Deliverability, bounces and unsubscribes
What the deliverability bar is telling you, the difference between a bounce and a complaint, and what to do when the numbers creep up.
- deliverability
- bounces
Your marketing area shows a deliverability reading based on your last 30 days of sending. It has four states, and they are worth learning before you need them.
Good standing. Healthy. Keep emailing people who asked to hear from you.
Watch closely. Creeping up. Clean inactive addresses before your next send.
At the limit. One more bad send and this stops.
Over the line. Sending is paused to protect your domain.
The two numbers
A hard bounce is an address that does not exist. Too many means your list is stale or imported. A bounced address is suppressed for all mail, including sign-in codes, because there is nothing at the other end.
A spam complaint is somebody pressing the report button. That address stops receiving your broadcasts for good, but account email still reaches them, so they can still sign in and manage what they pay you.
What actually fixes it
Stop emailing people who have not opened anything in six months. They are not going to start.
Make the unsubscribe link easy to find. Somebody who cannot find it presses report instead.
Send on a rhythm people can predict, and say what the rhythm is when they join.
Never import a list you did not collect.
Common questions
My sending is paused. What now?
You will have had an email. Sending resumes after a review, and the fix is almost always list hygiene rather than anything technical.
A member says my emails go to spam.
Ask them to mark one as not spam, which is a positive signal that counts. Connecting your own sending domain helps in the longer run.
Can I see who unsubscribed?
Yes, in your audiences. Somebody whose provider told us to stop is marked there too.