Summary
When a domain is sold or expires, such as love.com, emails sent to those addresses will bounce, often with a '550 5.1.1' error or a Non-Delivery Report (NDR). This is a permanent failure indicated by SMTP 5xx errors. These are classified as hard bounces, signaling that the email addresses are no longer valid. Email marketers and experts agree that it's critical to have a robust process for monitoring and removing these invalid addresses from your email lists. Continuing to send emails to these addresses can severely damage your sender reputation, leading to deliverability issues and potential blacklisting. Maintaining a clean and engaged email list through regular cleaning and validation practices is essential for preventing spam complaints and protecting your sender reputation.
Key findings
- Bounces & NDRs: Emails to sold/expired domains result in bounces or NDRs.
- 5xx Errors: SMTP 5xx errors indicate permanent delivery failures.
- Hard Bounces Identified: These bounces are classified as hard bounces.
- Reputation Damage: Sending emails to invalid addresses damages sender reputation.
Key considerations
- Regular Cleaning: Regularly clean email lists and remove invalid addresses.
- Monitoring Processes: Implement robust processes for monitoring bounces.
- Prompt Removal: Immediately remove hard bounces from email lists.
- Validation: Verify accuracy of old or purchased email lists before sending.
What email marketers say
9 marketer opinions
When a domain like love.com is sold, emails sent to that domain will typically bounce, generating a non-delivery report (NDR). Continuing to send emails to these addresses negatively impacts your sender reputation and deliverability. Cleaning your email list by removing invalid or inactive email addresses, including those from sold or expired domains, is crucial. Monitoring bounces and ensuring your email lists are accurate helps to prevent potential spam complaints and maintain good email list health.
Key opinions
- Bounces: Emails sent to sold or expired domains bounce back to the sender.
- Sender Reputation: Sending emails to invalid addresses damages your sender reputation.
- Deliverability: Poor sender reputation results in deliverability issues.
- List Health: Bounced emails are a key indicator of email list health.
Key considerations
- List Cleaning: Regularly clean email lists to remove invalid or inactive addresses.
- Bounce Monitoring: Monitor bounces and remove hard bounces immediately.
- Accuracy Verification: Verify the accuracy of purchased or old email lists before sending.
- Reputation Maintenance: Maintaining a clean and engaged email list is vital for protecting sender reputation.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum warns against sending emails to purchased lists or very old lists without verifying their accuracy. Domains can change hands, and previously valid addresses can become invalid, leading to bounces and potential spam complaints.
1 Apr 2022 - Email Marketing Forum
Marketer view
Email marketer from SuperOffice emphasizes the importance of cleaning your email lists regularly to remove invalid or inactive email addresses. This includes addresses from domains that may have been sold or abandoned, as sending to these addresses hurts your reputation.
6 May 2024 - SuperOffice
What the experts say
3 expert opinions
When a domain like love.com is sold or expires, email experts confirm that the associated email addresses become inactive, leading to bounces. Email senders must monitor for these bounces and remove the invalid email addresses from their lists to avoid negatively impacting their sender reputation. There's a risk that emails could be rejected or even received by spammers, emphasizing the need for robust bounce handling processes.
Key opinions
- Inactive Emails: Emails to sold/expired domains become inactive.
- Bounces Occur: Emails sent to inactive domains are likely to bounce.
- Spam Risk: Mail could be received and processed by spammers.
Key considerations
- Bounce Monitoring: Monitor for bounces and remove invalid addresses.
- Reputation Protection: Handle bounces to avoid impacting sender reputation.
- Robust Process: Ensure a robust process for handling bounces.
Expert view
Expert from Wordtothewise.com explains that once a domain is no longer active, emails sent to that domain are likely to bounce. Senders need to ensure they have processes to handle bounces so they are not negatively impacting their sender reputation.
18 Feb 2024 - Wordtothewise.com
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks confirms that love.com emails are dead and will write a blog post about it.
20 Oct 2024 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
5 technical articles
Official documentation confirms that emails sent to domains that are no longer valid (e.g., sold domains like love.com) result in bounce messages or Non-Delivery Reports (NDRs) for the sender. The SMTP protocol uses 5xx error codes to indicate permanent failures. These are considered hard bounces and should be removed from email lists immediately to maintain good deliverability and prevent blacklisting.
Key findings
- Bounce Messages: Invalid domains trigger bounce messages/NDRs.
- Permanent Failure: SMTP 5xx errors indicate permanent failures.
- Hard Bounces: Emails to sold domains are considered hard bounces.
Key considerations
- Immediate Removal: Remove hard bounces from email lists promptly.
- Deliverability: Managing bounces is critical for deliverability.
- Blacklisting: Continuous sending can cause blacklisting.
Technical article
Documentation from SparkPost states that emails sent to inactive or invalid domains will result in bounces. Managing these bounces and suppressing those addresses is critical for maintaining good deliverability. Continuously sending to them can cause blacklisting.
18 May 2022 - SparkPost
Technical article
Documentation from DigitalOcean defines hard bounces as permanent delivery failures, often due to invalid email addresses or non-existent domains. Emails sent to love.com after domain sale would likely result in hard bounces. These should be removed from your list immediately.
6 May 2023 - DigitalOcean
Are claims of 90 million email 'protestors' who do more than mark as spam accurate, and do ESPs sell data?
Can I email a competitor's customer list if they went out of business and gave it to me?
How can I protect my domain from being spoofed and blacklisted?
How can I report fraudulent emails and domains to Spamhaus and other relevant organizations?
How can you identify the source of unsolicited emails and prevent data leaks?
