Addresses supplied with an internet service stop working when the customer switches provider, and your messages bounce silently. Read hard bounces as customers to reach another way, and ask for current addresses at every routine contact.

The address that came with the internet

Many customers, especially those who have had home internet for a long time, use the email address their provider gave them, ending in the name of a cable or phone company.

It works for years. Then they switch providers for a better price or faster service, and sooner or later the old mailbox is closed.

Nobody tells the businesses that email them. Your next newsletter bounces, your service reminder goes nowhere, and the customer simply stops hearing from you.

The customer is still in your records. They are just no longer reachable at the address you have.

Hard bounces and soft bounces

When a message cannot be delivered, the receiving server sends back a reason. A hard bounce means the address no longer exists. A soft bounce means a passing problem, such as a mailbox that is full.

Most email services stop sending to an address after a hard bounce, and after several soft ones in a row. That protects your sending reputation, since mail sent again and again to dead addresses looks like spam to receiving servers.

It also means the customer drops off your list without unsubscribing, complaining or telling anyone.

What a bounce usually means

The third deserves attention. A mailbox that keeps filling up usually belongs to someone who moved to another address long ago, so everything you send there is already going unread.

The customer did not leave you

A bounced address is not a lost customer. It is a customer you can no longer reach one way, who may still be nearby, still satisfied and still expecting to hear about their warranty, booking or next service.

The cost goes beyond newsletters. Service reminders, warranty notices and booking confirmations sent to a closed mailbox fail in exactly the same way, and those are the messages customers actually rely on.

That is why a bounce report deserves reading rather than deleting. Every line on it is a person you can probably reach some other way.

Reaching people whose address bounced

Check the customer record for a phone number or a mailing address. A short call from a business they know works well for regulars, and a postcard can reach the rest.

For customers who come in, ask at the counter or on the next job. A line on the invoice or booking form, asking whether this is still the best email for them, catches the rest over time.

Do not guess. A likely-looking address, such as the same name at a free email service, reaches strangers as often as customers, and those strangers never agreed to hear from you.

A worked example

A saddle maker builds custom saddles and does repairs and fittings for riders across a wide rural area. Each season it sends a short email with clinic dates and reminders about saddle care.

Many of its customers are long-standing, and many use the email address that came with their rural internet or phone service.

Over two years the bounced section of the email service grew to include customers who had bought saddles and booked fittings. Nobody had looked, because nothing in the newsletter reports seemed wrong.

The cause was local. As faster service reached the area, households switched providers, and their old addresses closed one by one.

The owner printed the bounced names, phoned the regulars and asked the others at fittings and clinics. Repair tickets gained a line for a current email address, and the bounce report is now read after every send.

Several of those customers had been wondering why the clinic emails stopped.

Ask for the current address routinely

The cheapest fix is a habit: confirm the email address whenever you confirm anything else.

At checkout, on booking forms, on repair tickets and when you call about an appointment, read back the address you hold and ask whether it is still the right one.

Make it easy to change from the email itself. Most email services can add a link to every message that lets people update their own details.

Record the change properly

When a customer gives you a new address, update the existing record rather than adding a second one, so the history stays together.

Note the date and how they gave it, the same as for any new sign-up. That record is what you would rely on if anyone ever asked how the address came to be on your list.

Mark the old address as no longer valid, so it does not creep back in through an old export or a spreadsheet someone kept.

Watch the trend, not just the send

One newsletter's bounces tell you little. The total over a year tells you how quickly the list is going stale.

If more customers drop off through bounces than through unsubscribes, the problem is not what you write. It is that the addresses you collected are wearing out.

Look at which address endings bounce most. If they cluster around one or two providers, a line in your next newsletter asking people to send their new address before they switch costs nothing.

The counter-case

Businesses whose customers mostly use free webmail see less of this, though work addresses decay too, every time someone changes jobs.

And a business that emails rarely, sending receipts and little else, can deal with bounces as they come rather than chasing them.

For anyone who relies on a customer list, read the bounces after each send and ask for current addresses at every routine contact.

After the next send

  1. Open the bounce report for your last newsletter.
  2. Separate hard from soft bounces.
  3. Match each address to a customer record.
  4. Phone or ask the customers you know.
  5. Add a current email line to forms and tickets.
  6. Record each new address with its date and source.
  7. Read the bounces after every send.

Step three is the one that turns a technical report into a list of people. Until each address has a name beside it, nobody knows which customers have gone quiet.

The same problem on the business's own side is covered in a business email address at the internet provider.

Frequently asked questions

Why do customer email addresses stop working?

Many customers use the address that came with their internet service. When they switch providers the old mailbox is eventually closed, and nobody tells the businesses that email them.

What is the difference between hard and soft bounces?

A hard bounce means the address no longer exists. A soft bounce signals a passing problem, a full mailbox for instance, though repeated soft bounces often mean nobody reads it.

Does a bounced address mean a lost customer?

No. It means one way of reaching them has gone. The customer may still be nearby and satisfied, so contact them another way and ask for a current address.

Should I guess a customer's new address?

No. A likely-looking address at a free email service reaches strangers as often as customers, and those strangers never agreed to hear from you.

How do I collect updated addresses?

Ask whenever you confirm anything else: at checkout, on booking forms, on repair tickets and when calling about appointments. Add an update-your-details link to every newsletter.

What should I record when an address changes?

Update the existing record rather than adding a second one, note the date and how the customer gave it, and mark the old address as no longer valid.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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