What is Bounce Handling?
When an email cannot be delivered to a recipient, the email server returns a “bounce” notification. QuillCRM Pro automatically captures these notifications and updates your contact records accordingly, preventing future delivery attempts to invalid addresses.
Why is it Important?
| Benefit | Description |
|---|---|
| Protect Sender Reputation | High bounce rates can damage your domain’s reputation with ISPs |
| Improve Deliverability | Clean lists lead to better inbox placement |
| Save Resources | Stop wasting resources sending to invalid addresses |
| Compliance | Maintain list hygiene for email marketing best practices |
Prerequisites
Before setting up bounce handling, ensure you have:
- QuillCRM Pro activated
- An account with a supported email service provider
- Admin access to your email provider’s dashboard
- Your WordPress site accessible via HTTPS (recommended)
Understanding Bounces
Types of Bounces
| Type | Description | Action Taken |
|---|---|---|
| Hard Bounce | Permanent delivery failure (invalid email, domain doesn’t exist) | Contact immediately marked as “Bounced” |
| Soft Bounce | Temporary delivery failure (mailbox full, server down) | Tracked; converted to hard bounce after 3 occurrences |
Soft Bounce Threshold
By default, QuillCRM converts a soft bounce to a hard bounce after 3 consecutive soft bounces.
Webhook URL Format
QuillCRM Pro uses a permalink-independent webhook URL format that works regardless of your WordPress permalink settings:
https://yoursite.com/\?quillcrm_webhook\=bounce\&\;provider\=PROVIDER_SLUG\&\;key\=YOUR_SECURITY_KEY\\You can find your provider-specific webhook URL in QuillCRM → Settings → SMTP → Bounce Handling. Each provider has a unique URL with a security key that authenticates incoming webhook requests.
Note: Legacy REST API URLs (/wp-json/qc/v1/webhooks/bounce/...) are still supported for backward compatibility, but we recommend using the new query-parameter format for better reliability across different permalink configurations.
Supported Providers
QuillCRM Pro supports bounce handling from the following email service providers:
| Provider | Bounce Events Tracked |
|---|---|
| Amazon SES | Hard bounce, Soft bounce (via SNS notifications) |
| Brevo (Sendinblue) | Hard bounce, Soft bounce, Blocked, Invalid email |
| Elastic Email | Bounced, Hard bounce, Soft bounce, Blocked, Rejected, Error |
| Mailgun | Bounced, Failed, Complained, Unsubscribed |
| Netcore Email API (Pepipost) | Hard bounce, Soft bounce |
| Postal | Message bounced, Delivery failed, Message delayed |
| Postmark | Hard bounce, Soft bounce (TypeCode-based classification) |
| SendGrid | Bounce, Dropped, Blocked |
| SMTP2GO | Bounce, Hard bounce, Soft bounce, Blocked, Reject |
| SparkPost | Bounce, Out of Band (bounce class-based classification) |