|
We’ve
all been there before, you’ve spent time crafting the perfect email
only to receive that dreaded notification within minutes of sending
it out into the wild. Whichever synonym it has arrived by this time,
‘failed, bounced, rejected’, receiving an email with those overly
negative subject lines can be disheartening and confusing –
especially when you’ve no idea what you did wrong in the first
place.
Worse, even when a reason for your email bouncing back is provided,
it is often an unintelligible block of tech speak.
Luckily, most of the issues that cause bounce backs won’t require
you to send out a frantic call to your IT department, or for smaller
businesses, call out computer
support, nor will they take too long to
fix, eating into your busy work schedule.
Let’s run through some of the basic, and a little more complex,
reasons why your emails are bouncing back and provide you a little
clarity on how to solve them.
What does an ‘email bounce back’ mean?
In basic terms, to send an email requires two things, the sender
and the recipient; when you hit send on that important email, your
mail server attempts to locate the intended recipient’s mailbox on
their mail server, in order to transfer the message. If for some
reason that connection or transfer fails, your mail server should
notify you and this, is the bounce back email, subject: failure to
deliver.
And it happens more than you’d think, last year it was found that
across the globe, over a fifth of commercial emails never reached
the intended recipient.
So far, so good.
The real problem lies in diagnosing where exactly in the process it
went wrong, and deciphering the block of numbers and letters your
computer has spat back out at you is no easy feat.
But, armed with a careful eye our handy phrasebook, you’ll be fluent
in email jargon in no time.
Why are my emails bouncing back?
The majority of the time, the reasons your emails are bouncing
back are caused by something you can easily fix;
Email Address Errors
Sometimes it’s literally as simple as just a mistyped or
misspelled email address, something easy to overlook, or perhaps the
email address you’re trying to connect with is a little outdated.
Always make sure to proofread your email addresses, as even a dot
one character too early can cause an address error, and try to fact
check your contact list beforehand.
Lack of Storage
Occasionally your email simply hasn’t got enough space to land,
or is taking up too much space in the first place.
Perhaps your intended recipient has exceeded the storage set by
their provider; either try sending to a different mailbox, or
connect over an alternate mode of communication.
Similarly, if you’re trying to send an attachment, sometimes it can
be too large for your recipient’s mail server to handle, although
most of the time, you should be notified of this prior to sending.
If possible, try and reduce the file size, or, if not, you can
easily use an online host like Dropbox and share the document using
a secure invitation.
Sometimes, however, there are trickier issues at play, that may take
more time to solve.
Permission Denied
This reason is generaly attributed when sending to personal Gmail
addresses
This
means the recipient’s mail server mistakenly thinks you’re email is
spam, or malware, and is protecting itself by refusing to accept any
of your content. To solve this, you’ll need to contact whoever
manages your mail server, or hosts your email address, as somewhere
along the line your mail server could’ve got a bad reputation.
In this case, the bounce back you receive may look like this:
joe@theemailrecipient.com SMTP error from remote mail server after
end of data: host mail.destinationserver.com [12.62.3.52]: 554
Service unavailable; Client host [smtp.myhostingco.com] blocked
using name of company here;
http://www.nameofcompany.com/reputation/?r=1&ip=12.62.3.52
One thing you can do as a preventative measure, or if you begin to
receive these bounce backs, is check, and tighten, both your email
and your wi-fi’s security through virus scanning software and by
regularly updating your passwords.
Sender Address rejected: Relay Access Denied
This usually means that you’re trying to send from an email
address that is not allowed on the mail server you’re trying to use,
as in, you’re entering the ‘from’ address examplename@gmail.com but
using your Internet Service Provider’s mail server instead of
Google’s.
The message could not be sent because the server rejected the
sender's e-mail address. The sender's e-mail address was (Email
address). Subject (Subject), Account: (Account name), Server:
(Server name), Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '505 Authentication
required', Port: 25, Secure (SSL): No, Server Error: 505, Error
Number: 0x800CCC78
What do Email Error Codes mean?
One of the most common, and baffling, features of email bounce
backs are the error codes.
The error code itself refers to Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
code generated out of a range of numbers between 400-499, and
500-599, respectively, each correlating with a specific reason why
your email is not sending.
The SMTP error codes are split into two categories; a temporary
failure and a permanent (although not unfixable) failure, some of
which we’ve already run through above.
Temporary Failures: 400 Errors
A failure between the 400’s means that either the target server
is down and not accepting connections, or that the server is
temporarily refusing to accept the mail, but might accept it later.
Excluding many free, or bulk email providers, mail servers will
usually try for up to 5 days before giving up. After 4 hours, a
notice is normally sent back to the sender explaining why there is a
delay; at the end of 5 days, a final delivery failure message is
sent back to the sender.
This primarily happens when a server is too busy, or the recipient’s
mailbox is too full.
Permanent Failures: 500 Errors
‘Permanent Failures’ mean that the mail server will not accept
the delivery of this message and it should be returned to sender.
Despite the name, these bounce backs usually have simple solutions,
some of which are detailed above, including misspellings or email
address errors, however 500 Errors can also encompass servers that
have had their permission denied.
Despite its exactitude, there are times when email can and will
fail, whether it is simply a case of human error, or a technical
misunderstanding, hopefully our quick scan of the basics will ensure
you’re able to mitigate the amount of bounce backs you receive, and
ensure your email account is running as smoothly and efficiently as
possible. |