Send, delivery, open, bounce and complaint statuses
Interpret recipient-level technical feedback and choose the right action for each failure.
Updated
In short
Email status progresses per recipient. **Sent** confirms handoff to the email service, **Delivered** acceptance by the remote server, and **Opened** a read signal when the client permits it. **Soft bounce** is temporary failure, **Hard bounce** a persistently invalid address, and **Complaint** a spam report. None of these proves payment.
Expected result
You distinguish success, incomplete signal, and permanent failure, then correct only the contact that needs it.
Before you start
- Open communication recipient details.
- Always compare status with its timestamp.
Procedure
- Read the latest event for each address rather than a simplified global status.
- For Delivered or Opened, keep the contact and analyze replies separately.
- For Soft bounce, wait for another event or check a temporary recipient issue.
- For Hard bounce, correct or disable the address and handle the contact task.
- For Complaint, stop sending to the contact and verify legitimacy of future communication.
What Billabex does
SES feedback arrives after send and Billabex preserves its timeline. A hard bounce adds the predefined email-error tag and pauses the account; a complaint is also handled as failure requiring input.
If the result is not what you expected
- No Opened event can result from pixel blocking and does not mean unread.
- Do not immediately treat Soft bounce as a permanently false address.
- When recipients differ, act address by address rather than on the whole account.