Email Bounces and How to Handle Them

Email bounces can be confusing and difficult to handle, but with some understanding and proper procedures email developers can be equipped to manage email bounces effectively.

Email Bounces and How to Handle Them
AndreW Zamora
September 6, 2023
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Understanding Email Bounces

Email bounces occur when an email is not accepted by its intended recipient's server. This can happen for a variety of reasons, typically because the server thinks the message is suspicious or the address doesn't exist. Email bounces can be either pending (temporarily), soft (minor issue), or hard (unrecoverable) bounces. Pending bounces happen when a recipient’s server is temporarily unavailable. Soft bounces can be caused by a full mailbox, an incorrect email address, or the server not accepting messages from your server. Hard bounces are usually unrecoverable due to the address not existing or the domain not accepting messages from your server.

How to Handle Email Bounces

When a message is bounced back, there are a few steps you as an email developer can take to address the issue. For pending bounces you should wait until the server becomes accessible and attempt to send the message again. If it is a soft bounce caused by a full mailbox, for example, wait a few days and then try again. If you receive a hard bounce it is important to make sure that you take immediate action. You should always remove addresses that hard bounce after two attempts, so as to avoid enough negative activity from sending messages to deactivated emails. Fortunatley, Email Service Providers (ESP) like Mailchimp track your emails delivery and clean bounced addresses from your audience. It's important to note that ESPs are not contact cleaning services. Accidentally importing contacts or addresses that previously bounced or unsubscribed could lead to a high number of spam complaints, undeliverable messages, or unsubscribes. Make sure to follow best practices to avoid these problems.

Best Practices for Dealing with Email Bounces

To avoid delivery issues due to email bounces, ensure that your content is optimized for the intended recipients. Mailing out relevant content is more likely to take root and should be tailored according to subscriber interests. Furthermore, you should review and update contact list regularly, unsubscribing inactive addresses to prevent erroneous bounces and using double opt-in protocols to validate new subscribers.

Wrapping up the article

Email bounces can be confusing and difficult to handle, but with some understanding and proper procedures email developers can be equipped to manage email bounces effectively. By sorting out various types of emails, including pending, soft, and hard bounces, and following specific protocols like waiting a few days to send messages to full mailboxes or immediately removing hard bounce emails from your list, you can make sure your emails reach their intended recipients effectively and securely.