What steps should I take when my email campaign experiences block bounces?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests requesting an IP unblock through the provided link, explaining the mistake.
Email marketer from HubSpot shares that continuously monitor your domain and IP reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools or Sender Score to identify and address potential deliverability issues before they result in block bounces.
Email marketer from Email on Acid stresses that implementing email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is a critical step to ensure ISPs can verify the legitimacy of your emails, reducing the likelihood of being blocked.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that certain words and phrases are usually trigger words so always Review email content for spam triggers (e.g., excessive use of promotional language, all caps, or suspicious links) that can cause your emails to be flagged and blocked.
Email marketer from Sendinblue shares that maintaining a clean email list and engaging with recipients are crucial steps to improve sender reputation, reduce bounce rates, and avoid being blocked by ISPs.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that block bounces often indicate a more significant issue than soft bounces, suggesting problems with sender reputation, IP address blacklisting, or content issues that trigger spam filters.
Email marketer from GMass suggests regularly cleaning your email list by removing inactive subscribers and those who have previously bounced to improve engagement rates and avoid being seen as a spammer.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum advises if you have a new IP address, gradually warm it up by sending emails in increasing volumes over time to build a positive sending reputation with ISPs.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor emphasizes that using double opt-in subscription processes ensures recipients have explicitly granted permission to receive emails, reducing the risk of spam complaints and block bounces.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that if you're experiencing block bounces, immediately check your IP address and domain reputation using online tools to identify if you've been blacklisted by any major blocklists.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks suggests reaching out to ExactTarget/SFMC for advice and to be careful not to repeatedly self-unblock. If issues persist, contact SFMC to check for misconfigurations or dubious content.
Expert from Spam Resource shares that bounces are normally caused by bad data and you should focus on this area to prevent them. Bad data is the cause of many deliverability issues.
Expert from Email Geeks advises to read rejection messages for clues and consult the ESP's deliverability desk.
Expert from Email Geeks advises to stop sending emails, determine the cause and location of the blocks, and audit the email address acquisition process.
Expert from Word to the Wise emphasizes that addressing block bounces requires investigating the cause (reputation, content, infrastructure), implementing corrective actions, and then proactively monitoring to prevent recurrence.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from AWS explains that using Amazon SES, you can configure bounce notifications to automatically trigger actions such as removing email addresses from your sending list to improve sender reputation and prevent future block bounces.
Documentation from RFC explains that understanding SMTP enhanced status codes provided in bounce messages helps diagnose the specific reason for the bounce, such as a blocked IP address or policy rejection, and guides appropriate remediation steps.
Documentation from Microsoft details that to troubleshoot block bounces in Exchange Online, review the Non-Delivery Report (NDR) for specific error codes, and check sender authentication settings (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to ensure they are correctly configured.
Documentation from Google explains that understanding different types of bounces (hard, soft, block) is crucial for diagnosing deliverability issues and adjusting email sending practices accordingly to comply with Google's sending guidelines.