How do I resolve bounced email notifications?

A bounced email means your Customer didn't receive their booking notification, usually because of an invalid email address or a spam filter. This article explains what causes bounced emails in Checkfront and how to resolve them to keep your Customers informed.

Learn how to review and resolve bounced email notifications, including those logged and emailed.

Operator not receiving emails from Checkfront This article covers bounces on emails you send to your Customers (booking confirmations, notices, payment requests). If you, as an Operator, aren't receiving emails from Checkfront — such as system notifications or account emails — see the FAQ below instead.

Experiencing email notification delivery issues? Check the Postmark status page for any service disruptions. Postmark Status: Email Sending Delays

Accessing the features mentioned in this article

Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

• See the areas listed below.
   

What more do I need to use this feature?

• Admin permissions to manage notifications, receive bounced email notifications, and view reports.
   

Which Checkfront version supports this feature - classic items, classic products, or both?

• This feature is available in both our classic versions: classic items (Inventory > Items) and classic products (Inventory > Products).  → Learn more about products

What is an email notification? A notification is an email message sent to your Customers to confirm booking actions and may include a booking confirmation, notice of changes made to the booking, or a payment request.

Have your Customers noticed they're not receiving booking email notifications? If so, the email notification may have bounced.

What is a bounced email? 

• A bounced email is rejected and not delivered by the recipient's mail server. 
• An email can be permanently rejected (hard bounce) or temporarily rejected (soft bounce).
• Email bounces can occur if:
  • You have added an incorrect Customer email address to a booking
  • You have exceeded the Customer's email quota
  • The Customer has marked incoming emails as spam

Learn more from Postmark: What are bounces and spam complaints?

There are several areas in Checkfront where you can check whether recipient notifications have bounced.

A warning is displayed in the Invoice tab of a booking (Booking Invoice > Invoice) if the associated email notification bounces.

The warning clears if the booking email address is updated (Booking Invoice > Edit > Email). If a notification didn't send due to a bounce, you can retrigger it by reapplying the same status to the booking.

The bounced email is noted within the booking log (Booking Invoice > Log).

The bounced email is logged within the Account Activity report (Reports > Account Activity).

Another option is to be notified by email if a bounce occurs with the Receive notifications of bounced booking emails setting in the Configuration area (Manage > Setup > Configuration).

Once bounce notifications are enabled, and a bounce occurs, a notification email is sent to your Staff account email address.

Postmark, the email software that Checkfront uses to send email notifications, also tracks sent and received emails in the background. If a bounce occurs, Postmark prevents further email notifications from being sent to that recipient until the bounce is resolved and the email address is reactivated (where possible with soft bounces).

Resolving the issue depends on the cause, but may involve having the Customer...

• Add your email address to their contacts, so your email notifications are not marked as spam.
• Clean up their inbox to make space for additional messages if they have exceeded their plan quota.
• Upgrade their email plan to receive additional messages if they have exceeded their plan quota.

If the bounce reason is resolved, do the following to reactivate the email address:

1. Contact Technical Support and request that the bounced email address be reactivated in Postmark.
2. We will let you know if the reactivation is successful.

Email address reactivation If email address reactivation is not possible (with a hard bounce), you need to work with the recipient to resolve the issue. For example, have them provide you with an alternative email address.

Learn more about notifications For a detailed look at email notifications and our Postmark integration, check out the following articles: Introduction to email notifications Introduction to notification delivery from a custom email address via Postmark