Email Webhook Failure Codes

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When an email message fails to deliver, two additional fields are included in the webhook payload:

  • failure_status_code: A numeric code identifying why a message failed to deliver.

  • is_permanent: Whether the failure is permanent or temporary.    

    • A value of true indicates a permanent failure. Only codes 1, 15, and 100 in the table below are permanent failures. We recommend suppressing the address in your system and not retrying.

    • A value of false indicates a temporary failure that may succeed on retry.

These fields appear on message_bounce, message_complaint, and message_failure events only. For non-email channels, these fields are not applicable and return null.

The table below lists all possible failure_status_code values.

failure_status_code

Name

Description

is_permanent

0

UNKNOWN

The reason for the failure could not be determined.

false

1

HARD_BOUNCE_BAD_MAILBOX

The recipient mailbox does not exist or the address is invalid.

true

2

SOFT_BOUNCE_QUOTA

The recipient's mailbox is full and cannot accept any further incoming messages.

false

3

SOFT_BOUNCE_MAILBOX_INACTIVE

The mailbox exists but is inactive.

false

4

SPAM_RELATED

The email was classified as spam by the recipient's mail server. Review your email content and sender reputation.

false

5

CONTENT_REJECT

The email was rejected due to its content, for example, size, attachments, or format. Review your email content, as retrying is unlikely to succeed.

false

6

POLICY_RELATED

The email was rejected due to a policy at the recipient's mail server, for example, a rate limit, IP block, or regional policy. Retry may succeed.

false

7

BAD_DOMAIN

The email domain has DNS or MX record issues. This may resolve later.

false

8

INVALID_SENDER

The sender address was rejected due to a configuration or authentication issue.

false

9

INTERNAL_ERROR

The recipient's mail server reported an internal error. Retry later.

false

10

MESSAGE_EXPIRED

The message could not be delivered after multiple attempts. Retry may succeed.

false

11

NO_ANSWER_FROM_HOST

The recipient's mail server could not be reached. Retry later.

false

12

NETWORK_ERRORS

A network-level failure occurred between the sender and the recipient's email provider. Retry later.

false

13

TEMPORARILY_DEFERRED

The recipient's email provider deferred delivery. Retry later.

false

14

AUTO_REPLY

An automated reply was received, such as an out-of-office or vacation message. This is not a delivery failure and does not affect the recipient's addressability.

false

15

SUPPRESSED

The recipient is on the email provider's suppression list. This is a permanent failure. Do not retry sending.

true

100

COMPLAINT

The recipient marked the message as spam. This is a permanent failure. Do not retry sending.

true