Why are some bounced emails not recognized?

Troubleshooting steps

1. MailMerge365 creates an Outlook rule that moves bounce messages to a folder called "MailMerge365 Bounces". Please check this rule exists using the "File" menu > "Manage Rules & Alerts" and in the the Rules and Alerts dialog make sure a rule called "MailMerge365 Bounces" exists and is activated.

2. MailMerge365 will check that folder every 15-30 minutes and try to evaluate the bounces if they can be associated with a campaign.

• If they can, the bounce will be added to your campaign dashboard and the bounce message will be moved to your Deleted Items folder.
• If not, the bounce message will be sent back to your Inbox for further processing. 

If the bounce is not showing up but rather landing in your Inbox this is either because 

• the rule is not activated (see 1.)
• the bounce is not a permanent bounce (see below), in this case you can manually move the bounce message (notifications) into the MailMerge365 Bounces folder if you wish and MailMerge365 will try to import them.
• the bounce notification was moved but not recognized my MailMerge365. In this case you have to manually process the bounce and remove it from your spreadsheets or add them to your unsubscriber list in the MailMerge365 dashboard. Feel free to forward the bounce notification to help@mailmerge365.com to see if we can improve the bounce detection for a future version.

Why are only permanent bounces recognized?

MailMerge365 relies on the bounce detection of Outlook itself and will only report bounces if they are true standards conforming and permanent NDRs (Non-delivery reports).

Permanency is key as you would not want someone to be unsubscribed because their email bounced only to realize it was a temporary issue that was resolved a day later. Outlook does it's best to make sure the NDR is due to a permanent situation before reporting is as such (e.g. the receiving mail server reports the user's mailbox does not exist).

Why are some bounces not being recognized?

This reliance on Outlook and permanent NDRs can lead to you seeing something that looks like bounced email but MailMerge365 cannot detect it. They will stay in your Inbox. If you determine the email to be a real bounce you can manually move the item to the "MailMerge365 Bounces" folder and the system will do it's best to recognize the bounce. But if they email does not contain the identifying markers for a MailMerge365 campaign (specifically the email headers) because the receiving server is not adhering to internet standards properly then we cannot register the bounce to the campaign. In this case the email will stay untouched.