About campaign bounces and bounce codes

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About Campaign Bounces and Bounce Codes

In the realm of email marketing, understanding campaign bounces is crucial for maintaining a clean and effective contact list. Email bounces can significantly impact your deliverability rates, engagement metrics, and overall campaign effectiveness. In this article, we will delve into what campaign bounces and bounce codes are, the types of bounces ActiveCampaign tracks, and how to access relevant bounce data to keep your campaigns optimized.

What is a Campaign Bounce? Why It Matters

A campaign bounce occurs when a contact's receiving email server rejects an email campaign or automation email sent by ActiveCampaign. This rejection could indicate that the email address is invalid, that the recipient’s inbox is inaccessible at the time of sending, or that there are other underlying issues with the receiving server.

Understanding the distinctions between bounce types—hard bounces and soft bounces—is vital. This knowledge will help you take appropriate actions, such as removing invalid email addresses or retrying delivery attempts, ensuring your campaigns reach only valid and engaged recipients.

How to Access This Feature

To effectively manage bounces in your email campaigns, you need to know where to find the relevant reports in ActiveCampaign. Both direct and automated campaigns provide insights into bounce data.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. **Accessing Bounce Reports for Direct Campaigns:**

  - Click on **Reports** in the left menu.
  - Select the specific email you wish to review.
  - Locate **Bounces** within the **Summary** box to view the percentage of bounces.
  - Hover over **Bounces** to see a modal with the number of bounced contacts.
  - Click on **Bounces** in the **Summary** box to access the Bounce Reports page, listing all contacts who bounced along with their bounce date, bounce code, type, and description.

2. **Accessing Bounce Reports for Automated Campaigns:**

  - Click on **Reports** in the left menu.
  - Hover near the ActiveCampaign logo on the top left and select **Show navigation**.
  - Click on the **Automations** option, then select **All Automations**.
  - Find the automation containing the campaign you wish to review.
  - Click on the **Contains X campaign ...** option under the automation name.
  - A modal will appear; click on the **Automation Overview** option.
  - A new tab will open, displaying a high-level overview of all campaigns in the selected automation.
  - Locate and click the desired campaign to access its detailed report.

For both direct and automated campaigns, hover over or click **Bounces** in the **Summary** box to get detailed insights into bounce actions.

Bounce Codes

Bounce codes are provided by the recipients’ email servers and help identify specific errors that caused the bounce. It is important to note that some codes may not accurately reflect the true nature of the bounce.

Below is a list of supported bounce codes and their associated descriptions:

Bounce Code	Bounce Type	Description
4.2.2	Soft	The email account is over quota
5.0.0	Hard	Address does not exist
5.1.0	Hard	Other address status
5.1.1	Hard	Bad destination mailbox address
...	...	...

For a comprehensive list, refer to the ActiveCampaign support documentation. Each code can provide insight into why a particular email failed to reach its destination, enabling you to take corrective action when necessary.

Best Practices and Tips

- Regularly monitor bounce reports to maintain a healthy contact list. - Squash hard bounces as they indicate nonexistent email addresses. Remove such contacts from your campaigns to improve deliverability. - For soft bounces, make a note of email addresses and give them a few more attempts before deciding to mark them as invalid. - Engage with your contacts to verify their emails if you experience repeated bounces.

Common Use Cases

- **Validating Contact Lists:** Using bounce data to identify and remove invalid email addresses from your marketing list. - **Optimizing Email Campaigns:** Understanding which campaigns are underperforming due to bounces, allowing for adjustments to improve future campaign hits. - **Customer Support:** If you encounter valid contacts erroneously marked as bounced (due to incorrect bounce codes from inbox providers), reach out to the ActiveCampaign Customer Experience Team for assistance.

Troubleshooting

If a valid contact is marked as bounced, it can be frustrating. This issue generally implies that the recipient's inbox provider has blocked the message for various reasons. It may take some time to resolve, but here are steps you can take: - Wait and retry sending to the contact in a subsequent campaign. - If you know that the email address is valid, contact the ActiveCampaign Customer Experience Team for assistance, as they can help change the status of a hard bounce.

FAQ

Why did a valid contact bounce?

Able to bounce due to reasons that the inbox provider deemed appropriate. In some cases, they may erroneously report an email as invalid. This can happen with valid addresses if the inbox is temporarily down.

How can I recover from a hard bounce?

You can only adjust a hard bounce's status by contacting the Customer Experience Team. Resubscribing manually won't change their status in the account.

What is the difference between a hard bounce and a soft bounce?

A hard bounce indicates a permanent issue (e.g., invalid email address), while a soft bounce suggests a temporary problem (e.g., full inbox).

How often should I check bounce reports?

It is advisable to check bounce reports regularly, especially after launching campaigns, to maintain the health of your contact list.

What should I do with contacts who soft bounce?

Attempt to send to them up to three times before marking them as hard bounces. If it exceeds that, consider removing them from future campaigns.

Where can I find more information about bounce codes?

For a complete overview and assistance, please refer to the ActiveCampaign documentation on bounce codes.

What resources are available for understanding campaign bounces?

ActiveCampaign’s support documentation and the Customer Experience Team can provide assistance in understanding and resolving bounce issues relevant to your campaigns.

In conclusion, comprehending campaign bounces and managing bounce codes effectively are essential for optimizing your email marketing efforts. With accurate measurement and analysis, you can maintain a healthy contact list and improve your email campaign performance. ```