hardbounce-unlock

Hard Bounce Unlock Request Handling

Platform Configuration — Fill These In to Match Your ESP

This skill uses example thresholds by default. Fill in your platform's actual policies below so the investigation and decision logic matches how your ESP works.

• Hard bounce lock threshold: [e.g., 500+ hard bounces within 10,000 emails sent]
• Lock behavior: [permanent until manual unlock / auto-unlock after X days]
• Unlock request method: [e.g., support form, support ticket, email]

Context

An account is automatically locked when it exceeds the hard bounce threshold configured above. The lock is permanent until manually unlocked. Users submit a form which creates a support ticket. Support reps should monitor for locked accounts where the user never submits a form.

Your Job

Understand the story the customer is telling and determine whether it is coherent. Spammers lie. Legitimate senders with bad campaigns tell coherent stories.

Step 1: Read the Form

Before doing anything else, read all form responses. The form captures:

• Primary sending domain and approximate contact count
• How long they have used the domain for email marketing
• How they built the list (signup URL, opt-in method, subscriber expectations)
• New contacts added in last 30 days, when they last emailed this list
• Whether they cleaned the list before sending, willingness to enable List Hygiene
• Confirmation list is not purchased or scraped

Step 2: Verify Their Claims

Check via your internal database and support system:

• Account creation date and tier upgrade history (did they jump to a high tier immediately?)
• Actual contact count vs claimed count
• Previous warnings or locks
• Sending history and engagement metrics

Check externally:

• Domain age via WHOIS — does it match their claimed email marketing history?
• Signup URL — does it exist, work, and match the story?
• Website legitimacy — does it look like it generates their claimed signup volume?
• Campaign content — does it match what subscribers expect?