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Error while sending a campaign
Error while sending a campaign

Campaign errors are here to alarm you every time something’s not right with your email account and campaigns are not being sent.

Weronika Wróblewska avatar
Written by Weronika Wróblewska
Updated over a week ago

IN THIS ARTICLE


How it works

When you are in the campaign list tab occasionally you might see an image like this, an error:

Error icon

Campaign error means that Woodpecker came across an issue when trying to connect with your mailbox. During that time the sending is paused.

The first thing to do when you see the error in your campaign is to check whether the email account is connected to Woodpecker at all. It might have disconnected due to a password change or, for example, the wrong refresh token, etc. Reconnecting your mailbox might solve some of the issues.

How to check and reconnect your email address?

  1. Go to 'Settings'.

  2. Open the 'Accounts' tab.

  3. The disconnected mailbox will be marked in red. Click

  4. Click the 'Reconnect email' link. Make sure you use the correct data. In case you're logged into more than one email account, select the account you'd like to reconnect.

    Reconnect the email link in General settings

In some cases, however, as there are many types of errors, reconnection might not work. For example, when your account gets blocked due to suspicious sending activity or reaching your provider's sending limits. When this happens, Woodpecker pauses sending for some time, even up to 24 hours.

Deleting email account

Mind you, don't remove your disconnected mailbox from Woodpecker unless you don't want to use it anymore. Deleting your email account will result in disconnecting IMAP and losing the data you have accumulated in Woodpecker Inbox. If you delete your mailbox from Woodpecker accidentally, don't worry, your replies are safely stored and accessible through your email provider's inbox.


Types of campaign errors

Error with "Email provider banned the account"

Authentication failed

  • Authentication failed

Banned sender

  • Email provider banned the account

  • Sending banned

Quota exceeded

  • You’ve reached your provider’s sending limit

  • Your provider limited your account

Spam

  • Check your content – spam detected

Web authorization needed

  • Web authorization needed

  • You need to activate your Mailgun account

IMAP issue

  • IMAP authentication failed

Token refresh

  • Token refresh

Space shortage

  • Your mailbox is full

  • Your ISP’s mail server is low on disc space

SMTP provider issue

  • Couldn't connect to host

  • You’ve exceeded your SMTP provider’s sending limit

  • Your Sendgrid API Key either is not valid or set properly

  • Your sender email address doesn't match the “From” address

  • Unverified Sending Domain

  • Sending is paused by Amazon SES

  • Amazon SES service still in sandbox

Read on to learn more about the errors that you can find in Woodpecker, and how to fix them.


Campaign errors

Authentication failed

We couldn't authenticate your email account. This is quite common, but not obvious. It might mean that you simply changed your email password and forgot to update it in Woodpecker, but it might also mean that your account has been blocked for other reasons.

If it is not an issue with credentials – you are sure that your login, password, and IMAP, as well as SMTP data, are correct, then it would be best to contact your email provider. Before you do so, however, go to 'Settings' → 'Email accounts' and reconnect your email.


Banned sender

Email provider banned the account

Your email account is suspended due to deliverability issues. For example, you may be sending content considered spammy, that is:

  • containing spam-words,

  • heavily HTML-coded,

  • full of links.

Keep in mind that your signature is also checked by anti-spam filters. Another reason may be that you haven't warmed up your newly set up email account or domain yet. In case the email provider blocks your account, Woodpecker pauses the sending from that mailbox for 10 to 24 hours. Contact your email provider to fix this issue.

In the meantime, though, we suggest learning about good deliverability practices. Deliverability know-how will help you to avoid having your account blocked in the future. Examine your campaigns for spam trigger words, such as promotion, best deal, free. Check your statistics. Is the percentage of bounced messages high? If so, you may want to conduct a domain reputation recovery process.

Sending banned

Your email provider banned the account. The system responded with the message: the SMTP username's account is not allowed to send. Please log in with your web browser and check your mailbox settings.


Quota exceeded

You’ve reached your provider’s sending limit

The campaign sent from your email address is temporarily stopped. There are 3 main reasons why it might have happened.

  • You've reached your email provider's sending limit which means that you have reached an hourly or a daily limit of the number of emails that your provider allows to be sent from one address in a given period. For example, Gmail allows users to send no more than 500 emails daily from one email address, 20 emails per 1 hour. Here you can find a summary of limits set by various providers.

