Investigate bounce reports
Classify bounce DSNs, find root causes, and feed suppressions or infrastructure fixes.
- Difficulty:
- Intermediate
- Prerequisites:
- Raw DSN or ESP bounce export
- Last updated:
- 2026-07-15
- Author:
- empire
Objective
Monitor deliverability
Operate ongoing signals for acceptance, placement, and reputation.
Starting state
Bounce volume or rate is elevated
Prerequisites
- Raw DSN or ESP bounce export
Estimated time
1–2 hours
Difficulty
intermediate
Required access
- ESP logs
- CRM
Inputs
- Bounce samples
- Campaign/IP mapping
Step-by-step instructions
- ClassifyBucket hard vs soft vs block/deferral responses.
- CorrelateMap spikes to lists, providers, IPs, or recent DNS/auth changes.
- RemediateSuppress invalids or open the matching Solve/Workflow playbook.
Verification
- Bounce rate returns toward baseline after actions
Common mistakes
- Treating all 4xx as hard bounces
- Infrastructure block vs list quality as primary cause?
Rollback / recovery
- Restore senders only after root cause is cleared
Expected outcome
Bounce spikes convert into concrete suppressions or fixes.
When to escalate
- Provider-wide blocks dominate the bounce mix