Reachability and email status

  • Updated

A customer's email status determines whether or not they are reachable.

Email status values

The Email Status attribute can have the following values:

  • Reachable (0) – A reachable email address. 
  • Malformed (2) – Not email address syntax; uses an unidentified TLD (top-level domain) or the @qq.com domain. 
  • Reported Spam (4) – Reported content as spam to their ISP. 
  • Hard Bounce (5) 

Email campaigns are only sent to customers who are reachable (email_status=0), even if that criteria is not explicitly stated in the targeting criteria.

Create a reachable segment

  1. Go to Customers > Profiles > +Segment > Create New Segment.
  2. Select Have certain attributes for Customers who.
  3. Select Email Status for Customers with attribute.
  4. Select Is Reachable (0) for Where Email Status.
  5. Click Apply or Save.

ODP displays the profiles of your reachable customers below. However, these customers are still subject to marketing consent.

Email status changes

Validation – ODP automatically validates an email address the first time it is received and when the address changes from a previous version, putting the customer into the 0 or 2 status.

Email events – You can also change email status following a customer's action:

  • event = email/action = spamreport. The email status set to 4. 
  • event = email/action = hard_bounce. The email status set to 5. 
When importing reachability events to ODP, you must use the customer's messaging identifier for which you want to update the reachability status. For example, if you want to update the reachability status for an email, you must use that email as the identifier in your reachability event. For more information about identifiers in ODP, see our developer documentation.

Manage customer subscriptions

There are two approaches to subscription management:

The email service provider (ESP) - Many email service providers provide a mechanism for customers to manage their subscription preferences. The ESP offers subscription management links where customers can opt-in and opt-out of emails. If a customer has unsubscribed, then the ESP suppresses any sends to that customer. ODP integrates with the ESP, processes unsubscribe events from the ESP, and updates the customer's email status appropriately.

Account preferences at the website or app level - Many ODP users provide customers with a native account management page where they can adjust their personal information and manage email subscriptions. You must send ODP list/unsubscribe and list/subscribe events when customers update their preferences with JavaScript or HTTP API.

You can combine these two approaches; however, ODP does not inform the ESP of a customer resubscribing. The ESP may still suppress the email.

Special considerations

Some third-party providers handle data in ways that require you to use particular policies or processes.

QQ.com

Emails to qq.com addresses are suppressed to protect your email reputation and deliverability rates. Tencent, the owner of qq.com, has a stringent email frequency/rate policy, which the vast majority of ESPs are unable to accommodate.