Vuture automatically processes bounced (undelivered) emails on a scheduled basis recording this against the contact.

Recommended Bounce Processing

The following is the recommended process for processing bounces from Vuture lists, i.e. lists uploading using CSV files or manually entered:

1. Scheduled automatic processing

Bounces are automatically processed every hour. This schedule can be varied if required. Email log files and incoming bounces which are delivered to your central bounceback mailbox are extracted for analysis.

2. Bounce analysis

Each bounce is analysed against Vuture's database of known bouncebacks to determine the category of bounce (soft or hard) and the reason for the bounce (see the Bouncebacks page for more information about different types of bounce).

This is done by looking at the error codes provided by the recipient's mail server and by looking for keywords in the bounceback message. 

The bounce is identified as either hard (permanent) or soft (temporary) and given one of over 100 categorisations.

3. Record bounce against the send

The bounce information is recorded against the specific send for that contact. This will included detailed bounce header information which can be exported if required.

4. Mark contact as undelivered depending on bounce suppression rules

When a contact hard bounces two times in a row, we will suppress that contact. This means any emails to any contact with that email address will be suppressed.

If a new list is uploaded with the same email address it will be marked as undelivered. This can be over-ridden on a per list basis by clicking on the contact from the send screen and clicking subscribe in the top right of the contact history screen.

Additionally, when a contact soft bounces five times in a row, we will suppress that contact.

We do not recommend changing this threshold but you can ask your Account Manager to change any of the settings in the admin area to a lower value than what is currently set.

• "Admin.System.Bouncebacks.Number of Hard Bounces" = 2
• "Admin.System.Bouncebacks.Add To Bounce List After Consecutive Bounces" = True
• "Admin.System.Bouncebacks.Convert Soft To Hard After" = 5
• "Admin.System.Emails.Force not to send to undeliverables" = True

Note for Vuture Administrators: older client instances may need to have their bounce database migrated for the consecutive bounce feature to be enabled. Check that "Admin.System.Version.Bounceback Reporting Version" is set to 2. If not then log a support ticket for the migration to be actioned first.