    Please review your delivery time and sending settings and adjust them according to your email provider's limits.

    In case you're sending multiple campaigns at the same time, you may want to prioritize one of them or slow down the sending. If you're not sure about the sending limits, it is always best to contact your provider directly to address this issue. In this case, we pause sending campaigns from the account in question for 4 to 24 hours.

  • You have received a lot of bounced messages. Bounce is a rejected message that couldn't be delivered and is returned to the sender. In most cases, it contains information from the mail server, saying why the email could not reach its recipient. For example, your prospect's email address can be unreachable or your messages were marked as High probability of SPAM., either because that account doesn't exist anymore, or because the mailbox is full.

    Bear in mind that the more bounced messages you receive, the higher the chance of getting on the blacklists, and having your account blocked as the anti-spam filters grow suspicious. Check your campaigns for spam trigger words and remove them.

  • You're experiencing deliverability issues due to the spammy content of your campaigns. Check your content for spam words, and remove heavy HTML, as well as links and images. Rewrite your campaign, especially the subject line, and add some extra snippets.

In this case, we pause sending campaigns from the account in question for 4 to 24 hours.


Your provider limited your account

The campaign sent from your email is temporarily stopped because your email provider limited your account. Similar to the issue that we mentioned earlier, the error You’ve reached your provider’s sending limit, this error reminds you that you have reached or exceeded your sending limit set by the email provider or you're experiencing deliverability issues. Here is the list of limits set by the various providers. In this case, we pause sending campaigns from the account in question for 4 to 24 hours.

Fix this issue:

  1. Check your provider’s daily emails limit.

  2. Check the number of bounced emails in this campaign. If it’s too high, check the quality of your prospects’ list or upload a new one.

  3. Check the contents of your emails in services like mail-tester.com or Email On Acid to learn what part of it might be treated as suspicious by various anti-SPAM mechanisms.

  4. Ask your email provider why your messages are being blocked.

  5. Change email copy and use personalized subject line and content.


Spam

Check your content – spam detected

The campaign sent from your email is stopped due to a spam alert. Your SMTP server's filter found something it considers suspicious in your message's content. It might be a good idea to check the content of your emails using, for example, mail-tester.com to learn what part of it might be treated as suspicious by various anti-SPAM mechanisms.

In this case, we pause sending campaigns from the account in question for 24 hours. Check your email content for spam.

Learn more about Deliverability. Also, find out how to make your emails hit the inbox – read the guide.


Web authorization needed

Web authorization needed

This means that Woodpecker cannot access your mailbox. You need to authorize your email account:

  1. Check the accuracy of your data, making sure that login, password, and the IMAP/SMTP servers are correct.

  2. Go to 'Settings' → 'Email accounts' and try to reconnect your mailbox.

  3. If the issue persists, contact your Administrator or our Support Team.

You need to activate your Mailgun account

It looks like your Mailgun account is not active. Check your inbox or log in to your control panel to resend the activation email. Read more »


IMAP issue

IMAP authentication failed

Your IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) has been disconnected from Woodpecker. This means that we cannot access your inbox to collect replies from your prospects. It's important to have your mailbox connected all the time so Woodpecker doesn't miss any incoming messages. Why?

  • When your prospect responds, Woodpecker stops the email sequence for that particular contact.

  • If the reply isn't detected, Woodpecker cannot mark your prospect with the correct status.

  • Consequently, the email sequence isn't stopped.

  • As a result, your prospect may receive the next email in the cadence.

Fix this issue:

  1. Go to your mailbox and check the IMAP connection.

  2. Make sure it is not an issue with your username and password.

  3. Go to ' Settings' → 'Email accounts' and try to reconnect your mailbox. Read more »


Token refresh

Token refresh

We couldn't authenticate your email account due to the issue with Token. Refresh Token is an authentication mechanism used to safely connect your email account to Woodpecker. It allows Woodpecker access to your mailbox.

Sometimes, when a Token expires, its authorization and connection break, so a reconnection is necessary. When your account is disconnected, the sending is paused and replies cannot be checked.

Reconnect your email address:

  1. Open 'Settings' → 'Email accounts'.

  2. Click → 'Reconnect email'. Read more »


Space shortage

Your mailbox is full

This means that the mailbox connected to Woodpecker is full and you can’t send more emails. Some services will not allow outgoing messages in this situation as well. Increase your mailbox size or delete unnecessary messages to make more space.

