What is a bounced email? A bounced email, or bounce, is any email message returned to the sender's email after being unrecognized and rejected by the recipient's email server. If you are a QualityNet Mailer List Admin, you will receive email notifications when an email address is unrecognized and a message has bounced. Why do bounces occur in QualityNet Mailer? Bounces happen in all email-based systems. The occur for various reasons and are classified as either: - Soft Bounces – happen when the email is too large, the recipient's mailbox is full, or their account is temporarily suspended.
- Hard Bounces – happen when the recipient's email address is not valid, contains a typo, or the domain doesn't exist.
What are bounce scores in QualityNet Mailer? Every member has a bounce score, which starts at zero, and increases by 0.5 for soft bounces and 1 for hard bounces. A member's bounce score will only increase once per day, so no matter the number of soft or hard bounces, their score will only increase by 0.5 or 1 point each day. If the system cannot determine whether it's a soft or hard bounce, it will be counted as hard. What are bounce thresholds in QualityNet Mailer? Each list has a threshold for bounces, limiting the number of bounces throughout a designated number of days a member can trigger before their account is disabled. The default threshold is a bounce score of 5 over the course of 7 days. Can I change the bounce threshold for my lists? Yes, the bounce threshold is unique to each specific list, and the List Administrator can request an increase or decrease to best accommodate their publishing frequency. Please contact ServiceCenterSOS@cms.hhs.gov to request any changes. What happens when a subscriber's bounce score exceeds the bounce threshold? After a subscriber's bounce score has crossed the bounce threshold, their subscription will be disabled but they remain members of the list. If an email address is bouncing enough for the account to become disabled, it is likely they will not be receiving other notifications from QualityNet Mailer, either. Once disabled, there is a period of time the system will attempt to send warnings (default of once a week for 3 weeks = 21 days total). After this period of time the user will be removed from the list entirely. List Administrators will receive notifications and can notify members of bounces and disabled accounts. If a subscriber has any concerns that they might be suspended, they should contact their List Administrator, or if they cannot find the List Administrator's contact information, they should contact Service Center SOS at ServiceCenterSOS@cms.hhs.gov. Once confirmed as suspended, a subscriber can unsubscribe and resubscribe to the list to rejoin. Still, it's essential that they follow the whitelisting protocol first and ensure they have addressed any issues from their email server that may be causing the bounces. What steps can I perform to try and eliminate bounces from happening in the first place? There are three steps a subscriber can do to help eliminate bounces. Before you begin these steps, always first verify whether the QualityNet Mailer notification is in your spam or junk folder. Step 1: Subscriber whitelists the QualityNet Mailer domain The first step towards eliminating unnecessary bounces is to ensure all subscribers have whitelisted the QualityNet Mailer domain: mailer.qualitynet.org. This can be done by adding the domain name to the email provider's contacts/address book/safe senders list. Depending on the email provider, there are different steps, but it generally requires adding the domain and marking it either as a safe sender or not as spam. Please check with your email service provider for additional details. Step 2: Verify whitelisting at the email server level The second step is for the subscriber to verify with their IT Department that mailer.qualitynet.org is whitelisted by their email server. Step 3: Verify the domain is not blacklisted The final step is for the subscriber to verify with their IT Department that the mailer.qualitynet.org is not blacklisted by their email server.
What if I verify each of the Bounce verification steps, and the subscriber is still not receiving notifications? If a subscriber has confirmed each of the three (3) steps identified for whitelisting and verification and is still encountering bounced notification issues, please contact Service Center SOS by phone at 1-866-288-8914, Slack at #help-service-center-sos, or by email at ServiceCenterSOS@cms.hhs.gov. As a List Administrator, what actions should I consider taking if I receive a bounce notification for one of my subscribers? The List Administrator should notify the subscriber and confirm they have followed the three steps described above. If the domain is whitelisted and not blacklisted, please contact Service Center SOS by phone at 1-866-288-8914, Slack at #help-service-center-sos, or by email at ServiceCenterSOS@cms.hhs.gov for more assistance. | 
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