Fail or Pass

By Julia, Deliverability Expert

A saga of bounces and deferrals

As many of you are aware, we track the amount of fails each email encounters while it is attempting to send to your list of recipients. And, as some of you can attest, this can lead to some rather overwhelming statistics.

Before we get ourselves too worked up over a few failed email sends, let’s get a better idea of what we’re dealing with.

Our system, like many others of a similar nature, recognizes 2 types of failures:

Let’s think of soft fails as ‘deferrals’ – an email can defer multiple times & still ultimately go through. These can signify an impending block or simply be how that server delivers emails with a high volume of recipients.

Some servers, such as Verizon & Comcast, slowly deliver their messages so it can actually be common for them to have thousands of soft fails without having any hard fails. In some cases, a few messages may “time out.” This is still not necessarily a hard block.

Think of it as a waiting room with hundreds of people – they are either going to wait their turn (send) or they are going to get impatient and leave (time out).

Let’s think of hard fails as ‘bounces’ – an email can only bounce once. It either signifies a bad/invalid email, a server block, or the final soft fail.

It is important to look into these errors especially. Invalid emails should ALWAYS be removed from a recipient list; Server blocks always need appropriate attention and, when necessary, mitigation; and too many soft fails that permanently bounce means that we may be sending at too high of a volume.

Oftentimes, soft fails can be used proactively while hard fails generally require us to work reactively & learning how to best respond to both is key to successful email marketing. It is crucial to have an understanding of these types of errors because the quicker we respond to factors affecting our deliverability, the less damage they are able to cause.

By Julia, Deliverability Expert

If you’ve encountered the same block multiple times, it’s possible you’ve also encountered the reality that not every block will be mitigated…no matter how nicely we ask the servers & affiliated blocklists to do so.

Trust me – if it were up to us at Campaign Nucleus to unblock you, you’d be unblocked, like, yesterday. But, unfortunately, we do not have that power so we are at the mercy of the servers when it comes to avoiding and resolving blocks.

The majority of blocklists understand that “accidents” happen & are usually reasonable and hasty when resolving blocks… the first time. With that, they start to become a bit annoyed and less responsive when we continue getting blocked and submitting request after request for resolution.

The truth of the matter is: the servers blocked you for a reason & they will continue to do so until you resolve the issue that is triggering the block.

If you are continually hitting the same block, it’s possible you may need to adjust some of your practices to ultimately fix the issue.

The servers are dominantly looking at 2 things when deciding whether to block a domain and/or IP.

1. Your audience

Ask yourself:

• Did my recipient list opt-in to receive these emails? Disinterested recipients often lead to spikes in server complaints which hurt domain/IP reputation significantly.
• How did I gather these emails? Sometimes people of opposing values intentionally submit spam trap emails to opponent newsletters to cause issues with your messages delivering. The same can be true of expired emails as they can be reverted to spam traps – be careful of emails that were gathered many years before.
• Am I engaging my audience with my copy so that they are positively responding to my emails? Recipients not engaging with emails can lead to poor reputations, as well.

1. Your content

Ask yourself:

• Am I pushing too hard on controversial topics? While we are free to speak our values, sometime being super aggressive in our content can lead to an increase in user complaints.
• Is my picture to content ratio appropriate? Too many pictures without enough text can appear “spammy” to servers.
• Do I sound like a salesperson? Using phrases that over-promise or guarantee any level of success sometimes register as “spammy” due to the likely deceitful nature of the message.

At Nucleus, we do our best to avoid the grasp of censorship & will always support your content to the fullest. With that in mind, some things are out of our control and we hope the above information will help you to navigate the difficulties that we must maneuver to find the most success in sending our emails.

For more information, visit your Nucleus Resource Library

We’re always working to make Nucleus faster, smarter, and easier to use. This month, we’re rolling out a fresh set of updates designed to give you better visibility, streamlined management, and more customization across your campaigns and CRM tools.

Here’s what’s new:

Dashboard: Countdown Widget

Keep your team on track with our new comprehensive countdown widget. You can now easily track campaign deadlines and milestones right from your dashboard — making it simple to stay organized and meet your goals on time.

Email: Smarter Sorting & Filtering

Managing your campaigns just got easier and more insightful.

Performance-Based Sorting – You can now sort campaigns by open and click rates, giving you a quick view of what’s performing best.

Repeating Status Filter – Filter email campaigns by their repeating status to manage recurring sends more efficiently.

Data Feeds Refresh Button – Instantly refresh your data feeds with one click to ensure you’re always viewing the most up-to-date campaign insights.

Export as PDF – Need a record of your sent emails? You can now download and save them as PDFs for reporting or compliance.

CRM: Gender Segmentation

Personalization just got a boost. Gender has been added as a segmentation criterion in the CRM Segment Builder, allowing for even more targeted and relevant outreach.

Memberships: Renewal Period Filtering

Simplify membership management with our new renewal period filter. You can now view and filter members based on their renewal dates — helping you track upcoming renewals and plan your outreach effortlessly.

Stay Ahead with Nucleus

These updates are all about giving you better control and smarter insights across your campaigns, contacts, and memberships. From deadline tracking to personalized segmentation, Nucleus continues to evolve with the tools you need to move faster and connect more effectively.

These updates are live now, so dive in and explore the new possibilities!

Hey there!

As you know, we at Nucleus are tirelessly innovating to create a command center platform for ALL your operations needs. Here's a quick snapshot of our biggest features that debuted in April!

 1. Email Builder

Our drag-and-drop email builder has been upgraded! Now, more than ever, you can create customized email campaigns. Add videos, menus, HTML, banners, mobile formatting, and so much more! These new functions and details will certainly boost your subscriber engagement.

2. Sign-up Alerts for events

Events are pinnacle moments for many campaigns and organizations, so we wanted to ensure your staff is always in the know. We have added alerts to our events settings to notify specified personnel about event sign-ups. Add alerts for general, VIP, or media sign-ups, and never miss a sign-alert again!

3. Spam Score

We know email marketing can be tricky, and we want you to have all the tools at your disposal. That's why we have created a new 'Spam Score' feature in email. After creating your email, go to the review page to see how your email scores and better help monitor your copy and subject lines.

 4. Domain set up

Domains are vital to your Nucleus account's functionality and can be challenging to understand. We have added set-up steps under domains for step-by-step instructions on setting up your domain in Nucleus. Fast and Simple!

Stay tuned for next month's exciting updates!