When someone stops using an email account, it does not always fail immediately. Some providers keep inactive accounts for a long time, others reclaim or deactivate them sooner, and policies change over time.
The practical takeaway
The exact provider policy matters less than the pattern:
- old addresses become riskier
- unengaged contacts are more likely to be stale
- some inactive accounts eventually bounce
- some older addresses may become more problematic than they look
What that means for your list
If an address has not engaged in a long time, treat it with more caution even if it once looked healthy.
That is why a good workflow combines:
- engagement review
- a sunset policy
- periodic list cleaning
MailCull helps with the addresses that are already clearly questionable at the list-quality level.
Review old addresses in MailCull before the next campaign ->