Resolve email bounce sync errors

Symptoms

You see a sync error in the sync-error-tool with one of the following patterns:

  • EMAIL_ADDRESS_BOUNCED — "The target object email address is currently marked as bounced."
  • CANNOT_INSERT_UPDATE_ACTIVATE_ENTITY with an inner bounce message — a Flow such as the Order Builder process fails because the contact's email is bounced.
  • INVALID_EMAIL_ADDRESS — "Unable to save a record due to an invalid email address."

These errors can also cause password reset and invitation failures on Contact records.

💡 Tip

If you see EMAIL_TEMPLATE_MERGEFIELD_ERROR, that is a separate issue. See resolve-email-template-sync-errors.

Cause

A bounce occurs when an email cannot be delivered — most commonly because the email address on the Contact record is invalid, mistyped, or no longer active (for example, a former employee's address). Salesforce permanently marks the contact as "Bounced" after a failed delivery attempt, after which it refuses to send any further emails to that address and may block record saves that involve that contact. This causes sync failures.

The bounced flag persists even after the underlying problem is fixed — it must be manually cleared.

Other reasons an email may be marked as bounced:

  • Daily email sending limit reached. Salesforce has a daily cap on outbound emails. Sends that fail due to the limit are recorded as bounces.
  • DKIM keys not configured. Emails fail authentication and are rejected by the recipient's mail server, which Salesforce records as a bounce.
  • Domain DMARC policy rejecting emails that lack proper SPF or DKIM records.

Resolution — email bounce

Step 1: Clear the bounced status

  1. Open the affected Contact record in Salesforce.
  2. Clear the Email Bounced Reason field.
  3. Clear the Email Bounced Date field.
  4. Save the record.

Step 2: Re-sync the affected records

  1. Go to the sync-error-tool in StoreConnect.
  2. Select the checkbox next to the affected record(s).
  3. Click the Re-sync button.
💡 Tip

Select all records in the list when re-syncing, not just the one that failed. Related events for the same record may also need to be re-processed.

Step 3: Investigate the root cause

Clearing the bounce flag fixes the immediate error, but if the root cause is not addressed it will recur.

Check email logs:

In Salesforce, go to Setup > Email Log Files. Look for delivery failures around the time the bounce was recorded.

Check daily email limits:

Use Salesforce Workbench to check your remaining email quota:

  1. Log into the org via Workbench.
  2. Navigate to REST Explorer.
  3. Execute: /services/data/v33.0/limits
  4. Find SingleEmail to see the daily maximum and remaining sends.

Verify DKIM setup:

If emails are bouncing due to authentication failure, DKIM keys need to be configured in Salesforce and your domain's DNS. DKIM records are added as CNAME entries in DNS pointing to Salesforce's DKIM endpoints.

For full email configuration guidance, see setting-up-storeconnect-emails.

Resolution — invalid email address

First, confirm the correct email address with the customer. Then update the email using one of these methods:

Via the Sync Error Tool:

  1. Open the sync error in the sync-error-tool.
  2. Edit the email field directly in the error detail panel.
  3. Click Re-sync.

Via the Contact record:

  1. Open the Contact record in Salesforce.
  2. Update the email address to a valid value.
  3. Return to the sync-error-tool and re-sync the affected records.

If you are unable to obtain a valid email address, you can assign a placeholder address (e.g. a generic catch-all address your team monitors) so the record can sync successfully. This is preferable to leaving the record in a failed state.

If a Flow or trigger is sending emails as part of the sync and causing the failure, temporarily disable it, re-sync, then re-enable it once the email address is corrected.

Verification

  1. Confirm the sync error no longer appears in the sync-error-tool.
  2. Confirm the contact's Email Bounced Reason and Email Bounced Date fields are clear.
  3. Place a test order to confirm future orders sync and send emails without issues.

Prevention

  • Configure DKIM keys during initial Salesforce setup. This should be part of your go-live checklist. Without proper DKIM configuration, emails may be rejected by recipient mail servers and recorded as bounces.
  • Monitor email sending limits for high-volume orgs, especially during peak sales periods.
  • Use the Sync User exclusion pattern on email-sending Flows to prevent bounce-related sync failures. See resolve-flow-trigger-sync-errors for details.
Last updated March 13, 2026

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