How do I troubleshoot delivery errors and TempFail messages in Klaviyo when using Gmail?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that specific links in emails may be reported in other emails for Gmail recipients and is flagging the email. Suggesting to check if the client is using a link tracking tool flagged as spam and removing the link.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Tips Blog shares to analyze your email content for spam triggers. Certain words or phrases can cause emails to be marked as spam. Test your emails using spam testing tools to identify and remove potential spam triggers.
Email marketer from Email on Acid states to ensure you're following email marketing best practices, such as list hygiene, personalized content, and avoiding spam trigger words. Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive or invalid email addresses to improve your sender reputation.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains Grep is for searching in files such as logs. If there’s another tool to search the logs then use that. If not have support search for you and provide the results.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that transient errors are temporary issues that might resolve themselves with retries, while permanent errors indicate a persistent problem. Suggests checking your sender reputation, email authentication settings (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and content to ensure they meet Gmail's requirements.
Email marketer from SendPulse explains that using tools like MultiRBL, check your sending IP address against multiple blacklists. Being blacklisted can severely impact your email deliverability. If blacklisted, take steps to get removed, such as contacting the blacklist provider and addressing the issues that led to the listing.
Email marketer from EmailGeek explains TempFail messages are often temporary and caused by issues such as the recipient's server being temporarily unavailable or the mailbox being full. Suggests that retrying the email delivery later might resolve the issue, and monitoring overall bounce rates to see if the problem persists.
Email marketer from Reddit says to check if your SPF and DKIM records are properly configured. Incorrect or missing authentication records can lead to emails being flagged as spam, resulting in delivery errors. Use online tools to validate your SPF and DKIM records.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that by using Email Previews, checking how your email renders in different email clients can reveal issues that might affect deliverability. Some email clients are more strict than others. Test different providers to prevent code from triggering a block.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that in Klaviyo, you can look at bounces for Gmail addresses to see the reason in the meta data (json). In GPT, clicking the dot on the graph should provide insight into the reason as well.
Email marketer from Stack Overflow explains that if you encounter TempFail errors, implement retry logic in your email sending process. This involves attempting to resend the email after a certain period, as the temporary issue might be resolved. Also, ensure your server's IP address isn't blacklisted.
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests looking for temporary rejections/deferrals/transient errors that say something about reputation or that the user is receiving too many emails. Suggests contacting support if not viewable in Klaviyo's interface.
What the experts say7Expert opinions
Expert from Wordtothewise.com shares that maintaining a good sender reputation is vital for ensuring email delivery to Gmail. Monitoring your IP address and domain reputation, and addressing any negative feedback loops (spam complaints) is critical for preventing TempFail messages.
Expert from Spamresource.com explains the importance of email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) in ensuring email deliverability. They note that properly configured authentication mechanisms help verify the sender's identity and prevent spoofing, reducing the likelihood of emails being flagged as spam and encountering delivery errors.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that Gmail mailbox full fails are often temporary due to users filling up their storage with photos or videos, and mail delivery resumes once the mailbox is cleaned out.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that if the rejection happens before DATA, it is not due to content. But if the rejection happens after DATA, it is possible that content inside the message is causing the issue.
Expert from Spamresource.com explains that understanding SMTP error codes is crucial for troubleshooting delivery issues. They highlight that 4xx errors typically indicate temporary failures (TempFail), while 5xx errors signify permanent failures. Analyzing the specific code provided can help pinpoint the problem, such as greylisting or temporary server issues.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that the issue is unlikely to be an overall Klaviyo issue, rather something specific to a segment or content triggering Google to block a small portion of mail.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that delivery errors will be visible in delivery logs, instructing to dig through them to find out what mail Google is rejecting by searching for gsmtp and then to follow the directions in the log message to address the issue.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from RFC Editor states to understand SMTP enhanced status codes, which provide detailed information about why an email delivery failed. These codes can help pinpoint the specific issue, such as a mailbox being full (5.2.2) or a policy rejection (5.7.1).
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools recommends using the tool to monitor your domain's reputation and identify potential delivery issues. This can include spam complaints, IP reputation, and authentication problems, all of which can contribute to delivery errors and TempFail messages.
Documentation from Klaviyo explains that bounces are categorized as hard bounces (permanent delivery failures) or soft bounces (temporary issues). It advises to monitor bounce rates, as high rates can negatively impact sender reputation. To view your overall bounce rate, navigate to the Overview section under the Analytics tab. The hard bounce rate is viewable under the Engagement section.
Documentation from Google Support shares common reasons for bounced or delayed emails including the recipient's mailbox being full, the email server being unavailable, or the message being too large. It suggests checking the recipient's address for errors and resending the email later.
Documentation from Klaviyo explains that setting up a dedicated sending domain, allows you to build and protect your sending reputation. A dedicated sending domain helps to ensure that your emails are authenticated correctly and are less likely to be marked as spam.