Knowledgebase & FAQs

What should I do when messages are bounced back using bulk messaging?

When using our bulk e-mail services, You must take appropriate action to handle replies, bounces, unsubscription requests and other responses.

You MUST provide a mechanism for subscribers to unsubscribe or otherwise stop receiving your communications - this should be described in the messages themselves (to comply with the law), and if someone does e-mail you in reply, you should give them appropriate advise. It's important thus that you receive responses and use a valid sender address.

If you receive bounce backs to indicate an e-mail address is no longer valid and/or does not exist, you should update your mailing list - either contacting the subscriber by other means (asking them for new details etc) or by removing them. You should not simply ignore them. By ignoring them, you can cause other issues.

For example, many of the larger e-mail providers, such as Hotmail, GMail, AOL and so on monitor the messages being sent to them, and look at how many messages are being rejected because the details are out of date. If they see too much of this activity they will likely take action. This could be to automatically mark your e-mails as spam (so your subscribers just won't get them), or block your e-mail address, or ultimately block our servers (because we are ultimately sending them for you). In turn we may need to suspend, restrict or terminate your service.

In general terms, it is likely the first time you send an e-mail campaign you will get a far higher number of rejections, but if you take positive action to address them you'll get fewer bounces in the future and have a cleaner, more meaningful mailing list - and avoid risking your communications being ignored.

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