Your ISP’s mail server is low on disc space

Your sending is temporarily paused. Your ISP (Interner Service Provider) can’t accept any more messages for sending at the moment because there's no space on your internet provider server. Try later or contact your email service provider.


SMTP provider issue

Couldn't connect to host

We couldn't connect with your email account. There has been some problem with the SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) connection. This might be temporary.

We recommend checking credentials (login, password, IMAP/SMTP servers, and ports) and reconnecting your account again if necessary. Check your connection 'Settings' → 'Email accounts'. If you keep getting this for a long time you might need to contact your email provider.

You’ve exceeded your SMTP provider’s sending limit.

It looks like you've reached a monthly limit of the number of emails allowed by your provider. Log in to your SMTP provider panel and increase the limit to continue sending.

Your Sendgrid API Key either is not valid or set properly.

Your Sendgrid API Key either is not valid or set properly. Learn how to manage Sendgrid API Keys »

Your sender email address doesn't match the “From” address

Office 365 doesn’t allow setting up a different “From” address than the sender address when connected to Woodpecker through SMTP. Go to settings and connect your email via native integration or change settings in Office365.

Unverified Sending Domain

  • It looks like your domain isn't verified. Log in to your control panel to view DNS records. Verify your domain.

  • Log in to your email sending provider and finish the verification process. Get back to Woodpecker and try to restart the campaign.

  • It looks like you don't have enough credit to send emails. Please log in to your email provider control panel to check your credits and then try again.

Sending is paused by Amazon SES

Your sending is paused. Check the mailbox associated with your AWS account for more details and visit the AWS help website »

Amazon SES service still in sandbox

The email address is not verified. You are trying to send an email from an email address or domain that you have not verified with Amazon SES. Check if your account is still in the Amazon SES sandbox. Learn how to connect a mailbox using Amazon SES »


Other errors that you might see are in Woodpecker:

Email blocked due to SPAM problems

This means that sending your emails was blocked by the anti-SPAM filters of your email provider. This does not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with your emails, as anti-SPAM filters tend to be rigorous nowadays.

In this case, we pause sending campaigns from the account in question for 10 to 24 hours.

The best solution would be to contact your email provider and ask why your messages are being blocked. It might also be a good idea to check the contents of your emails in services like mail-tester.com or Email On Acid to learn what part of it might be treated as suspicious by various anti-SPAM mechanisms.


Outgoing quota is exceeded

This means that you have reached an hourly or a daily limit of the number of emails your provider allows to be sent from one address in a given period. For example, Gmail allows users to send no more than 500 emails daily from one email address.

Here you might find a summary of limits set by various providers, but it is not complete. It is always best to contact your provider directly to address this issue.

In this case, we pause sending campaigns from the account in question for 4 to 24 hours.


Error: Sender address blocked

This means that your provider has blocked your address for some reason. Contact them to resolve this issue.


Error: TLS not available

This means that we could not connect your email account. It is best if you try to connect it again.


Can't send command to SMTP

There has been some problem with the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol – SMTP – for connection. This might be temporary. If you keep getting this for a long time try reconnecting your email account. If this does not help you might need to contact your email provider.


Too many emails per hour

This means that you are sending emails too frequently, and thus reaching the limits set by your provider. Sending from this account gets paused for 120 minutes. Please review your delivery time and sending interval settings. In this case, we pause sending campaigns from the account in question for 2 hours.


SMTP connection error

There has been some problem with the SMTP connection. This might be temporary. If you keep getting this for a long time try reconnecting your email account. If this does not help you might need to contact your email provider.


Error: STARTTLS not supported

Please contact your email admin. It might be that a secure connection is not available on the port that is used to connect to Woodpecker.


Error: Mailbox suspended

Your email account has been suspended. Please contact your email provider.


Error: Suspicious content

Your SMTP server's filter found something it considers suspicious in your message content. It might be a good idea to check the contents of your emails in services like mail-tester.com or Email On Acid to learn what part of it might be treated as suspicious by various anti-SPAM mechanisms.

In this case, we pause sending campaigns from the account in question for 24 hours.


Troubleshooting

Woodpecker may connect your email address conditionally. Check what that means and how to fix this issue in our article.


In case of any other connection issues, have a look at our article I can't connect my mailbox.

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