Someone recently asked a good question about how to handle bounced emails when sending batch emails through Follow Up Boss.

In the past, the classic version of FUB would show the reason for the bounce, making it easier to tell whether the issue was a hard bounce (invalid or deleted email) or a soft bounce (temporary problem like a full inbox). Now the system simply shows that an email "bounced", without explaining why. That raises an important question: should those contacts just be removed, or could some of them still be valid leads worth keeping?

Here’s how I look at it.

Every time an email shows as "bounced" in FUB, it could be a hard bounce, soft bounce, or a block. Without a 3rd party email infrastructure connected to FUB, there’s no way to see the exact reason for the bounce.

If you stop emailing everyone who shows a bounce, you might be throwing away real leads and potential revenue, because some of those contacts may still be valid.

Depending on how many bounces you’re seeing, it may be worth connecting a service like Sendgrid (around $20/month). It gives you full visibility into error codes, spam complaints, and other delivery data, which helps you understand whether the email actually failed permanently or just temporarily.

This can help you recover legitimate leads that might otherwise be removed from your database. Just estimate the value of each lead and decide what’s more profitable, removing all bounced contacts or keeping soft bounces/blocks while paying a small monthly fee for better visibility.

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