Invite gets delivered but confirmation bounces

[Jeff_Smith3]

We've had a number of instances (and people keep bringing this complaint up) where invite emails, such as for a webinar, get delivered into the recipient's inbox without any issues, but when they register for the event they don't receive the confirmation email. The two emails are very similar, except the confirmation email is operational (and of course has different text and links). The bounce code is 550, indicating a spam filter block. Has anyone seen this before, and is there anything I can do on my end in Marketo to help with this?

[Josh_Hill13]

So you've confirmed that the Invitation reaches the person's inbox?

Delivered in Marketo does not inherently mean inbox delivery or that the server even really got the message.

Do you use a different domain or From Name/Address for each email?

Do you use the same IP#?

Are you sending Confirmations to people who have unsubscribed in the past? Or marked you as Junk on their end?

It could be that if the messages are TOO similar and they are sent in a short time period that their server thinks you are sending spam. Hard to know for sure.

Are you on any blacklists?

[Jeff_Smith3]

Hi Josh,

Yes, the person registered for the event through the invite email that they received.

No, the from name/address is identical in both emails.

Can you explain what you mean by using the same IP#? I'm guessing the answer to that is yes, but I want to make sure I'm understanding completely.

No, the confirmation only goes to those records who complete the form for that event. It is operational, though, so an unsubscribed person could receive the confirmation. However, the people in question are subscribed.

I don't believe we're on any blacklists right now. We haven't received a notice about that in a long time, and remediation is always done right after the fact. Email deliverability rates hover around 95%+.

I'm wondering if the "too many emails in too short a space" is the right answer. Again, the number of people who mention this is small, but it's somewhat consistent.

[Valerie_Whitin2]

I ran into a similar issue several years ago where any sort of confirmation or download emails we were sending after form fills would "bounce" for everyone, but it was never actually even being sent. I'm not sure if this is the same issue or not, but we had to go around and around with Marketo Support for several months looking for a fix. It got to the point that every time someone registered for an event or downloaded a paper we would trigger an alert to our intern who would then individually send the follow-ip emails...it was fun with a capital F!! I left that company before it was ever officially fixed so I'm not sure what the solution or reasoning behind that ever was, but it may be worth opening a ticket. I hope it isn't the same issue and it is a simple fix for you though, Jeff Smith​!

[Jeff_Smith3]

Thanks for those details! I don't think our issue is as bad as that sounds...thank goodness!

[Nicholas_Manojl]

does the confirmation email have a link to unsubscribe? it should be in the format {{system.unsubscribeLink}}.

It is non-negotiable to include this, even if the email is operational.

Does your confirmation email have all formatting cleared? Something in the template suggesting the email is in another language?

[Jeff_Smith3]

I believe the system unsubscribe won't append to the bottom of an email if is sent as operational...am I wrong on that? However, the actual email template itself DOES have the unsubscribe on it, too, so even if the system token doesn't show up, the link is still available. I'm not sure about the formatting being cleared. Nothing in the template indicates another language.

[Nicholas_Manojl]

Do you normally see Marketo append the unsubscribe link to your email even when you have an unsubscribe link?

[Jeff_Smith3]

Yes, the system unsubscribe token will append to the emails regardless of the links (unsubscribe or otherwise) that you have in your template. As such, we technically have two unsubscribe links on every email, except operational emails which only have the one.

[Nicholas_Manojl]

No, the system appended link only comes in when it doesn't detect there is an unsubscribe link. Ergo, the unsubscribe link you have has an issue that you can correct.

The link should be {{system.unsubscribeLink}} - it will resolve to http://pages.xyz.com/UnsubscribePage.html.