Are your emails bouncing? Would you even know?

One of the most valuable email features in CiviCRM is also one of the most commonly overlooked: bounce tracking.

Every organization accumulates bad email addresses over time.

People change jobs.
Accounts get abandoned.
Domains disappear.

When you send email to those addresses, the messages bounce.

And if you keep sending to addresses that bounce repeatedly, inbox providers will start to think you're acting like a spammer.
And they'll start treating you like one, by bouncing your emails more frequently.

Fortunately, CiviCRM has tools to help.

It can track bounced emails and automatically de-list bad addresses so you don't continue sending to them.

The catch?
You have to configure it.

CiviCRM just doesn't have access to automatically set this up for you.

Here’s a quick test:

Create a CiviCRM scheduled mailing that includes an address you know will bounce.

If that address doesn't appear in the "Mail Bounces" report within a day or so, there's a good chance your bounce handling isn't configured correctly.

That's worth investigating.

Because sending email is only half the job.

Knowing which messages never arrived is just as important.

If you're having trouble with this, I recommend you take a look at the docs here, or reach out to someone who can help you with this.

All the best,
A.