Why are emails not delivering due to truncated addresses in Sendgrid?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that unsupported character sets may cause truncation, particularly if there are non-standard characters. Convert to a standard format.
Email marketer from Email on Acid indicates invalid characters in addresses may be the issue. It explains that Email addresses containing invalid characters can sometimes cause truncation errors during processing. Verify that email addresses comply with standard format. Use some external validators to check this.
Email marketer from Quora says that the length of email addresses can be the issue. Some systems have limitations on email address length. Ensure that your email addresses do not exceed these limitations.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests checking the source list to ensure it was recorded correctly. The error message 'unable to get mx info' means there is no MX or A record to complete lookup, while 'error dialing remote address' means there is an MX or A record, but connection timed out.
Email marketer from Litmus suggests email testing tools may help. Employing email testing tools can help identify issues with email addresses before sending campaigns and can help identify the source of the problem. It explains this helps with syntax errors that could lead to truncation.
Email marketer from Reddit user explains that a frequent cause of truncation is incorrect data entry or corrupted data within the email list itself. It's important to sanitise your email lists and have regular checks and cleaning.
Email marketer from Stack Overflow user shares that one possible reason could be copy and paste errors when entering addresses. Another possible problem is software issues which could include an incorrect field length. It's suggested the user check their email validation methods, as well as checking the software used to manage email lists.
Email marketer from Sendgrid Help Center explains that truncated email addresses are not automatically identified. It is the responsibility of the mail sender to check for address validity. Sendgrid does provide tools such as the Email Validation API to assist with this process.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that your Sendgrid account settings might be the problem. There could be specific filters or rules set up in your Sendgrid account that are unintentionally truncating email addresses. Review account configurations to identify anything that may be altering email address data.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks suggests the delivery errors are due to sending to invalid domains because of the truncation issue.
Expert from Word to the Wise (Laura Atkins) emphasizes the importance of robust data validation at the point of entry to prevent truncated email addresses. She suggests implementing stricter validation rules to catch invalid formats before they enter the system, to avoid sending to bad addresses in the first place.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that cleaning data is key. It suggests regularly cleaning your email lists before importing them into Sendgrid to remove invalid or incomplete addresses, which reduces the risk of sending to truncated or non-existent addresses.
Expert from Email Geeks advises that if the data isn't being truncated internally, to contact Sendgrid to find out why they're truncating the data.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from ietf.org defines the formal syntax for email addresses, emphasizing the importance of adhering to this syntax to ensure proper routing and delivery. Truncated addresses would violate this syntax.
Documentation from Twilio explains that when using an API like Sendgrid's, it's crucial to ensure that email addresses are properly formatted before being sent through the API. API requests should validate the data and filter out malformed addresses to avoid truncation issues during processing.
Documentation from Sendgrid Documentation explains that Sendgrid's bounce handling mechanism should flag invalid or malformed email addresses, including truncated ones, by providing error codes about the nature of the problem. Reviewing bounce codes may reveal the truncation cause.
Documentation from Sendgrid Documentation advises to ensure proper encoding. Check if there are character encoding issues when sending email addresses to Sendgrid's API. Ensure the email addresses are properly encoded in UTF-8 to prevent truncation.
Documentation from Google explains that incorrect DNS settings may be at fault. Make sure your DNS records, specifically MX records, are set up correctly to handle email delivery. Incorrect settings can sometimes lead to unusual issues like truncation. Verify settings with your domain host.