| Mailchimp | |
|---|---|
| Their stated threshold | Mailchimp's terms require you to keep bounces and abuse complaints low and reserve the right to suspend accounts that do not. They act well before a rate most senders would consider alarming. |
| What happens if you cross it | Accounts get suspended rather than warned. Mailchimp's compliance team reviews the account, sending stops, and reinstatement means explaining where the list came from. Import a purchased list and this happens on the first campaign. |
| Where the bounce data lives | Reports, then the campaign, then Bounced in the activity breakdown. Audience, then Manage contacts, then Cleaned shows every address Mailchimp removed for you. |
| How bounces are classified | Mailchimp calls hard-bounced addresses Cleaned and removes them from the audience automatically. Soft bounces are retried and become Cleaned after several consecutive failures. |
Bringing the rate down
Each step is an action inside Mailchimp, in the order worth taking them.
Open the Cleaned list and read the pattern
Audience, Manage contacts, Cleaned. Sort by the date they were cleaned and check whether they arrived in one import. A cluster from one signup source names your problem in a minute.
Archive rather than delete the rest of that import
Archiving keeps the record and stops the contact counting toward your billed total. Deleting loses the evidence of where the addresses came from.
Turn on double opt-in for the signup form
Audience, Signup forms, Settings. It reduces list growth and eliminates the typo and fake-address problem at source, which is where Mailchimp's compliance team looks first.
Split the next campaign by import batch
Send to your oldest engaged segment first. If bounce rates differ sharply between batches, you have confirmed the source rather than guessed at it.
Verify anything you import from now on
Mailchimp does not check addresses at import. The first time an invalid address is tested is when you send to it, and that test is charged to your reputation.
The mistake people make here
A bounce report mixes two causes that need opposite responses: addresses that do not exist, and receivers refusing mail they could have delivered. The first is fixed by checking the list. The second is a sending problem and no amount of cleaning will move it.
Questions people ask
Will Mailchimp suspend my account for bounces?
Yes, it happens. Their terms let them suspend for high bounce and complaint rates, and their compliance team acts on the first campaign from a purchased list rather than waiting for a trend.
What does Cleaned mean in Mailchimp?
An address Mailchimp removed from your audience because it hard bounced, or soft bounced several times in a row. They stop sending to it automatically and you cannot re-add it.
Does a cleaned contact still cost me money?
No. Cleaned contacts are not billed. Archived and subscribed contacts are, which is why archiving a dead segment is the cheaper move.