Sales email has bounced, yet email tracking says email was opened

[PercheronSMS]

We're having a few issues when sending marketing emails. When sent they will come back as bounced or sent but not delivered. Then when going back to view the contact's profile, it shows with email tracking that the email was opened.

How is this possible if the email has bounced/ not delivered?

Another issue we have seen with email send-outs is when we have asked people if they have seen the email sent out, they say no, yet on HubSpot, it shows the email was delivered and read. The example we have on this is an employee's spouse who was sent an email, yet he never saw any email, searched his inbox, and nothing was there, yet on Hubspot, it was reported to be delivered and read.

Any explanation would be very helpful because, right now, we can't rely on any analytics when emails are being sent to our clients.

- Morgan

[CRossotto]

Hubspot NEEDS to improve on this. Currently, email analytics are absolutely worthless. 

[Hemiw]

This happens to me as well due to the following:

1. i receive an email that says something like "undelivarable" or "delivery status notification"

2. i open the email. it shows me a thread of 2 emails: the undeliverable PLUS my original email as well with its tracking pixel

3. within a few seconds hubspot notifies me that my intended recipeient opend the email. SMH

[kvlschaefer · Accepted solution]

Hi @PercheronSMS,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community!

The most likely cause for this is some sort of security filter or program in place in the recipient's email server that scans incoming emails. These security systems can cause the tracking pixel we place in sales emails to fire, triggering an "open", and can also scan the email for malicious links, causing a "click".

While scanning the email, the recipient's security system found something within it that caused it to be rejected, causing the bounce. So the security scan can cause the open/click, but then if that scan results in a rejection of the email, it causes the bounce.  I hope this explanation helps 🙂 

If you have any follow-up questions regarding an individual sales email behavior or bounce, I would recommend connecting with HubSpot Technical Support, as Support is included in your subscription and they will be able to provide real-time assistance for this matter where you can share screenshots and examples. 

Best,

Kristen