Why are Gmail accounts bouncing and showing 'No Such User' errors?
Summary
What email marketers say21Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares experiencing a sudden deliverability hit.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares an email sent from personal Gmail account to another Gmail account bounced with "550 5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist."
Email marketer from Email on Acid explains that sometimes, temporary server issues at Gmail's end can cause 'No Such User' errors even when the email address is valid. They recommend retrying sending the email after some time to see if the issue resolves itself.
Email marketer from Stack Overflow explains that 'No Such User' errors can happen because the account genuinely doesn't exist, there was a typo in the email address, the domain part of the address is incorrect, or there are temporary issues at the recipient's mail server.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that basic email address typos and errors are a main cause for no such email errors - even with validation services active, it may not catch a simple typo.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares having 26,279 "The email account that you tried to reach does not exist" responses from Gmail.
Email marketer from Email Geeks confirms getting the same bounce issues from Gmail.
Email marketer from Reddit answers that a 'No Such User' error can occur if the Gmail account has been suspended by Google due to policy violations or other reasons. The user recommends contacting Google Support if the account suspension is believed to be in error.
Email marketer from Email Geeks confirms getting the same bounce issues from Gmail.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that the problem still seems to persist with higher than usual bounces.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign explains that regularly cleaning your email lists and removing inactive subscribers can help prevent 'No Such User' errors. Over time, email addresses can become invalid, and keeping lists up to date improves deliverability.
Email marketer from MXToolbox explains that 'No Such User' errors occur when an email is sent to an address that is syntactically incorrect (e.g., missing '@' symbol, invalid characters) or the recipient's domain does not exist. They suggest using their email validation tools to check the validity of email addresses.
Email marketer from Quora explains that if the domain's MX records are not correctly set up to point to Gmail, emails sent to addresses at that domain may result in 'No Such User' errors, even if the user exists. Proper MX record configuration is essential for email delivery.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares tested with his personal gmail account and got the same bounce message.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that the timeframe impacted was roughly from 4pm to 7pm ET based on his mailer stats.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that some people and ESPs are reporting Gmail might be having issues, seeing more emails bounce as “NoSuchUser” and refers to a downdetector link.
Email marketer from Super User suggests that if a user has deleted their Gmail account or an alias associated with that account, sending an email to that address will result in a 'No Such User' error. The user notes that it is important to check for aliases when troubleshooting bounce messages.
Email marketer from Google Support explains that a 'No Such User' error can occur if the recipient's email address is mistyped or no longer exists. They recommend double-checking the address for typos and unnecessary spaces. The account may have also been deleted by the user.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares seeing these bounces starting up again in bulk at 2020-12-15 19:55:00UTC.
Email marketer from Email Geeks notes seeing bounce issues between 2:30pm - 5pm PT based on a small sample size of clients.
Email marketer from Reddit user explains that often businesses use third party email verification services that can sometimes mark an address as invalid. They suggest that the recipient could have accidentally unsubscribed and it's been incorrectly marked as a 'No Such User'.
What the experts say2Expert opinions
Expert from Spamresource.com explains that a "No Such User" error (or similar variations like "User unknown", "Invalid recipient", "Recipient address rejected") usually signifies that the email address you're trying to reach doesn't exist on the mail server. This can be due to typos in the email address, the account being closed, or the domain itself not being properly configured to receive email. It can also happen if the sending server is blocked.
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that list hygiene is a huge part of avoiding bounces including 'No Such User' bounces. Regularly cleaning your email list and removing inactive or invalid addresses is crucial. Also checking for updated domain records will help.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from IETF specifies that a 5.1.1 enhanced status code in SMTP responses indicates that the recipient address does not exist. This code is specifically used for 'bad destination mailbox address' scenarios.
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that 'No Such User' bounce messages can indicate that the recipient’s email address is incorrect, the user's account has been deleted or suspended, or there are routing problems within Google's infrastructure. It also suggests checking if the domain exists and is configured correctly.
Documentation from RFC Editor explains that a 550 SMTP error code, often associated with 'No Such User' errors, indicates that the mailbox is unavailable because the user does not exist on the receiving system or the mailbox is inaccessible.