGrid was rewriting the original URLs to go through their tracking domain (to measure clicks), but those rewritten links weren’t working.
🛠️ DNS or Tracking Misconfig
The click tracking subdomain hadn’t been fully set up in SendGrid’s dashboard — or the DNS wasn’t resolving properly.
Steps to Fix It
1. Check the Setup
Go to your WordPress WP Mail SMTP settings and confirm that SendGrid is the active mailer.
2. Review Click Tracking Settings
In SendGrid:
- Go to Settings > Tracking
- Look at the domain listed under click tracking
- Make sure the proper CNAME DNS record is set up and active
3. Test the Links
Send yourself a test email. Inspect the source of the email to see the rewritten URLs. Try clicking them — if they fail, it’s definitely a SendGrid redirect issue.
4. Disable Click Tracking (if needed)
To restore working links instantly, you can disable SendGrid’s click tracking feature. This stops the URL rewriting and keeps your links clean.
5. Clean Up the Template
While testing, make sure your email templates are free of broken links or unnecessary tracking codes.
The Result
Once click tracking was disabled, links worked perfectly again. The autoresponder email now routes users where they’re supposed to go — helping the client avoid lost leads.
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