> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.hoopai.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Email bounce management

> Understand hard and soft bounces, manage bounce suspensions, clean your email list, and maintain healthy deliverability in the HoopAI platform.

Email bounces occur when a message cannot be delivered to the recipient's inbox. Managing bounces is critical to maintaining a healthy sender reputation and avoiding account suspensions.

***

## Bounce types

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Hard bounce" icon="circle-xmark">
    A permanent delivery failure. The email address does not exist, the domain is invalid, or the recipient server has permanently rejected the message. Hard-bounced addresses should be removed from your list immediately.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Soft bounce" icon="circle-exclamation">
    A temporary delivery failure. The recipient's inbox is full, the server is temporarily unavailable, or the message is too large. Soft bounces are retried automatically.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

## Common bounce codes

| Code       | Type | Meaning                             | Action                            |
| ---------- | ---- | ----------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| 550        | Hard | Mailbox does not exist              | Remove from list                  |
| 551        | Hard | User not local / relay denied       | Remove from list                  |
| 552        | Soft | Mailbox full / storage exceeded     | Retry later; remove if persistent |
| 553        | Hard | Invalid mailbox name or syntax      | Remove from list                  |
| 421        | Soft | Service temporarily unavailable     | Automatic retry                   |
| 450        | Soft | Mailbox busy or temporarily blocked | Automatic retry                   |
| 550-5.7.1  | Hard | Message rejected by policy          | Check content and authentication  |
| 550-5.7.26 | Hard | SPF/DKIM authentication failure     | Fix DNS records                   |

***

## Bounce suspension

The HoopAI platform monitors your bounce rate continuously. If your bounce rate exceeds platform thresholds, email sending may be temporarily suspended to protect your sender reputation and the platform's shared infrastructure.

### What triggers a suspension

* Hard bounce rate exceeding **5%** over a rolling period
* Spam complaint rate exceeding **0.08%**
* Sudden spike in bounces from a single campaign

### How to avoid suspension

<Steps>
  <Step title="Verify your list before sending">
    Use the platform's email verification tool or a third-party service to validate addresses before importing. Remove invalid and risky addresses.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Never use purchased lists">
    Purchased or scraped email lists have extremely high bounce rates and will trigger an immediate suspension.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Remove hard bounces promptly">
    After every campaign, review the bounce report and remove all hard-bounced contacts from future sends.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Monitor engagement">
    Contacts who have not opened or clicked in 90+ days are more likely to bounce. Move them to a re-engagement segment.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Resolving a suspension

If your account is suspended for excessive bounces:

1. Pause all outgoing email campaigns
2. Export and clean your contact list — remove all hard bounces, invalid addresses, and unengaged contacts
3. Document the steps you have taken to clean your list
4. Contact support with your cleaning report to request reactivation

***

## Cleaning your email list

### When to clean

* Before importing any new list
* Before sending to a list that has not been emailed in 60+ days
* After any campaign with a bounce rate above 3%
* Quarterly for actively used lists

### How to clean

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Use email verification">
    Run your contact list through the platform's built-in email verification or a third-party verification service (ZeroBounce, NeverBounce, BriteVerify). These tools check whether each address is valid before you send.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Remove role-based addresses">
    Addresses like info@, sales@, admin@, and support@ are role-based and often have higher bounce and complaint rates. Remove them from marketing lists.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Segment by engagement">
    Create a smart list of contacts who have not opened or clicked any email in the past 90 days. Send a re-engagement campaign. If they still do not engage, suppress them.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Remove duplicates and malformed addresses">
    Use the platform's duplicate management tools to merge or remove duplicate contacts. Fix obvious typos (`gmial.com` to `gmail.com`).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

## Re-engagement campaigns

Before removing inactive contacts permanently, try a re-engagement campaign:

1. Create a smart list: contacts who received at least 5 emails in the past 90 days but opened 0
2. Send a short, clear email asking if they want to stay on your list
3. Include a clear CTA that confirms interest
4. Wait 7-14 days
5. Contacts who do not engage should be suppressed from future marketing sends

***

## Bounce rate benchmarks

| Metric              | Healthy     | Concerning | Critical    |
| ------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ----------- |
| Hard bounce rate    | Below 1%    | 1-3%       | Above 5%    |
| Soft bounce rate    | Below 2%    | 2-5%       | Above 5%    |
| Overall bounce rate | Below 3%    | 3-5%       | Above 5%    |
| Spam complaint rate | Below 0.05% | 0.05-0.08% | Above 0.08% |

<Tip>
  Monitor your bounce rate trend over time in **Marketing > Emails > Campaigns > Statistics > Performance Analysis**. A rising bounce rate — even within healthy ranges — is an early warning that your list needs attention.
</Tip>

***

## Automatic bounce handling

The HoopAI platform handles bounces automatically:

* **Hard bounces** — the contact's email is flagged and they are excluded from future email sends
* **Soft bounces** — the platform retries delivery. After multiple consecutive soft bounces, the contact is treated as a hard bounce
* **Bounce logging** — all bounce events are recorded in the contact's activity timeline
* **Campaign statistics** — bounce counts and rates are displayed in the campaign statistics dashboard

***

## Frequently asked questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Can I re-send to a hard-bounced contact?">
    No. Once a contact's email is flagged as a hard bounce, the platform blocks further email sends. If you believe the bounce was incorrect, you can manually remove the bounce flag, but proceed with caution.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does the bounce rate include soft bounces?">
    Suspension thresholds are based primarily on hard bounce rates. Soft bounces are tracked separately.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How quickly are bounces reported?">
    Hard bounces appear within minutes. Soft bounces may take longer as the platform retries delivery.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>