How Unsubscribes are handled automatically
There is a difference in handling of unsubscriptions between send-outs through a Sequence and a Newsletter:
If a recipient contact clicks an "unsubscribe-link" in a message sent through a sequence in Otto, then the contact will simply be removed from the sequence and will not receive any more messages in that sequence. She will however, still receive messages if she is subscribed also to other sequences, or if she is part of a recipient list you send a newsletter to.
If the recipient contact clicks an "unsubscribe-link" in a newsletter, then a firmer action is taken: The "Don't email" flag is set on the Contact, and it will not be possible to send an e-mail to this user again unless the flag is manually removed.
The difference between soft and hard bounce handling
When Otto has sent an e-mail and it's rejected by a contact's email server, it's called a bounce. These can be of two different kinds:
Hard Bounces
A hard bounce means there is a permanent reason that your email cannot be delivered. In most cases, bounced email addresses are removed by Otto automatically and immediately which you will see both in an e-mail report, on each contact but also in the bounced list. If a contact has been marked as a bounce, she will be excluded from future messages or newsletters sent to her. Here are some common reasons hard bounces happen.
- Recipient email address does not exist (e.g. the account is discontinued, a person is no longer working at that place)
- Domain name does not exist (e.g. the company does no longer exist, has merged or changed name)
- Recipient email server has completely blocked delivery (e.g. it is blacklisted or has exceeded its quota)
It's a good idea to keep a close eye on your bounces to be sure your campaigns are reaching your contacts. Sometimes people are simply misspelling e-mailaddresses and a hard bounce would occur.
Note:
There are occasionally cases in which valid email addresses can hard bounce or a subscriber could mistakenly unsubscribe and will need to opt back in to your list.
Soft Bounces
Soft bounces typically indicate an automated response and are handled differently than hard bounces: the reply will go directly to the e-mail account of the sender.
Can't these also be handled automatically?
Typically, if an email address soft bounces some of these reasons could make this happen:
- Out of office e-mail, which you probably can just leave be.
- "I have retired" or "I have quit" which you likely do want to see, particularly if there is also a "...and NEWNAME has taken over my duties" message, so you can keep your lists up to date.
