Set up bounce handling for Amazon SES

When an email bounces (the address doesn''t exist) or someone marks it as spam, you want Mailbo to stop emailing that person automatically — both to protect your subscribers list and to keep your Amazon SES account healthy. This guide connects SES's feedback to Mailbo.

How it works, in one line: SES → an Amazon SNS topic → a webhook URL in Mailbo. Mailbo then records the bounce/complaint and suppresses that contact. You set this up once.

Do this before your first big campaign. Amazon pauses accounts whose bounce rate hits 5% or complaint rate hits 0.1% — automatic suppression keeps you well under both.

Step 1 — Copy your Mailbo webhook URL

1. In Mailbo, go to Settings → Bounce handling.
2. Choose the Amazon SES tab.
3. Copy the webhook URL shown there. It looks like: https://app.mailbo.io/api/webhooks/ses?verify_key=…

🔒 That verify_key is unique to your workspace and acts like a password — don't share it or post it publicly. Always copy the current one from this page.

Step 2 — Create an SNS topic

In the AWS Console (same region as your SES domain):

1. Open Amazon SNS → Topics → Create topic.
2. Type: Standard (required — FIFO topics can''t send to a webhook).
3. Name it (e.g. mailbo-ses-feedback) → Create topic.

Step 3 — Subscribe your Mailbo URL to the topic

1. On the topic page → Create subscription.
2. Protocol: HTTPS.
3. Endpoint: paste the Mailbo webhook URL from Step 1.
4. Create subscription.

SNS immediately sends a one-time confirmation request. Mailbo confirms it automatically — within a few seconds the subscription status changes from Pending confirmation to Confirmed. (No action needed from you. If it stays pending, re-check the URL.)

Step 4 — Point SES bounces & complaints at the topic

1. Back in SES → Configuration → Identities → click your verified domain.
2. Open the Notifications tab → Feedback notifications → Edit.
3. Set the SNS topic for both Bounce feedback and Complaint feedback to the topic you created.
4. Save changes.
5. (Optional, recommended) In the same area, turn off "Email Feedback Forwarding" — now that SNS is handling it, this avoids duplicate bounce emails. Only do this after Steps 2–4 are done.

Step 5 — Turn on SES's own suppression list

As a safety net, let SES itself block known-bad addresses:

1. SES → Configuration → Suppression list → Account-level settings → Edit.
2. Enable suppression for Bounces and Complaints → Save.

What happens now

• A hard bounce (address doesn''t exist) → Mailbo marks the contact bounced and never emails them again.
• A complaint (marked as spam) → Mailbo suppresses them too.
• Your recipient counts will exclude these automatically — which is exactly what keeps your SES reputation healthy.

Troubleshooting

Next: Keep your SES account healthy · What are bounces?