Handling email bounces

A bounce is a delivery failure notice returned when your email cannot reach a recipient. Understanding bounces helps you keep your list clean and your reputation healthy.

There are two types:

• Hard bounce - a permanent failure, e.g. the address does not exist or the domain is invalid. Remove these addresses immediately; repeatedly mailing them harms your reputation.
• Soft bounce - a temporary problem, e.g. the mailbox is full, the server is down, or the message is too large. These may succeed on a later attempt.

Best practice:

• Act on hard bounces by deleting invalid addresses from your contacts.
• Monitor soft bounces; if an address soft-bounces repeatedly over time, treat it as invalid.
• High bounce rates (especially hard bounces) tell providers your list is poor, pushing more mail to spam.

The bounce message itself contains a reason code - reading it tells you whether the problem is the address, a full mailbox, a size limit, or a block due to reputation (which may point to a blacklisting or authentication issue on your side).

For bulk sending, use a platform that automatically processes bounces and suppresses bad addresses. If you are getting unexpected bounces for mail that should deliver - for example a "blocked" message - it may indicate a blacklist or SPF/DKIM problem; send us the bounce text and we will investigate: support@dirhamaday.ae.