⚡ Quick Answer
If some of your Digital PR emails bounced or got an automatic reply such as 'no longer with the organization,' this is normal and not a problem with your account. People change jobs often, and no contact database is 100% current at all times.
- Should you ignore them? Don't send to those contacts again, but don't worry about the bounces themselves.
- Do you need to tell Search Atlas? No, it isn't required. If you see a large number of bounces, we'd still like to hear about it (see the last section).
- How do you refresh your list? Remove the bounced contacts, look for replacement contacts at the same site, and run a new Prospect Finder search for fresh results.
🔍 Why Do Contacts Bounce?
Prospect Finder helps you find people and websites to pitch. Contact details can go out of date between the time they are collected and the time you send your email. Common reasons include:
- Job changes: The person left the company or moved to a different role.
- Closed mailboxes: The company deactivated the address after the person left.
- Company changes: The website was sold, rebranded, or changed its email domain.
- Strict mail servers: Some servers reject outreach emails from unknown senders.
- Full or unavailable inboxes: The address is valid, but the mailbox can't accept messages right now.
📖 Understanding the Types of Replies
Not every bounce means the same thing. Knowing the difference helps you decide what to do next.
- Hard bounce: The address doesn't exist or is permanently unavailable. Remove it from your list and don't email it again.
- Soft bounce: A temporary issue, such as a full inbox or a server problem. You can try again later, but remove the contact if it keeps failing.
- Auto-reply, 'no longer with the organization': The person has left. The address is outdated, so remove it and look for the right replacement.
- Out-of-office reply: The person is temporarily away. The contact is still valid, so you can follow up when they return.
✅ What to Do With Bounced Contacts
- Don't resend. Repeated emails to invalid addresses can hurt your sender reputation and make future emails more likely to land in spam.
- Make a list of the affected contacts. Note which addresses bounced and which websites they belong to.
- Remove them from your active outreach list. This keeps them out of future campaigns.
- Check the 'no longer with the organization' replies. Some of these name a replacement or a general address. If they do, you can reach out to that person instead.
- Keep the websites. A bounced contact doesn't make the site a bad opportunity. Often only the person is outdated, so the site is still worth pitching.
🔄 How to Refresh Your Prospect List
Once you've cleaned out bounced contacts, use these steps to rebuild your list with current information.
- Run a new Prospect Finder search. Newer searches may return more recent contact details than a list you saved a while ago.
- Find the right person on the site. Check the website's team, About, or Contact page, or the editor's professional profile, to see who currently handles the topic you're pitching.
- Look for a different contact at the same site. A newsroom, editorial desk, or another team member can be a good alternative.
- Compare against your bounce list. Make sure the contacts you add aren't ones you've already removed.
- Send in smaller batches. Testing a small group first shows you early whether a list has many outdated contacts before you send the full campaign.
💡 Tips to Reduce Bounces in Future Campaigns
- Use fresh lists. The older a saved list is, the more likely it is to contain outdated contacts. Try to run campaigns soon after you build the list.
- Review contacts before sending. A quick check that the person still works at the site can save you many bounces.
- Keep your bounce rate low. A small number of bounces is normal, but if a large share of a campaign bounces, pause and clean the list before sending more.
- Personalize your pitches. Emails that are relevant to the recipient are less likely to be marked as spam.
- Keep a suppression list. Save addresses that have bounced or asked not to be contacted so they never get added back by mistake.
📣 Should You Report Bounced Contacts to Search Atlas?
You don't have to report individual bounces, because they are an expected part of outreach. However, it is helpful to contact us if:
- A large share of a single campaign bounced.
- Many bounces come from the same search or the same group of websites.
- You notice contacts that seem consistently wrong or outdated across several searches.
When you contact us, include the campaign or search you used, roughly how many emails bounced, and a few example websites. This helps our team review the issue faster.
🙋 Need More Help?
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be instantly connected with a member of our team.