Cleaning Database: Email Soft Bounces

[Ande_Kempf4]

In my quest to clean up our database I found ​'s guest blog "How to Clean Up Your Marketo Database".  The article is excellent and I highly suggest reading it if you're interested in doing some fine-tooth-comb cleaning.

One area that I am interested in cleaning up is removing the leads who have received several soft bounces in a row.  For example, a lead whose e-mail is set up to automatically reply with a message indicating that they are no longer with a company.

Josh suggested setting up a trigger campaign to catch these leads and changing their data value to Marketing Suspended for 30 days:

My question is why set them to marketing suspended for 30 days?  Why not remove them from the Marketo database (but keep them in SFDC)?*

*If I were to delete the lead I wouldn't do this using a trigger campaign - just a single campaign run.

Thanks!

[Aslihan_Ayan_Ha]

A soft bounce occurs when the email server rejects the email due to a seemingly temporary condition, such as a full inbox or temporary failure at the receiving domain. Removing them from Marketo will not be a good idea since these are still valid email addresses. 

[Ande_Kempf4]

Thanks Ashley Ayan - I am referring to e-mail addresses that have done this multiple times in a row, like 5-6 times.  I'm looking for the best practice for handling these leads as they're taking up space in our database and are continually rejecting our e-mails due to "a seemingly temporary condition, such as a full inbox or temporary failure at the receiving domain".

[Aslihan_Ayan_Ha]

I hear you Ande. If they are consistently getting bounced for a time frame you are comfortable to say they are bad, then it makes sense to remove them from Marketo.  

[Mike_Reynolds2]

One other thing you can try would be the steps outlined in this article. It helps to maintain an active directory of leads bouncing emails

Maintaining a Directory of Leads Bouncing Emails

[Anonymous]

Hi Ande,

We are a big fan of Josh Hill's article as well!

You may have noticed under "Step 3" Josh mentions our data appending tool, which enriches your Marketo leads in real time.

I think it might be worth your time to check out our "Cleanse and Enrich" report within our Data Health Scan tool. This will show you exactly how many emails are hard bounces, soft bounces, CatchAll's and any email threat risks that have made their way into your database.

If you're interested, I can definitely send you a sample report to show you exactly what your results could look like.

Goodluck!

-LV