For every message handled by Flowmailer, the platform generates a report. This includes basic email data (source, sender, recipient, etc.), a timeline of events (see: message states), and an archived version of the email when applicable. The message report gives you all the tools you need to know exactly what happened to a message that's gone missing or hard-bounced. A message report looks like this:
There are different Message states:
- Attempt
- Clicked
- Complaint
- Custom
- Delivered
- Discarded
- Error
- Hard Bounce
- List of bounceSubType
- Opened
- Processed
- Rejected
- Resumed
- Resubmitted
- Re-sent
- Soft Bounce
- Submitted
- Suspended
Attempt
API STATUS: ATTEMPT
Flowmailer has attempted to deliver the message but failed to do so for technical reasons. Common reasons are congestion and outages of the receiving server, or deliberate greylisting forces at least a second delivery attempt. Flowmailer will retry delivery for 24 hours. If delivery continues to fail after that, delivery will be halted and a soft bounce will be generated.
Clicked
API STATUS: CLICKED
Adding Click Tracking means that any link in the email is (where possible) rewritten to contain a unique code. Should the recipient click such a link, Flowmailer can register this event. A Click makes it very likely that the recipient has seen the message. Please note that others with access to the message (such as administrators or certain automated processes) can theoretically trigger the Clicked status.
Complaint
API STATUS: COMPLAINT
A large number of email providers (such as Yahoo and Microsoft) offer their users the option of marking a sender (not a message!) as unwanted or spam. From that moment on, messages from that sender will be classified as spam. This means they may not even reach the inbox.
Thanks to what is called a Feedback loop, SendPro is notified whenever a recipient marks a sender as unwanted. Any future messages to that recipient will be considered spammy behavior. To avoid this, a Complaint is always added to the Recipient Filter (see Rejected).
The Complaint mechanism is not always used as intended. We often see that users are unaware of the consequences of marking a sender as unwanted. In other cases, the mechanism is used to signal discontent. If the sender and the recipient both agree that the emails are no longer unwanted, both parties have to act. The recipient should drag an ‘unwanted’ message to their inbox (signaling that the Complaint can be lifted). The sender has to remove the recipients’ addresses from the Recipient Filter.
Custom
API STATUS: CUSTOM
You can use our REST API to log and later retrieve custom events with messages, containing any data (even binary). Examples include image data of a recipient's signature or data generated from external events resulting from the sent message.
Delivered
API STATUS: DELIVERED
The receiving server has confirmed that the message has been fully received. As spam filtering may yet take place, this is not a guarantee that the message will be placed in the recipients inbox. Should the message be marked as spam at this point, there will often not be a bounce. In this case the message will only appear to be Delivered.
Discarded
API STATUS: DISCARD
As a result of a setting or a Flowstep, the message has not been delivered. This is almost always the result of a deliberate setting, not an error.
Error
API STATUS: ERROR
When the handling of your message in Flowmailer fails, an error is shown in a message's timeline. Errors are often caused by missing variables or similar reasons Flowmailer cannot handle your message correctly. Sometimes an error is an expected response, as Flowmailer users want their emails to throw an error when missing data. Errors are shown in the top right corner of the Flowmailer platform. This can also be shown through an API request.
In the 'Report' menu > 'Held messages' you can find all the messages that the Flowmailer platform has processed but caused an error.
When an email produces an error, the message timeline will look similar to this:
Hard bounce
API: HARDBOUNCE
A hard bounce indicates that not only did the message not arrive – it is also very likely that subsequent messages to the same address will also not arrive. This usually means that the email address or even the domain itself is non-existent. An address with a hard bounce is added to the Recipient Filter (see Rejected).
List of bounceSubType
When an email bounces, it generates a bounce message. Part of this bounce message is the bounce type, soft or hard. As reasons for bounces vary, Spotler SendPro attempts to qualify the reason for the bounce better using bounceSubTypes. These types are subject to change, so please don't use them to build event flows or any key processes. Examples of the subtypes are:
access-denied
auth-required
blacklisted
config-error
connection-error
content-related
domain-unknown
mailbox-disabled
mailbox-full
mailbox-temp-disabled
mailbox-temp-error
mailbox-unknown
message-error
message-expired
message-size
personal-blacklist
Read more about why recipients mark your emails as SPAM
relay-denied
routing-error
routing-loop
sender-denied
service-unavailable
spf-failure
Read more about SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
system-error
unknown
Opened
API STATUS: OPENED
Adding open tracking places an invisible image in the message. If the recipient loads the images from the message, Flowmailer registers this event. Rare exceptions notwithstanding, status Opened means that the recipient has -in all likelihood- opened the message. Please note that the absence of an Opened status does not mean the message has not been opened. Also, be aware that others with access to the message (such as administrators or certain automated processes) can theoretically trigger the Opened status.
Processed
API STATUS: PROCESSED
The message has been processed but has not yet been delivered. It’s possible the message is still in the queue for the receiving server.
Rejected
API STATUS: REJECT
Message state 'rejected' means SendPro refuses to send the email. The reason for this is always because the recipient has been placed on the Recipient Filter. This filter keeps track of email addresses that have marked your emails as SPAM, or the address itself does not exist.
Sometimes a message is marked as unwanted / spam, or a recipient address does not exist. In these cases, receiving servers expect professional senders to stop sending messages. Failure to do so may lead to spam filtering or even blacklisting. To avoid such consequences, SendPro adds such addresses to the Recipient Filter. Any future messages to an address on the filter will not be sent (status Rejected).
Resumed
API STATUS: RESUMED
SendPro will then try to process the email from the exact point where it resulted in an error. After an error response, SendPro users can retry to send the message.
Resubmitted
API STATUS: RESUBMITTED
The resubmitted status means the message is re-introduced to Flowmailer as a result of the Resubmit Message FlowStep.
Re-sent
API STATUS: RESENT
As a result of resending a message, the re-sent status is shown. Resending a message allows the Flowmailer user to resend an exact copy of the original (archived) email to a recipient.
Soft Bounce
API STATUS: SOFTBOUNCE
The message was not delivered for temporary reasons, or reasons unique to the message. For example, if the contents of the message were considered spam, the receiving server was unavailable for an extended period of time, or if the recipients mailbox was full. Subsequent messages to the same address could still arrive.
Submitted
TIMLINE: SUBMITTED
Once a message is handed over to Flowmailer, the submitted status is shown. From there on, Flowmailer will process the message. Messages can only be submitted by sources outside Flowmailer or the Redirect FlowStep within Flowmailer.
Suspended
API STATUS: SUSPENDED
The message has been (partially) processed. It has been scheduled for future processing and delivery.