diff --git a/backend/src/mailer.ts b/backend/src/mailer.ts
index d40bd29..bfa1237 100755
--- a/backend/src/mailer.ts
+++ b/backend/src/mailer.ts
@@ -85,10 +85,21 @@ export function isAllowedRecipient(to: string, allowlist: string | undefined): b
   });
 }
 
-export async function sendMail(to: string, subject: string, html: string): Promise<void> {
+/**
+ * What a send attempt actually did.
+ *
+ * `sendMail` returns early in two cases that used to be indistinguishable from
+ * success — no SMTP credentials, and a recipient outside MAIL_ALLOWLIST — which
+ * meant a caller could report "emailed" for a message nobody would ever
+ * receive. QA restricts delivery by design, so that was not a hypothetical: it
+ * is the normal case there. See #260.
+ */
+export type MailOutcome = 'sent' | 'skipped-unconfigured' | 'skipped-blocked';
+
+export async function sendMail(to: string, subject: string, html: string): Promise<MailOutcome> {
   if (!process.env.SMTP_USER || !process.env.SMTP_PASSWORD) {
     console.warn(`SMTP not configured — skipping email to ${to}: "${subject}"`);
-    return;
+    return 'skipped-unconfigured';
   }
 
   // Guarded here rather than at the four call sites, so every sender is covered
@@ -101,7 +112,7 @@ export async function sendMail(to: string, subject: string, html: string): Promi
   // is the part that was missing when QA was simply muted.
   if (!isAllowedRecipient(to, process.env.MAIL_ALLOWLIST)) {
     console.warn(`[mail-blocked] ${to} is not on MAIL_ALLOWLIST — skipping "${subject}"`);
-    return;
+    return 'skipped-blocked';
   }
 
   await transporter.sendMail({
@@ -110,4 +121,5 @@ export async function sendMail(to: string, subject: string, html: string): Promi
     subject,
     html
   });
+  return 'sent';
 }
diff --git a/backend/tests/unit/mailOutcome.test.ts b/backend/tests/unit/mailOutcome.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..920a882
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/unit/mailOutcome.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+import { sendMail } from '../../src/mailer';
+
+/**
+ * What sendMail says it did.
+ *
+ * It returns early in two cases that are indistinguishable from success at the
+ * call site — SMTP unconfigured, and the recipient not on MAIL_ALLOWLIST — and
+ * #260 needs to tell them apart so the admin is not told a link was emailed
+ * when it was not.
+ *
+ * Only the two skip paths are covered. A real send needs an SMTP server, which
+ * a unit test has no business starting; the integration test in Task 4 covers
+ * the route's behaviour instead.
+ */
+describe('what sendMail reports', () => {
+  const original = { ...process.env };
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    process.env = { ...original };
+  });
+
+  it('says so when SMTP is not configured', async () => {
+    delete process.env.SMTP_USER;
+    delete process.env.SMTP_PASSWORD;
+
+    await expect(sendMail('someone@example.com', 'subject', '<p>body</p>')).resolves.toBe(
+      'skipped-unconfigured'
+    );
+  });
+
+  // The case that matters most: QA restricts delivery, and a blocked address
+  // previously returned exactly as though it had sent.
+  it('says so when the recipient is not on the allowlist', async () => {
+    process.env.SMTP_USER = 'user';
+    process.env.SMTP_PASSWORD = 'password';
+    process.env.MAIL_ALLOWLIST = 'allowed@example.com';
+
+    await expect(sendMail('someone-else@example.com', 'subject', '<p>body</p>')).resolves.toBe(
+      'skipped-blocked'
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('does not report blocked for an address that is on the allowlist', async () => {
+    process.env.SMTP_USER = 'user';
+    process.env.SMTP_PASSWORD = 'password';
+    process.env.MAIL_ALLOWLIST = 'allowed@example.com';
+
+    // Not asserting 'sent': that would need a live SMTP server. Asserting only
+    // that the allowlist did not refuse it, which is this test's subject.
+    await expect(
+      sendMail('allowed@example.com', 'subject', '<p>body</p>').catch(() => 'threw')
+    ).resolves.not.toBe('skipped-blocked');
+  });
+});