How to handle Amazon SES bounces and complaints (SNS and the suppression list)

Sending email from Amazon SES is easy. Maintaining your sender reputation is what decides whether your emails arrive. SES measures two things: bounces (emails to addresses that do not exist or reject the message) and complaints (recipients who click "this is spam"). If either rate climbs too high, AWS first warns you and then can pause sending for the account. It is not an empty threat: it happens, and it happens at the worst possible moment.

The defence is simple to describe: find out about every bounce and every complaint, and never write to those addresses again. This guide sets up exactly that.

Step by step

1. Check the account suppression list

   In the SES console, Configuration, Suppression list tab. It is a list SES keeps for you: when an address bounces permanently or complains, it goes on the list and SES stops sending to it even if your application tries. Make sure it is enabled for bounces and complaints. New accounts come that way; older accounts may have it switched off.

   From that screen you can search for an address, see why it was added and remove it if it was a mistake (a full mailbox that has since been emptied, for example).

2. Create an SNS topic for the notifications

   In Amazon SNS, Topics, Create topic, type Standard, name ses-rebotes-quejas. Inside the topic, Create subscription: to begin with, protocol Email with an address you read; confirm the subscription from the email you receive. Later on you can add a second HTTPS subscription pointing at your application, so that it processes the notifications on its own.

3. Connect the SES identity to the topic

   SES, Identities, open your domain, Notifications tab. Under Feedback notifications click Edit and assign the SNS topic to Bounces and Complaints (Deliveries are optional and generate a lot of noise). Tick Include original email headers: that way you will know exactly which email bounced. Save.

   If you use configuration sets in your sending, you can do the same from the set, with an SNS event destination; it is more flexible because it allows different destinations per type of email.

4. Decide what happens with email forwarding

   By default, SES forwards every bounce to the sender by email. As soon as the SNS topic is working, disable email feedback forwarding on the same tab, so you do not receive it twice and do not fill a mailbox nobody checks.

5. Process the notifications in your application

   Each notification is a JSON with the type (Bounce or Complaint), the affected addresses and, for bounces, whether it is permanent (the address does not exist) or transient (full mailbox, server down). The practical rule: on a permanent bounce or a complaint, flag the recipient in your database so you never send to them again and, if they are a customer, let them know through another channel. On a transient one, retry later and, if it repeats several times, treat it as permanent.

6. Keep an eye on the rates

   In SES, Account dashboard, reputation block: you will see the bounce rate and the complaint rate, with the thresholds above which AWS reviews the account. Look at it once a week. If one day you see the rate jump suddenly, stop bulk sending until you understand why: an old list, a form that accepts made-up addresses, an email that looks like spam.

What can go wrong