What is an email bounce?
An email bounce happens when an email you send cannot be delivered to the recipient's inbox. It's like mailing a letter, but instead of being delivered, it gets returned to you because there was an issue. There are two main types of email bounces:
Hard Bounce: This is a permanent failure, meaning the email address is either wrong, doesn't exist, or is blocked. It's like trying to send a letter to an address that doesn't exist.
Soft Bounce: This is a temporary issue, like the recipient's inbox being full or their email server being down. It’s like sending a letter, but the recipient's mailbox is full for now—you might be able to deliver it later.
In both cases, you’ll usually get a notification saying the email didn’t go through, with a reason why.
Bounce reasons
A bounce reason is the explanation for why an email you sent couldn't be delivered. It's like getting a note back with your returned letter, explaining what went wrong.
Here are some common bounce reasons:
Invalid email address: The email address doesn't exist or was typed incorrectly (like sending mail to an address that doesn't exist).
Mailbox full: The recipient's inbox has too many emails, and there's no room for more (like a physical mailbox overflowing with letters).
Server issues: The recipient's email server is down or having problems (like the post office being temporarily closed).
Blocked: Your email might be blocked by the recipient's server because of security filters or being on a blocklist (like your letter being rejected by a security guard).
These reasons help you understand what went wrong so you can fix the issue, if possible.
If you are a VipeCloud customer and are unsure about a bounce reason for a contact is, copy the full bounce reason and send that to use along with the email address of the contact and we'll do our best to help you understand why they are rejecting your emails
How to look up bounce reasons in VipeCloud
There are two main ways to review bounce reasons in VipeCloud. One is reviewing an entire mass email's issue results and the other is to look up a specific contact.
Mass email issues results
Go to Communication>Mass and click on the percentage sign in the issues column under the mass email in question. You'll find a list of every bounce, spam report, and unsubscribe here.
Bounced contact
Search for the contact (you can search in the black bar on the top of most pages), go into the contact record and if it's a bounced contact, you'll see the bounce reason at the very top:
Why do bounces matter?
Bounces matter because they tell you if your emails are not reaching their destination. Too many bounces can hurt your sender reputation, making it harder for your emails to get delivered in the future, and it could indicate issues with your email list (like outdated or incorrect addresses).
How does VipeCloud handle bounces
Bounced contacts (as well as unsubscribed and spam-reporting contacts) are automatically suppressed from future mass communications. A contact won't receive another mass communication unless they are overridden manually.
Overriding bounces
You can override a bounced contact by going to their contact record and in the "details" section, clicking "override" next to "Bounced = Yes"
What to do if an email repeatedly bounces
If an email repeatedly bounces, you should stop sending them emails unless you have a clear troubleshooting plan in place for their bounce reason. Otherwise it's probably best to contact them through another channel and ask them for a new email address.