What to verify if users think they are not receiving emails

Helpful Village sends emails to Village users to keep them informed and provide important updates. If a user is not receiving these emails, there are three common reasons:

1. The email has been delivered to a different folder, such as Spam.
2. The email has bounced and can no longer be delivered.
3. The user has previously reported an email as spam, resulting in further emails being blocked.

This guide explains how to troubleshoot each issue and help users receive emails from your Village again.

1. Check Other Email Folders

Email providers use different filtering systems to determine where incoming emails should be delivered. As a result, legitimate emails may be placed in the Spam folder or another folder instead of the main inbox.

Ask the user to try the following:

1. Search their inbox: Search for the email's subject line or the sender's email address.
2. Check the Spam or Junk folder: The email may have been incorrectly filtered.
3. Check other folders: Look in folders such as Promotions, Updates, or Archive, depending on the email provider.

If the emails are being filtered incorrectly, the user may be able to mark them as safe or add the sender to their contacts.

2. Check for Bounced Emails

An email bounce occurs when a message cannot be delivered to the recipient. This can happen for several reasons, including:

• The email address contains a typo or does not exist.
• The recipient's inbox is full.
• The recipient's email provider rejects the message.

Helpful Village may retry sending an email that initially bounces. If delivery continues to fail, further emails may be suppressed for that recipient.

How to Find Users with Bounced Emails

Step 1: Navigate to Admin → People Management → Groups.

Step 2: Under Group Categories, locate Tagged People and select the hv_email_bounced group.

Note: These groups appear only when they contain users. If there are no bounced emails, the group will not be displayed.

Step 3: Review the list to identify users whose emails have bounced.

How to Resolve Bounced Emails

There are three things you can do to help resolve the issue:

1. Verify the email address: Contact the user to confirm that their email address is correct in Helpful Village.
2. Check their inbox capacity: Ask the user to make sure their inbox is not full.
3. Contact their email provider: If the provider is blocking or rejecting the messages, ask the user to check the provider's filtering settings and, if possible, allowlist the sender's email address.

Remove the User from the Bounce List

Once you have resolved the underlying issue with the user:

1. Return to Admin → People Management → Groups → Tagged People.
2. Open the hv_email_bounced group.

3. Click Remove next to the user's name.

    

The user will be removed from the bounce list. If the delivery issue has been resolved and the email address is eligible to receive messages again, emails should resume.

💡 Additional resources:

• Mailchimp: Soft vs. Hard Bounces
• How to Whitelist an Email Address

3. Check for Email Complaints

An email complaint occurs when a recipient marks an email as spam. This may happen intentionally or accidentally.

When a complaint is recorded, the system suppresses further emails to that recipient to help protect email deliverability.

How to Find Users Who Have Reported Emails as Spam

Step 1: Navigate to Admin → People Management → Groups.

They will no longer be on the bounce list and should begin receiving emails again.

Step 2: Under Group Categories, locate Tagged People and select the hv_email_complained group.

Note: The hv_email_bounced and hv_email_complained groups appear only when they contain users.

Step 3: Review the list to identify users who have stopped receiving emails because of a complaint.

How to Allow Emails Again

Before removing a user from the complaint list, contact them to confirm that they want to receive your Village's emails and ask them to mark future messages as safe, if appropriate.

Once the issue has been addressed:

1. Open the hv_email_complained group.
2. Click Remove next to the user's name.

This removes the user from the complaint list. However, removing the tag may not automatically restore email delivery if the email provider or mailing service still maintains a suppression for that address. If emails do not resume, contact Helpful Village Support for assistance.

Additional Training Resources

For more information on email delivery and troubleshooting, please refer to these resources:

• Training Article: How to Make Sure Your Users Are Getting Your Emails
• Live Demo: Email Reputation