1. Booking Platform
  2. Usage guides
  3. Using account configuration tools
  4. Using email notifications

How to resolve bounced email notifications

Updated

You can review and resolve bounced email notifications in several ways.

Read further to learn what an email bounce is, how to be notified of bounced email notifications, resolve bounced email notifications, or find answers to frequently asked questions.

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What is a bounced email?

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Have your customers noticed they're not receiving booking email notifications? If so, the email notification may have bounced.

What is a bounced email? A bounced email is rejected and not delivered by the recipient's mail server.

Email can be permanently rejected (hard bounce) or temporarily rejected (soft bounce).

Email bounces can occur if you add an incorrect customer email address to a booking, the customer has exceeded their email quota, or the customer has marked incoming emails as spam.

 

Getting notified of bounced email notifications

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There are several ways to check whether email notifications to recipients have bounced.

 

Look for a warning posted within the booking invoice

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Follow these steps to review a bounced email notification in a booking invoice:

  1. Go to the active booking invoice you want to review, e.g., from the Booking Index.
  2. View the warning at the top of the Invoice tab if the associated email notification bounces.

    Booking invoice page showing red notification message at the top indicating that booking emails to the customer’s address have bounced.
     

Look for an entry within the booking invoice log

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Follow these steps to review a bounced email notification in a booking invoice log:

  1. Go to the active booking invoice you want to review, e.g., from your Booking Index.
  2. View the entry in the Log tab if the associated email notification bounces.

    Booking log tab with arrow pointing to email bounce entry showing source, class, event, and detailed bounce message.

 

Look for an entry within the account activity report

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Follow these steps to review a bounced email notification in the account activity report:

  1. Go to the Account Activity report (Analytics > Account Activity).
  2. Open the Log filter dropdown menu and select Email Bounces to show email bounce log entries. The report automatically updates to show only the selected log entries.

    Account Activity log filter menu open with arrow pointing to
     
  3. View the entry that displays if an associated email notification bounces.

    Account Activity report filtered to show email bounce entries, listing date, source, class, event, ID, and detailed bounce messages.

 

Receive notifications of bounced email

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Follow these steps to be notified at your staff account email address if a future notification email bounces:

  1. Go to the Configuration area (Account > Setup > Configuration).
  2. Enable the Receive notifications of bounced booking emails option and save the change.

    System Defaults configuration page with arrow pointing to the checkbox option for receiving notifications of bounced booking emails.
     

Resolving bounced email notifications

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Postmark, the email software we use to send email notifications, also tracks sent and received emails. If a bounce occurs, Postmark prevents further email notifications from being sent to that recipient until the bounce is resolved and the email address is reactivated (where possible with soft bounces).

Resolving the issue depends on the cause, but may involve having the customer:

  • Add your email address to their contacts so their email provider does not mark the email notifications as spam.
  • Clean up their inbox to make space for additional messages if they have exceeded their plan quota.
  • Upgrade their email plan to receive additional messages if they have exceeded their plan quota.

If you resolve the bounce issue, you can contact Technical Support to request reactivation of the bounced email address in Postmark. We let you know if the reactivation is successful.

 

Callout icon of a triangle with an exclamation mark, indicating an alert or warning. If email address reactivation is not possible (hard bounce), you need to work with the recipient to resolve the issue. For example, have them provide you with an alternative email address.
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Frequently asked questions

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Where can I quickly find this feature using the menu?

  • Booking > Booking Index > Booking Invoice
  • Analytics > Account Activity > Receive notifications of bounced booking emails 
  • Account > Set Up > Configuration > Email bounce logs

What permissions do I need to use this feature?

  • Admin permissions or restricted permissions to View all reports.