Should I retry sending emails after receiving a "Connection Error" bounce reason?

Summary

A comprehensive analysis from experts, marketers, and documentation points to a nuanced approach to retrying emails after receiving a "Connection Error." A prevalent theme suggests that these errors often indicate a hard bounce, a block (potentially an Office 365 tenant block requiring manual intervention), or a broader domain health issue. Consequently, repeatedly sending emails to addresses that generate such errors damages sender reputation and negatively impacts deliverability. While some sources suggest segmenting these errors and potentially retrying after a delay if the error appears transient (as indicated by 4xx SMTP codes or soft bounce classification), the overriding recommendation is to prioritize list cleaning by removing addresses causing consistent connection errors. Analyzing bounce messages to discern the nature of the error (temporary vs. permanent) is crucial in making informed decisions about retries.

Key findings

  • Potential Block: Connection errors may signify an outright block, particularly an Office 365 tenant block, that needs direct domain owner intervention.
  • Hard Bounce Indication: Many sources treat connection errors as a type of hard bounce, which should not be retried.
  • Domain Health Implication: Active blocking or repeated connection errors imply issues with your sending domain's health.
  • Reputation Damage Risk: Retrying emails repeatedly after connection errors worsens sender reputation and deliverability.
  • Transient vs. Permanent: Some connection errors are transient, but many indicate a more fundamental problem.
  • Segmentation Potential: If deemed transient, segmenting these errors and retrying with a delay may be an option.

Key considerations

  • Bounce Analysis: Carefully analyze bounce messages to distinguish between temporary and permanent connection issues.
  • SMTP Code Examination: Examine SMTP reply codes (4xx vs. 5xx) to understand the transient or permanent nature of the error.
  • List Hygiene Priority: Prioritize maintaining a clean email list by removing addresses that cause frequent connection errors.
  • Retrial Justification: If retrying, carefully justify the decision based on the nature of the error and potential for successful delivery.
  • Manual Intervention: Consider manual investigation if the connection error implies an Office 365 tenant block or similar issue requiring direct engagement.
  • Reputation Management: Always weigh the potential benefit of retrying against the risk of damaging sender reputation.

What email marketers say
7Marketer opinions

The consensus among email marketers is generally against retrying emails after receiving a "Connection Error" bounce reason. While some suggest that these errors might be temporary and segmenting them could allow for a later retry, the prevailing view is that such errors often indicate a hard bounce or a block. Repeatedly sending to these addresses damages sender reputation and negatively impacts deliverability. Maintaining a clean email list by removing addresses that generate connection errors is widely recommended as a best practice.

Key opinions

  • Domain Health: Active blocking suggests poor domain health, making retries unlikely to succeed.
  • Hard Bounce: Connection errors often equate to hard bounces, making retries detrimental to sender reputation.
  • List Cleaning: Maintaining a clean email list by removing hard bounces is crucial for deliverability.
  • Reputation Damage: Repeatedly sending to addresses causing connection errors damages sender reputation.
  • Segmentation: Segmenting connection errors allows for potential retries if the error is temporary.

Key considerations

  • Error Type: Determine if the connection error is temporary or permanent before retrying.
  • Sender Reputation: Prioritize protecting sender reputation over attempting to deliver to problematic addresses.
  • List Hygiene: Implement a robust list cleaning process to remove invalid or problematic addresses.
  • Monitoring: Monitor bounce messages to understand reasons for failures and adjust sending strategy accordingly.
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit recommends against retrying emails that resulted in a connection error. Suggesting it's more efficient to clean your list to preserve your sender reputation rather than attempting to resend. The poster mentions that they have experience with bulk email and keeping sender reputation intact.

November 2024 - Reddit
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that the reported "Connection Error" is actually a block. The fact that the emails are being actively blocked indicates that the domain health is already poor.

April 2024 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Mailchimp explains that repeatedly sending to bad email addresses or those that result in bounces of any kind, including connection errors, damages your sender reputation. Maintaining a clean list is recommended to ensure deliverability.

June 2022 - Mailchimp
Marketer view

Email marketer from Hubspot explains the different types of bounces and recommends avoiding sending future emails to email addresses that cause hard bounces (permanent reasons). Connection errors are often classified as hard bounces.

August 2021 - HubSpot
Marketer view

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor stresses the importance of a clean email list and suggests against retrying emails that have hard bounced. It is important to reduce bounce rate overall to preserve a good sender reputation.

