Remove invalid addresses
Operationalize ongoing removal of hard bounces, complainers, and known risky addresses.
- Difficulty:
- Beginner
- Prerequisites:
- Webhook or export of bounce/complaint events
- Last updated:
- 2026-07-15
- Author:
- empire
Objective
Improve list hygiene
Validate, clean, and segment lists before high-risk sends.
Starting state
ESP bounce and complaint events are flowing
Prerequisites
- Webhook or export of bounce/complaint events
Estimated time
30–60 minutes
Difficulty
beginner
Required access
- ESP
- CRM
Inputs
- Bounce classes
- Complaint events
- Suppression rules
Step-by-step instructions
- Classify eventsSeparate hard bounces, soft bounces, and complaints.
- Suppress permanentlyAdd hard bounces and complainers to global suppressions immediately.
- Retry soft bounces carefullyAllow limited retries, then suppress chronic soft failures.
Verification
- No repeated sends to known hard bounces
Common mistakes
- Re-importing old lists without suppressions
- How many soft-bounce cycles before suppression?
Rollback / recovery
- Restore from suppression audit only with explicit approval
Expected outcome
Invalid and risky addresses stop receiving mail.
When to escalate
- Complaint rate rises despite suppressions