How to Handle Email Bounces in Salesforce or HubSpot

Mar 14, 2025

You are going to start a fantastic email campaign. After crafting the ideal message and verifying your audience, you push send, and boom! Emails from you bounce back like a boomerang.

Frustrating? Yes. Is it unrepairable?

No! HubSpot bounce management and Salesforce email bounce handling help prevent your CRM from becoming a ghost town. Let's get started and make sure your emails end up in the right place!

Email bounce

It usually happens when the email that you sent failed to reach the recipient due to an incorrect email address, a full inbox, or a strict mail server. Generally, bounces are divided into:

Hard Bounces: Permanent error caused due to invalid or non-existent email address

Soft Bounces: Temporary error caused due to full mailbox or down server.

Knowing the bounce reason codes in your CRM will help you identify the problem and address it.

"Your CRM is only as good as the data it holds. Keeping bad emails in your list is like watering a dead plant—pointless." – Anonymous Marketing Guru

Salesforce Email Handling

The following are some tips for efficiently handling email bounces if you use Salesforce:

1. Activate Bounce Management

Ensure whether your bounce reason codes are visible on contact records as salesforce does not have in-built email bounce tracking.

2. Bounce Processing Automation

Bounced contacts can be automatically flagged and removed from active email lists using automation rules.

3. Implement Re-Engagement Workflows

To determine whether the bounce was an error or a transient problem, start a re-engagement workflow before deleting a contact entirely.

4. Consistently Clean Your CRM List

CRM list cleaning should be done on a regular basis to remove invalid emails. Your sender reputation might be harmed by poor list hygiene!

"Ignoring bounced emails is like ignoring smoke from a fire alarm—you’ll regret it soon enough." – A Wise Email Marketer

HubSpot Bounce Management: Maintain the Health of Your Lists

Although it's a little different, handling bounces in HubSpot is just as important.

1. Make use of Bounce Tracking on HubSpot

HubSpot automatically distinguishes between soft and hard bounces. Keep an eye on these reports to identify patterns.

2. Struggling with sync errors?

Unnecessary bounces may result from HubSpot and your email service not syncing. Look for sync errors and fix the issues as soon as possible.

3. Validate Emails Before Sending

Use email verification tools to minimize bounces before they even happen.

How a Startup Turned Bounces into Wins

An email campaign was previously sent to 50,000 leads by a rapidly expanding SaaS business. At first, their bounce rate hit 22%—a potential disaster! But instead of panicking, they took action:

They cleaned their CRM list and removed outdated emails.
They analyzed bounce reason codes to fix deliverability issues.
They used automation rules to suppress invalid contacts.

The result? Their next campaign saw a 98% delivery rate and a 30% boost in engagement. A perfect example of how proactive email management pays off!

Conclusion

Email bounces might seem like a nuisance, but they’re actually your CRM’s way of waving a red flag! Instead of dreading them, use Salesforce email bounce handling and HubSpot bounce management to take control.

A well-maintained CRM ensures fewer bounces, better engagement, and a stellar sender reputation. Implement CRM email integration to track bounce reason codes, automate list cleaning, and optimize email deliverability.

Think of it this way—would you rather keep emailing ghosts or focus on engaged, real contacts? The choice is yours, but trust us, a clean email list means higher conversions, happier recipients, and a boss who actually smiles when checking campaign reports!