Checking the Delivery Status of a Candidate Email

Effective communication with candidates is crucial to finding and hiring the best people. Hiring teams can check the delivery status of an email sent to the candidate by reviewing the visual status icon located on the email summary on the candidate profile Timeline. This feature keeps track of the status of emails sent to your candidates. Once you know the status of your email communication with candidates, you can be proactive in your outreach and opt for alternative communication channels, like texting, to increase response rates.

The Closed-loop Email setting must be enabled on your ClearCompany account in order to utilize this feature. Please reach out to your ClearCompany Representative to confirm your system settings.

In this article:
Which Emails will Display a Delivery Status?
Where are the Delivery Statuses Displayed?
Interpreting the Different Email Statuses
Email Flagging Feature
How Quickly do the Statuses Update?

Which Emails will Display a Delivery Status?

All recruiting actions completed within ClearCompany that display a copy of the email on the Timeline of the Candidate's Profile, such as direct emails or interview requests, will automatically show the email delivery status. Other items that send an email along with a system-generated item, such as sending an offer letter or an onboarding packet, will not automatically display a status.

  The Email Delivery Status feature was launched in October of 2022 and will only display on candidate emails sent after this date.

Where are the Delivery Statuses Displayed?

The delivery status of a candidate email will be shown in multiple areas of the recruiting system.

1. The Latest Events section of the Candidate Profile.

   
   Click the email event to view the full details of the delivery status.

2. The Candidate Profile Timeline View will display the status icon next to the recipient's image/initials for email communication events.

   

3. When the email event on the Timeline View is opened, you will see additional details about the delivery status at the bottom of the email summary.

   

Interpreting the Different Email Statuses

Status Name	Status Icon	Icon Description	Definition
Sent		Green background and badge with a right arrow symbol.	Shown when ClearCompany has sent an email but doesn’t yet have additional information regarding delivery status.
Delivered		Green background and badge with a checkmark symbol.	Shown when ClearCompany's Email System has confirmed the email has been delivered successfully.
Opened		Blue background and badge with an opened letter symbol.	Shown after an email has been opened for the first time.
Bounced		Red background with ban symbol.	This status is shown when there is an issue that is preventing an email to be sent through to the candidate.

Email Sub-Statuses

1. Spam - Shown when the candidate manually chooses to report the email as spam. If an automated system marks the email as spam, the status will be listed as a Spam Complaint  instead (see below).

2. Spam Complaint - Sometimes shown when the email has been delivered to a junk email account or when the recipient’s email system rejects it because it's perceived as spam. This is not the same as the Spam status because this is an automated action rather than a manual one.

     If an email displays a sub-status of Spam, the candidate's email may be flagged on the profile. For information about email delivery and resolving errors, please review this article.

3. Generic - Shown when an email has bounced due to a generic reason. 
4. Virus Notification - Shown when a virus has been detected by an external email system.
5. Blocked - Shown when the receiving system has blocked the email, possibly because it contains unacceptable words or because ClearCompany has been put on a deny list.
6. Hard Bounce - Shown when the recipient’s email domain or account does not exist.
7. Manually Deactivated - Shown when the recipient’s account used to exist but is now deactivated.

Uncommon Email Statuses

1. Received - Shown when we’ve received an incoming email but haven’t sent it onward to its intended recipients yet. This status is unlikely to appear as ClearCompany quickly processes and forwards emails sent from the system.
2. Delayed - Shown when an email is delayed due to technical issues or might not be seen right away by its recipient. If this status persists after a few minutes, you may want to reach out to the applicant via alternative means to determine if the email is experiencing any of the issues below. 
   Sub-Statuses of Delayed
   
   1. Autoresponder - Shown when an auto-reply (e.g. out of office) is received by our email server.
   2. Transient - Shown when a soft bounce occurs because the receiving system is having issues (e.g. undergoing maintenance).
   3. Soft bounce - Shown when a soft bounce occurs because the receiving email account is having issues (e.g. mailbox is out of space).

Email Flagging Feature

If a recipient marks an email as spam or the recipient does not exist, our email system will not allow any organization to send additional email to the recipient. Candidates with email addresses that are in this state will show a warning icon in the profile header letting individuals know that there is an issue with the recipient's address.  

To resolve the issue, confirm with the candidate the address is correct, then contact ClearCompany Support for further assistance. For more information about email delivery and resolving errors, please review this article.

 

How Quickly do the Statuses Update?

Emails will update to either the Delivered, Delayed, or Bounced status within a few minutes of being sent from ClearCompany. There may be a delay in updating to the Opened status, based on the email provider used by the candidate.