What should we do about hard bounces?

[Anonymous]

We have a problem with hard bounces.  We typically have 4,000 hard bounces in our database.  What should we do with them?  We have been told to delete them all.  However, I have also heard that Marketo does not really distinguish between soft and hard bounces.  Thank you.

[Anonymous]

It is my understanding that you can delete leads that are "email invalid=true" not "email bounced=true"

When Marketo gets the bounce code from the recipient server, Marketo classifies the leads in one of several categories. Fields are set to "True" or "False" based on the error messages received from the server.

Following fields are set to True depending upon the error message upon bounce.
1.Email Invalid Field
2. Email Suspended

However, Bounces that are categorized as technical do not get set either email invalid or email suspended. These technical bounces are things like "mx unavailable" - basically, technical problems that cause email to be undeliverable, but do not indicate an antispam block or a bad email address. Because these bounce codes do not indicate one of these more serious types of problems, Marketo does not set any flags for these leads because the issue is likely to be resolved by the next time the lead is scheduled to receive email.

[Josh_Hill13]

You might find this helpful
http://www.slideshare.net/jdavidhill/marketo-email-reputation-management

Marketo definitely does different things with each bounces as Melanie points out. My recommendation is to first setup smart lists to capture these leads.
-Email Invalid
-Email Invalid and Hard Bounced
-Hard Bounced
-Email Bounced Soft in Past 30 days... 

Then take some steps to automatically handle these leads.

Then you can decide if you want to segregate them on Static Lists for a Suppression List or to delete them altogether. Keep in mind that such records can be both SFDC Leads and Contacts so you should choose your criteria for deletion carefully or you'll make some salesperson unhappy. You might also lose some reporting data if you delete.

[Anonymous]

Hi There, 

In answer to your question, Anne-Marie, the way Marketo handles hard bounces would merit removing those leads from your database. 

A little further to what Melanie said - Marketo definitely DOES differentiate between Hard and Soft bounces. A hard bounce will be marked as Invalid = true, and will not be marketed to again, unless you change them back to False. A soft bounce will be marked as Suspended = True, and you may notice in the Lead Info that you actually cannot change this to False. That's because when a soft bounce occurs due to a spam complaint from someone such as SpamCop, the email address cannot be marketed to for a certain period - generally 24 hours. After the 24 hour period, you will be able to market to them again, however, it will still show in the Lead Info as suspended for that period. 

If a lead is marked as Invalid, there really is no reason to keep them in your database, unless they were marked invalid for some reason other than being marked as spam. To change them back and resend to them in subsequent campaigns may be inviting trouble - and more spam complaints. Suspended emails are still very much marketable after the suspended period is over, so there is no need to delete them.