Validate an email field before a workflow uses it: Check the enrolled contact's Email field before the email action runs.; Spam Act 2003 (Cth) s 16 prohibits unsolicited commercial electronic messages.; HubSpot Not sent reasons include bounce, spam report, unsubscribe or missing legal basis.
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Error Handling

Part of Marketing automation data hygiene

Validating an email field before a workflow uses it

Check the intended contact, email format, known send restrictions and current eligibility before a marketing workflow sends.

Data Consent Desk · · 5 min read

Before a workflow uses an email field, confirm the address belongs to the intended contact, is present and has a format the sending system accepts. For a customer message, check known send restrictions and current permission. A well-formed address does not prove mailbox ownership, delivery or permission to send.

Start with the intended action

An internal task may need an address only as a reference. A customer email needs a usable recipient and the applicable send eligibility. Identify which contact supplies the address, especially when the workflow starts from a different kind of record.

For a contact workflow, check the enrolled contact’s Email field; for another workflow type, check the associated contact. Entry into a workflow does not establish that its email action can run.

Resolve the workflow’s record to the intended contact, then confirm that contact’s Email field is populated before the action. A missing address may not appear in HubSpot’s Not sent recipient report, so check the contact record as well.

Check the address and known restrictions

Check / Response if it fails

Intended contact has an address
Resolve the contact or field before the email action.
Format is accepted
Correct it from a reliable source; do not guess.
No known bounce or send block
Inspect the platform reason before another attempt.
Message eligibility is current
Suppress or hold the action under the applicable rule.

A format check can catch an obvious error such as a missing domain. HubSpot may report a syntax-related reason when an email is not sent. A plausible typo may pass syntax validation, so do not change it by guessing.

Treat HubSpot’s validation of the recipient address as the syntax check: it can return a syntax-related Not sent reason, and a role-based address such as [email protected] may trigger it. Verify any correction from a reliable source; a syntactically acceptable address may still be a typo.

HubSpot Not sent reasons include a previous bounce, spam report, unsubscribe from a subscription type or all types, a missing legal basis under specified privacy settings, address validation failure, a company opt-out, a recipient request to receive no emails, a known spam trap, a globally bounced address or an invalid recipient.

For HubSpot’s reason wording, check “Email error: ‘There was an issue sending an email to this contact’”. A Not sent email is different from a bounce: HubSpot never sent it, so it cannot bounce. Some restrictions become visible only when a send is attempted, so a pre-action check cannot guarantee a send.

After a marketing email is sent, open Marketing > Email, select the email, then Recipients and expand the contact to inspect its events. A Bounced, Unsubscribed or Spam report event means HubSpot will not send that contact future marketing emails.

Check the platform’s actual records for a previous hard bounce, unsubscribe or other restriction. Those states need their documented resolution; changing how the address looks is not a general way to clear them. Some sending restrictions become visible only when a send is attempted, so a pre-action check cannot guarantee a send.

Pre-send checks for an email field

  • Intended contact has an addressResolve the contact or field before the email action.
  • Format is acceptedCorrect it from a reliable source; do not guess.
  • No known bounce or send blockInspect the platform reason before another attempt.
  • Message eligibility is currentSuppress or hold the action under the applicable rule.

Inspecting a recipient’s email events after a send

  1. Open Marketing > EmailIn the HubSpot account that sent the marketing email.
  2. Select the emailChoose the marketing email you want to check.
  3. Open RecipientsThe recipient report lists who the email went to.
  4. Expand the contactA Bounced, Unsubscribed or Spam report event means HubSpot will not send that contact future marketing emails.

Keep permission separate

For a commercial electronic message, check the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), including section 16, which prohibits sending unsolicited commercial electronic messages, and ACMA’s “Avoid sending spam” guidance. Recheck the recorded permission and suppression state if the workflow has waited since entry.

Under the Spam Act, consent can be express or inferred, but it cannot be inferred merely from publication of an electronic address. It can be withdrawn when the account holder or a user indicates they do not want further commercial electronic messages.

In HubSpot, check whether the contact has unsubscribed from the relevant email subscription type or from all email subscription types. If data privacy settings are on and the setting to communicate only with contacts who have a legal basis is selected, confirm that a legal basis is set; HubSpot lists its absence as a Not sent reason.

A marketing-contact flag is not, by itself, a permission record. HubSpot lists not-sent reasons that include a previous bounce, unsubscribe, spam report or syntax-related validation failure. Contacts lacking an email address may not appear in the Not sent section of its recipient report, so inspect the contact and workflow history as well.

Resolve a failed check

Record the contact reference, intended action, failed check and owner. If the address is later corrected, reassess eligibility before sending; a delayed message may no longer be useful or permitted. Close the case if its campaign window has passed.

Keep an unresolved recipient out of the email action using the applicable hold or suppression rule. If HubSpot reports a workflow error, review Automation > Workflows > Review automation issues and open the issue details; HubSpot distinguishes workflow-setup errors from enrolled-record errors.

Define expected outcomes for an absent address, an obvious format error, a known bounce and a formatted address without the required permission. Compare them with the configured workflow and send history.

Resolving a failed email-field check

  1. Record the caseLog the contact reference, intended action, failed check and owner.
  2. Hold the recipientKeep an unresolved recipient out of the email action with the applicable hold or suppression rule.
  3. Review automation issuesIn HubSpot, check Automation > Workflows > Review automation issues and open the issue details.
  4. Reassess eligibility if correctedA delayed message may no longer be useful or permitted.
  5. Close the case if out of dateClose it when the campaign window has passed.

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