Bounce error messages 550, 5.7.1 and 554 indicate various reasons for email delivery failure, primarily stemming from issues with the recipient's address, sender's reputation, authentication problems, policy violations, or spam-related content. The root causes span from invalid recipient addresses and blocked IPs to content triggers and authentication failures. Resolving these requires verifying recipient addresses, cleaning email lists, improving sender reputation, reviewing email content, ensuring proper authentication (DKIM), contacting ESPs or the recipient's administrator, and investigating potential blocklisting issues.
9 marketer opinions
Bounce error messages 550 and 554 indicate that an email has not been delivered to the recipient. These errors are generally considered permanent failures, meaning the receiving server could not or would not accept the message. Common reasons include invalid recipient addresses, policy blocks, spam filtering, sender blacklisting, content filtering, or security policy violations. Resolutions involve verifying the recipient's email address, cleaning your email list, improving sender reputation, reviewing email content, contacting the recipient to whitelist the sender, or contacting the postmaster.
Marketer view
Email marketer from EmailToolTester says 550 and 554 error codes mean the email was blocked by the recipient's server. Check to make sure you're not sending spam-like content and that the recipient's address is correct.
25 Jan 2025 - EmailToolTester
Marketer view
Email marketer from SparkPost says 550 errors mean that the message wasn't delivered because the destination mailbox was invalid or the user doesn't have permission to receive messages. They advise handling these failures and removing the email addresses to improve deliverability.
10 May 2022 - SparkPost
4 expert opinions
Bounce error messages, including 550 errors, often indicate issues related to spam/reputation blocking, problems with the sending IP address (especially if using a shared IP like Amazon's), or failures in email authentication (like DKIM). The primary resolutions involve contacting your Email Service Provider (ESP) or Amazon if on a shared IP, ensuring proper email authentication setup, and investigating your sending infrastructure for blocklisting or other deliverability issues.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks explains the bounce messages indicate spam/reputation blocking, and the receiving ISP likely doesn't want the mail. Because Megan is not the ESP, she should contact her ESP to get more information.
6 Jul 2024 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that since Megan is on a shared Amazon IP, the issue is likely with Amazon's IP reputation and recommends that Megan contact Amazon.
28 Oct 2021 - Email Geeks
5 technical articles
The 550 5.7.1 and 554 bounce error messages generally indicate email delivery issues stemming from various causes. 550 errors can signify problems with the recipient's email address (non-existent or unavailable) or delivery policy violations, potentially due to sender authorization issues or policy non-compliance. 554 errors suggest rejection due to security policies, possibly related to local blocklists or content-based blocks. Resolving these issues often involves contacting the recipient's email administrator or the sender's email service provider for investigation, verifying email addresses, and reviewing relevant documentation to understand specific filtering rules.
Technical article
Documentation from Microsoft Learn explains that the 550 5.7.1 error indicates a general delivery issue, often due to sender IP address being blocked or a problem with the sender's email authentication. Resolution involves contacting the recipient's email administrator or the sender's email service provider to investigate and resolve the blocking or authentication issue.
13 Apr 2024 - Microsoft Learn
Technical article
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help indicates that a 550 error can mean that there is a problem with the recipient's email address. Google suggests you contact them by phone to confirm the address and check if they are rejecting your emails, or contact the domain host to confirm if the domain is accepting emails.
10 Dec 2021 - Google Workspace Admin Help
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