# Reduce Email Bounce Rate on a Stale List — Ravn Canonical: https://askravn.com/skills/reduce-bounce-rate Claude skill # Reduce bounce rate on a stale list When bounces start climbing, re-verify the list, split it into segments by risk score, and give the user a written re-send policy: who to send to now, who to warm up slowly, and who to suppress for good. The aim is fewer hard bounces and a protected sender reputation. [Download SKILL.md](https://askravn.com/skills/reduce-bounce-rate/SKILL.md) [Start free](https://askravn.com/#start) Install ## One command. Installs into `~/.claude/skills` for Claude Code. In Claude, upload the downloaded file under Settings → Capabilities → Skills. ``` npx ravn skill install reduce-bounce-rate ``` ## When to use - The user's email tool reports a rising bounce rate, or a send was paused for bounces. - A list has not been mailed in months, or it was last verified long ago. - "Why are we bouncing so much and what should we do?" For a one-off check of a fresh list, verify-email-list is enough. This skill adds segmentation and an ongoing policy. ## Before you start - Check the connection: call `get_account` with `{}` or run `npx ravn whoami`. - Costs: 1 lookup per unique address. On the Free plan, lookups are 1,000 in total; on Ravn ($24/month) 10,000 lookups a month are included, then $1 per 1,000, up to the spending cap (`ravn cap `). - Ask for the bounce report from the user's sending tool if they have one. Hard-bounced addresses should be suppressed whatever the re-check says. ## Steps - Remove known bad rows first, for free: hard bounces from the report, unsubscribes and spam complaints. Keep them in `suppress.csv`. - Re-verify everything else. Dry run, sample, full: ``` npx ravn enrich list.csv --tool validate_email --column Email --dry-run npx ravn enrich list.csv --tool validate_email --column Email --limit 10 --out sample.csv npx ravn enrich list.csv --tool validate_email --column Email --out reverified.csv ``` - Segment by `rw_verdict` and `rw_risk_score` (A is 90 and above, B 75 and above, C 55 and above, D 30 and above, F below 30): - Send now: `valid` with risk score A or B. - Send slowly: `valid` with score C. Mail in small batches, to recently engaged contacts first. - Hold: `risky` (usually `catch_all: true`) and `unknown`. Only mail if the contact has opened or clicked recently; otherwise leave out. - Suppress: `invalid` (for example `mailbox_not_found`, `no_mx`, `domain_not_found`), `disposable: true`, and any score D or F. - Look at the reasons for the suppress group. A large number of `domain_not_found` or `no_mx` usually means old companies that closed or changed domains. If the user wants, those people can be re-found with find-work-email on their new domain. - Write the policy for the user in plain words: - Re-verify any address not mailed in the last 90 days before the next send. - Verify new addresses at the point of capture (a single `validate_email` call on sign-up). - Never re-add suppressed addresses. - After each send, add new hard bounces to the suppression list. - Offer to re-run the same command on a schedule the user chooses, using the same file names so the comparison is easy. ## Output - `send-now.csv`, `send-slowly.csv`, `hold.csv`, `suppress.csv`. - Each keeps the original columns plus `rw_status` (`ok`, `not_found`, `error`, `dropped`), `rw_verdict`, `rw_risk_score`, `rw_reason`, `rw_catch_all`, `rw_disposable`, `rw_role_account` and `rw_mailbox_checked`. - A short report: counts per segment, the top reasons for suppression, and the written re-send policy. ## Rules - Suppression is one-way: unsubscribed, complained, hard-bounced and opted-out contacts never go back on the send list. See [/privacy#optout](https://askravn.com/privacy#optout). - Drop invalid and risky addresses from the main send. Do not relabel `unknown` as `valid`. - No FCRA uses. - If the list is larger than the lookups left in this window, tell the user the run will pause until the reset. - On a 429 `fair_use_exhausted`, stop and tell the human. Rows not reached are marked `dropped`; rerun to finish. ## Example prompt Our last newsletter had an 8% bounce rate and Mailchimp warned us. The list is 14,000 people and some haven't been emailed in a year. Fix it and tell us how to stop this happening again. ## More [skills](https://askravn.com/skills) Install them all with `npx ravn skill install --all`. - [Sales Territory Planning by State and IndustryUse when a sales leader wants a territory mapped, listing companies by state, industry and size and then the decision makers at the best-fit accounts..](https://askravn.com/skills/territory-planning) - [Verify an Email List Before a CampaignUse when someone wants to verify and clean an email list before a campaign, dropping invalid and risky addresses so only send-ready contacts remain..](https://askravn.com/skills/verify-email-list) - [Company Account Research BriefUse when someone wants a one-page research brief on a company covering what it does, size, location, tech, public contacts and key people, from its domain..](https://askravn.com/skills/account-research-brief) - [Build a Prospect List from Your ICPUse when someone describes their ideal customer and wants a prospect list built from scratch, with people found by title and company and emails verified..](https://askravn.com/skills/build-prospect-list) - [Check Numbers Are Mobile Before TextingUse before sending SMS when someone needs to confirm each phone number is valid and a real mobile line, using number-plan checks then a live carrier lookup..](https://askravn.com/skills/check-mobile-before-sms) - [Competitor Website Tech Stack LookupUse when someone wants to see which technologies competitor or prospect websites use, grouped by category and compared side by side..](https://askravn.com/skills/competitor-tech-stack)