Hard Bounces vs Soft: What Each One Costs You
Hard and soft bounces explained in plain English, and why your sender reputation pays for every one of them.
Welcome
Email services that deliver
Since 2006, I've designed, authenticated and repaired email systems. Authentication, sending reputation, marketing automation, overall strategy — if it affects whether your email delivers or earns its keep, it's my speciality.
Free email diagnostic tools
A selection of tools to help you understand exactly where improvements can be made. Check where you stand with free, browser-based diagnostics. No signup, nothing sent or stored.
DMARC report viewer
Upload the aggregate report your inbox provider sends you — get clear results back on who's sending as you.
SPF generator
Build your SPF record, include what you need, and keep the lookup count where it belongs — under the limit.
Email authentication checker
Check any domain's SPF, DKIM and DMARC — records shown and explained clearly.
All tools
Every diagnostic in one place — authentication, reports, checklists and calculators.
What I do
Fixed scope. Clear deliverables.
Email authentication
SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up, audited and enforced properly — the required basics.
Deliverability rescue
Your email is going to spam and you don't know why. I can diagnose the cause and fix it.
Managed Mautic hosting
Self-hosted marketing automation — built for you, or built and managed.
Email strategy consulting
Setup, migrations, automation architecture and list strategy for current or new systems.
Sending infrastructure
Relay setup, IP reputation management and segmented sending — newsletters, drip campaigns and transactional mail that are separated properly.
Full-stack email systems
Where email meets everything else: SMS and messaging integrations, CRM connections, campaign landing pages.
How I serve every client
A defined process, agreed before anything changes — the same discipline for a one-off audit, a project, or ongoing work.
Survey — consultation & investigation
We start with a conversation, then a technical survey of your current setup: DNS, authentication records, sending platforms, list hygiene, and what you're trying to achieve. No proposals before diagnosis.
Explain — findings in plain English
You receive a clear picture of what's wrong, what it's costing you, and what fixing it involves. Scope and price are agreed before any changes are made.
Remediate — implementation
The agreed work, done properly: systems configured, records aligned, deliverability improved. Changes documented as they're made.
Verify — proof it works
Tests and reports demonstrating the result — working systems, passing checks, measurable improvement. You see the evidence, not just my word.
Engage — ongoing relationship
Where it makes sense: monitoring, maintenance and defined response windows, so problems are caught before they cost you.
Not sure what you need? Start here
Book your free consultation, or use the diagnostic tools to find out what is wrong with your email process.
From the blog
View all posts »Straightforward guides and updates on authentication, deliverability and overall strategy.
The DMARC Report Reading Checklist: What to Look At First
Aggregate reports arrive as unreadable XML. This is a guide to parsing and understanding those files. The fields that matter and the ones to ignore, plus, what each finding means strategically.
IP Warm-Up: Start Sending Without Torching Your Reputation
New sending infrastructure has no reputation, which receiving servers treat with suspicion. This guide is the staged process for building reputation safely, and the mistakes that can burn it in week one.
Dead Addresses: Worse Than No List at All
Bigger list, more sends. That used to be the whole logic of email marketing. It no longer works like that. How to prune a list, when to do it, and why keeping dead addresses hurts you.