Thanks for weighing in Martin!
You are spot-on. Temporary delivery failures, like soft bounces, can often happen due to issues on the subscriber’s end—like a full inbox or a brief server issue. These subscribers may still engage with your emails once the issue resolves, so it’s always worth checking their activity before making any decisions.
It’s worth clarifying that soft bounces don’t actually show up in the “Undeliverable” section under your subscriber activity. The entries you see there are hard bounces or permanent failures that typically don’t recover.
To account for rare cases where a receiving issue might resolve itself, AWeber doesn’t automatically unsubscribe a contact after just one undeliverable notification. However, hard bounces are usually a strong indicator that the email address is invalid or no longer in use.
If the subscriber has opened emails recently, it may be worth keeping them for now. For those showing zero activity and repeated delivery failures, cleaning your list is likely the best approach.
It’s also a good idea to run a re-engagement campaign for those showing low activity. Sometimes, a simple “We Miss You!” email can reignite their interest and keep them engaged.