An international bounce is still a bounce

Answer An international bounce is still a bounce. RFC 6533 specifies internationalized delivery status notifications and disposition notifications. The work is to let those notices carry addresses and related text that do not fit in the older ASCII-only forms. A failure of an internationalized address is still a failure. If the notice cannot name the address you mailed, you cannot suppress the right row, and you will mail the failure again.

The note that started this: RFC 6533, Internationalized Delivery Status and Disposition Notifications, RFC 6533.

Suppression is the least glamorous part of a solo ad and the part that keeps the second send from being stupid. You remove the addresses that bounced, and you remove the people who complained. The removal is a match between the notice and the file. If you are paying solo ad pricing for a list with non-ASCII addresses, ask to see one real bounce from a test. The address in the bounce should be the address you sent. A row of question marks is not a match.

This document is not the same fact as a header that displays a name, and it is not the same fact as a read receipt. Names in headers are about what a person sees. A disposition notice is about a status after the fact. A delivery status notice is about whether the message was delivered. Internationalization here means those notices must be able to talk about the real address. A seller who says they support international mail and then shows you an ASCII-only bounce report has supported the send and abandoned the cleanup.

What is an internationalized delivery status notice?

RFC 6533 specifies how delivery status notices and disposition notices can carry internationalized addresses. A bounce of that kind is still a bounce. The format exists so the notice can name the address that failed.

A delivery status notice is the classic bounce, a message about a message that did not make it, or that made it only as far as a defined status. A disposition notice is a different report, about what a recipient's system did after delivery. Both needed a way to survive contact with internationalized addresses. The specification is that way. It does not guarantee any particular provider sends you either notice. It tells you what a notice should be able to contain when the address requires it.

You do not need the field layout to buy mail. You need the outcome. Open the notice. Find the recipient. Compare it, character for character, with the row in the file. If your tools cannot even display the comparison, your tools are not ready for the file, and the seller's assurance will not repair your database.

• A sample bounce shows the original address intact.
• Suppression is a match on that address, not a guess.
• Disposition notices are not counted as clicks.
• The seller does not drop non-ASCII rows and call it hygiene.

Why does the address inside the bounce matter?

Because suppression is a match. If the notice strips or mangles the address, you cannot be sure which row to stop mailing. Ask the seller to show a bounce that still contains the address from the file.

Mangling has a cost that compounds. The first send fails. The notice comes back without a usable address. The row stays in the file. The second send fails again, and a provider that was patient becomes a provider with a memory. The memory is about you, or about the seller's domain, which is also you for the hour you rented it. A buyer who never looks at bounces is renting that memory blind.

Ask who processes the notices. If the seller suppresses on their side, ask for the count and a sample. If you are supposed to suppress on your side, ask for the raw notice, not a spreadsheet that already lost the characters. A spreadsheet is a fine summary after the match. It is a poor original.

Is a bounce the same as a complaint or a click?

No. A bounce reports that delivery failed, or that a status was generated. A complaint is a person rejecting the mail. A click is a request to a link. Keep the three counts apart, including when the address is internationalized.

International characters do not merge the categories. A failed delivery is still not a person who hated the offer. A person who hated the offer may never bounce. A click is still a request, and it should hit a link you control, in a form the address's script does not break. Test the link on a page that can be reached from a mailbox using that address. A landing page that dies on the first non-ASCII referrer has wasted the send you just learned how to measure.

RFC 6533 keeps the failure report honest about the address. Honest reports are how a list gets smaller in the right places. An international bounce is still a bounce. Read it, match it, and stop mailing the row you can finally name.