January 2025 - Campaign Monitor
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests segmenting connection errors. They elaborate that segmenting them from other hard bounces is important because sometimes the connection error is temporary and therefore the email could still be delivered later.

December 2021 - Email Marketing Forum
Marketer view

Email marketer from Sendinblue shares that a connection error usually constitutes a hard bounce. Repeatedly sending to an address that has hard bounced can negatively affect your sender reputation.

June 2024 - Sendinblue

What the experts say
2Expert opinions

Experts generally advise caution when retrying emails after a "Connection Error." One expert identifies that the error may be due to an Office 365 tenant block, requiring direct contact with the domain owner and each tenant for resolution, making retries impractical. Another expert emphasizes analyzing bounce messages to differentiate between temporary and permanent failures. Recurring connection errors from the same domain suggest a more serious issue where retries are unlikely to succeed.

Key opinions

  • O365 Block: A connection error may indicate an Office 365 tenant block requiring manual intervention.
  • Analyze Bounces: Analyzing bounce messages is crucial to understanding the nature of the connection error.
  • Temporary vs. Permanent: Differentiate between temporary and permanent connection errors to determine if a retry is appropriate.
  • Recurring Errors: Repeated connection errors from the same domain suggest a more severe issue, making retries futile.

Key considerations

  • Intervention Needed: If the error is an O365 block, manual contact with the domain owner and tenants is necessary.
  • Monitoring: Implement processes to monitor and analyze connection error bounce messages.
  • Retry Appropriateness: Assess the nature of the error to determine if a retry is likely to succeed or if the address should be removed.
  • Frequency: If an email address causes connection errors often then avoid retrying as that causes harm to sender reputation.
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise explains the importance of analyzing bounce messages to understand the reason for the failure. A connection error can be temporary, so monitoring these responses separately from permanent failures is recommended to determine if a retry is appropriate. However, repeated connection errors from the same domain often indicates a more serious problem and retrying is not likely to succeed.

September 2022 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks explains that retrying the email is pointless because it appears to be an Office 365 tenant block. To resolve this, the domain owner (not O365) needs to be contacted to unblock the domain, and each tenant would need to be contacted individually.

July 2022 - Email Geeks

What the documentation says
4Technical articles

Email documentation suggests a nuanced approach to retrying emails after a "Connection Error" bounce. While Mailjet indicates that such errors can be temporary, warranting a retry after a delay, persistent errors signal a deeper problem. Amazon SES classifies connection errors as hard bounces, advising against repeated retries. RFC Editor distinguishes between 4xx (transient) and 5xx (permanent) SMTP reply codes, advocating for retries for the former and removal for the latter. SparkPost reinforces the transient vs. permanent bounce distinction, recommending retries only for transient bounces.

Key findings

  • Temporary vs. Permanent: Connection errors can indicate either a temporary or permanent issue.
  • Retry on Transient: Retrying is potentially appropriate for transient failures (4xx codes, soft bounces).
  • Avoid on Permanent: Retrying is not recommended for permanent failures (5xx codes, hard bounces).
  • Persistent Errors: Persistent connection errors often suggest a more significant underlying problem.

Key considerations

  • SMTP Codes: Examine SMTP reply codes to determine the nature of the connection error (4xx vs 5xx).
  • Bounce Type: Classify the bounce as transient or permanent.
  • Error Persistence: Monitor for persistent connection errors from the same recipient.
  • Delay Before Retry: If retrying, implement a delay to allow the recipient server to recover.
Technical article

Documentation from Mailjet explains that a "Connection Error" (or timeout error) often indicates a temporary problem on the recipient's server. Retrying after a delay might be successful, but persistent errors suggest a more significant issue like the recipient server being down or blocking the sender.

July 2024 - Mailjet
Technical article

Documentation from SparkPost explains the difference between transient and permanent bounces. They elaborate that a transient bounce suggests a retry could be attempted, while a permanent bounce means it should not be retried.

January 2023 - SparkPost
Technical article

Documentation from RFC Editor explains that 4xx SMTP reply codes signify transient failures, suggesting retrying later might succeed. However, 5xx codes, indicating permanent failures, warrant removal from the mailing list.

December 2022 - RFC Editor
Technical article

Documentation from Amazon SES explains that bounces are categorized as hard or soft. A connection error would likely fall under a hard bounce, for permanent failures, and therefore should not be retried repeatedly.

November 2021 - Amazon Web Services


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