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I am trying to work out the discrepancies between Data View and the exported file from My Tracking for hard bounces.

1 - I extracted a list of hard bounce by running the following query:

SELECT *
FROM _bounce b
WHERE s.JobID = [The_Job_ID]
AND b.BounceCategory = 'Hard bounce'

The last WHERE clause can also be

b.BounceCategoryID = '1'

2 - Meanwhile, I exported the hard bounce CSV file from My Tracking > [The Job], then clicked on the count next to 'Hard Bounce' and exported the CSV file. (by the way, the hard bounce count showed on Tracking page was incorrect as well. I was told by SF Support the exported file provides the most accurate bounce records. They are treating this as a known issue.)

The Data View result contained about 60 more records than the exported file from My Tracking. I contacted SF Support and they said this is because the Bounce Data View includes records which are 'false bounces'. I was told that the following query will give the correct set of bounce records, the only catch we can't use it because 'isfalsebounce' isn't available via Data View:

select * from _bounce a (nolock)
where jobid = [The_Job_ID]
and BounceCategoryID = 1
and isfalsebounce = 0

To add to the confusion, I checked one of the 'false bounces' subscriber in All Subscribers (History tab), a Hard Bounce is showed in History. At this point, I don't know which method(s) give me the most accurate hard bounce count anymore.

I tried to lookup but can't find much about 'false bounce'. What is false bounce?

If 'false bounces' are excluded from My Tracking, why does it showed in Bounce Data View and All Subscribers?

What is the purpose of Bounce Date View if we can't query Hard Bounce records for a job matching My Tracking?

For automated reporting, are there other queries/ better way to extract the same set of hard bounce records for a job?

Thanks.

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    This is interesting, the Marketing Cloud docs make a mention of "false bounce" but does not get into specifics (see here) If a subscriber bounces on an email send and a BCC'd address interacts with the email, it is possible for a false bounce to be marked for the subscriber.
    – nbrown
    Commented May 18, 2020 at 15:42

1 Answer 1

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A false bounce is when a bounce occurs when an inbox is full or some sort of technical bounce issue, but when the delivery is retried it gets delivered and the subscriber opens the message. Marketing Cloud then counts this as a false bounce.

Nbrown is correct in his comment that BCC/CC can cause complexity since either recipient can be counted as the bounce or the open. SO the BCC message can bounce and the subscriber opens the email, Or the subscriber bounces and BCC opens the email.

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  • Interesting. On the bright side, supported said they are planning to add isfalsebounce to Bounce data view in the future, hopefully that help on getting more accurate tracking and reporting.
    – weliott
    Commented May 23, 2020 at 13:30
  • @Eliott - IsFalseBounce in Data Views is live. A limitation of the script used to apply this change to our database left some accounts with the column still missing. This can be addressed with a support case; the respondant toggles a business rule to apply the change.
    – Chris
    Commented Apr 27, 2023 at 1:08

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