Who this applies to#
- Treat a hard bounce as a permanent failure signal for the affected destination unless reliable evidence proves the address was corrected
What Hard bounce requires#
- Stop routine retries to a permanently failing destination and retain the delivery result for suppression decisions
Amazon SES
SES distinguishes permanent bounces from transient delivery failures
What this does not require#
- A hard bounce does not require deleting unrelated contact history or consent evidence
Common mistakes#
- Retrying every permanent failure
- Treating a hard bounce as an unsubscribe
- Removing the evidence while keeping the address sendable
Hard bounce checklist#
- Classify the response
- Suppress the destination
- Retain the reason
- Correct only with evidence
Commonly confused with#
OnVoard's take#
Treat a hard bounce as a stop signal for that destination. Retrying a permanent failure does not correct the address.