Email delivery shows Bounced
One or more members show a Bounced status in a broadcast’s per-recipient log.
What’s happening
Section titled “What’s happening”A bounce means the message was rejected by the recipient’s mail server before it reached the inbox. There are two types:
- Hard bounce — the address doesn’t exist or the domain is invalid. The message can’t be delivered, and future sends to this address will also bounce.
- Soft bounce — a temporary issue, such as a full inbox or a mail server being down. The message may deliver if you try again later.
The Bounce reason column on the send-detail page gives a short explanation from the receiving mail server.
A high bounce rate can damage your sending reputation. MapleGather alerts you on the deliverability dashboard when your 7-day bounce rate exceeds 2%.
How to fix it
Section titled “How to fix it”1. Look up the bounce reason
Section titled “1. Look up the bounce reason”- Go to All blasts (at
/admin/email/broadcasts) and open the broadcast. - Find the member in the Recipients table. Filter by Bounced to see all bounced recipients.
- Read the Bounce reason column for the affected member.
2. Correct or remove the email address
Section titled “2. Correct or remove the email address”For hard bounces (address doesn’t exist):
- Go to the member’s record and select Profile.
- Check whether the email address is spelled correctly. Correct it if you spot a typo.
- If the address is correct but the inbox no longer exists (for example, a former work email), contact the member to get their current address.
For soft bounces:
- Soft bounces often resolve on their own. Wait a few days and check whether future sends to that member succeed. If the bounce continues, treat it as a hard bounce and update the address.
3. Review the overall bounce rate
Section titled “3. Review the overall bounce rate”- Go to Email deliverability (at
/admin/email/deliverability). - Check the Bounce rate metric for the last 7 days. If it’s above 2%, the dashboard shows a Review bounced recipients notice.
- Work through the bounced-recipient list systematically to correct or remove invalid addresses.
If that didn’t work
Section titled “If that didn’t work”- If you’ve corrected the email address and the member still bounces on the next send, read the new Bounce reason — it’s the answer for the corrected address. If it says the address is inactive or suppressed, the email provider is refusing to send to that address after an earlier hard bounce or spam complaint. MapleGather has no control to lift that, so ask the member for a different address.
- If your bounce rate stays above 2% after correcting addresses, the rate is still being driven by the addresses you send to — a bounce is one address’s mail server refusing the message, not a setting in MapleGather. It’s a 7-day rate, so it falls only as newer sends go out to corrected addresses. Keep working through the Bounced filter on recent broadcasts, and check where the bouncing addresses came from (for example, an old imported list).