A hard bounce occurs when an email is permanently rejected by the recipient's mail server due to reasons like an invalid or non-existent email address, domain name issues, or recipient blocking. It indicates a persistent delivery failure, usually resulting from permanent issues that prevent successful email delivery.
Handling hard bounces in email marketing is crucial for maintaining a healthy sender reputation and ensuring deliverability. While it may seem tempting to allow users to clear hard bounces and resend emails, such practices can severely impact the reputation of the email service provider and hinder successful email delivery. This article outlines the reasons why simply allowing users to clear hard bounces is detrimental and suggests an alternative approach through a manual appeal process.
Why Clearing Hard Bounces Can Harm Email Service Reputation:
1. Impact on Sender Reputation: ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and email filtering services monitor sender reputation closely to determine the legitimacy of emails. Frequent hard bounces signal poor list hygiene and can lead to a decline in sender reputation. This, in turn, increases the likelihood of emails being filtered or blocked altogether.
2. Risk of Spam Complaints: Continuing to send emails to addresses that have hard bounced can result in recipients marking those emails as spam. This contributes to a negative feedback loop, further damaging sender reputation and impacting deliverability to inbox folders.
3. Compliance with Anti-Spam Regulations: Many jurisdictions have strict regulations, such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States, CASL in Canada and GDPR in the European Union, that mandate the handling of email addresses and require opt-in consent. Ignoring hard bounces and persistently sending emails to invalid addresses can violate these regulations, leading to legal repercussions and fines.
To appeal a hard bounce and request its removal from the list, please follow these steps:
1. Confirm Email Address: Reach out to the contact associated with the bounced email address to confirm it is correct.
2. Send Confirmation Email: From your email account, send a message directly to the contact using the bounced email address. In the email, kindly request the contact to reply, confirming receipt of your message.
3. Receive Confirmation Reply: Await a reply from the contact confirming they have received your email. This reply serves as evidence of the email address's validity.
4. Submit Support Ticket to Member365: Once you have received confirmation from the contact, take a screenshot of the communication or attach it as an email. Then, submit a support ticket to Member365, including the screenshot or email attachment.
5. Support Team Review: Upon receiving your appeal, our support team will utilize tools to further confirm the validity of the email address provided. If our results align with your evidence and indicate the email address is indeed valid, we will proceed with removing the hard bounce on your behalf.
By following these steps and providing necessary evidence, our support team will work diligently to address your appeal and ensure that legitimate email addresses are not hindered by hard bounce issues.
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