Skip to main content

FAQ: Communications and Delivery

When is a customer's email address marked as invalid?​

Only a delivery failure marks an address invalid; an email that failed to generate does not.

  • Permanent failures invalidate the address immediately: the mailbox does not exist, the domain has no mail server, or the address is on the email provider's suppression list.
  • Temporary failures, such as a full mailbox, invalidate it after three in a row.
  • A successful delivery resets the count.

What do the email failure reasons "generic" and "suppress-bounce" mean?​

"generic" is the email provider's catch-all for rejections that fit no other category. "suppress-bounce" means the address is on the provider's blocklist after an earlier hard failure, so the provider does not try it again. Clearing that list is not recommended: those addresses did fail, and sending to them again harms your sender reputation. An SMTP 554 error means the recipient's mail server rejected the message.

A letter shows "Delivered" but it was returned to us. Why?​

The letter status reflects what the print and mail provider reports. Returned post is often handled on paper and never scanned back into tracking, so a return may not appear in the Backoffice. Raise the return with the mail provider.

Link shortening is done by the SMS provider. For Twilio, set up a Messaging Service with Link Shortening enabled and share its Messaging Service SID with the Receive team. Links in SMS sent through that service are then shortened.

How are inbound WhatsApp replies linked to accounts?​

Inbound WhatsApp messages are matched by the sender's mobile number and linked to the account and claim automatically. If the number belongs to more than one open account, the message is left unassigned rather than risk a wrong link; an agent can link it manually in the Communication Center. See Inbound messages.