How does sending to dead domains affect email deliverability?

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that sending to an old "dead" domain that has been picked up by some reputation network is a bad idea, and if you are sending through someone else's infrastructure (e.g. AWS SES) then they might care if they see a lot of attempts to deliver to NXDOMAINs because it's a sign of a bad sender.

Email marketer from Litmus answers that sending to non-existent or inactive email addresses (dead domains) damages your sender reputation over time. ISPs track these bounces and adjust your deliverability accordingly. Implement regular list cleaning and validation.

Email marketer from StackExchange responds that high bounce rates from sending to dead domains make you look like a spammer. Email providers throttle or block senders with bad bounce rates. Validate your email lists to avoid deliverability problems.

Email marketer from Validity states that sending to dead domains increases bounce rates, hurting your sender reputation. Mailbox providers are more likely to block or filter your messages. Validity recommends regularly cleaning your email list to improve deliverability.

Email marketer from Sendinblue explains that consistently sending to dead domains increases your bounce rate, which harms your sender reputation. A damaged sender reputation makes it more likely that your emails will land in the spam folder instead of the recipient's inbox. They recommend regular list cleaning to avoid this.

Email marketer from Reddit explains that hitting dead domains frequently will trash your sender reputation. ISPs see those bounces as a sign of poor list hygiene. Clean your lists regularly, or you'll end up in the spam folder.

Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog explains that sending emails to invalid or inactive email addresses can negatively impact your sender reputation. Email providers monitor bounce rates, and a high bounce rate due to sending to dead domains can flag you as a spammer, leading to deliverability issues.

Email marketer from ReturnPath shares that a high bounce rate due to sending to dead domains is a red flag to mailbox providers. They see it as a sign of poor list hygiene and can negatively impact your placement rates. Proper list management is essential.

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that sending to dead domains is a fast way to get blacklisted. ISPs use these bounces as signals. Don't risk it; clean your email lists!

Email marketer from Mailjet shares that sending to dead domains leads to hard bounces. A high hard bounce rate signals to ISPs that you may not be maintaining your email list properly, which can damage your sender reputation and reduce deliverability rates. ISPs use bounce rates as one factor in determining if a sender is reputable.

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that if the domain does not exist in the DNS then the only party that might care is ESP you are using as past a certain volume, NXDOMAINs can indicate a spammer. Any domain that has an MX and accepts emails could be connected to a reputation network.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that you should be concerned about sending to NX domains because it’s a sign that your address collection process or your data hygiene process is fundamentally flawed. And, more than domains that don’t deliver you really should be worried about how many folks are giving you addresses that DO deliver and now you’re spamming them.

Expert from Spam Resource explains that if you are sending email to addresses that are no longer valid it is likely you don't have permission, and the email is considered spam by definition.

Expert from Word to the Wise shares that list bombing (where spammers sign up victims to many lists) is a technique to damage sender reputations. Sending to these old 'bomb list' addresses degrades your deliverability over time, and affects future mailing success.

Documentation from Microsoft's Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) shares that sending to dead domains results in a high number of undeliverable messages. Microsoft uses this data to identify potential spammers and filter their emails accordingly. Maintaining a clean email list is crucial for avoiding deliverability issues.

Documentation from RFC 5321 describes that SMTP servers must provide accurate error responses for undeliverable emails. Regularly encountering such errors due to dead domains indicates a problem with the sender's practices and may lead to reputation penalties and deferred or blocked delivery.

Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools indicates that a high bounce rate, often caused by sending to invalid or non-existent email addresses (dead domains), is a strong negative signal. Google uses bounce rates to assess sender quality, and excessive bounces can lead to emails being filtered as spam.

Documentation from AWS SES explains that they monitor bounce rates, including those resulting from sending to invalid addresses and dead domains. High bounce rates can lead to account suspension. They recommend using their bounce handling features to remove bad addresses.

Documentation from SparkPost explains that sending to dead domains leads to hard bounces. High hard bounce rates degrade your sender reputation and will negatively impact deliverability. They recommend implementing suppression lists and regular list hygiene practices.