SparkPost Event Types
| Event Type | ID | SparkPost Event | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| SP Sent | 37 | injection | Email accepted by SparkPost for delivery |
| SP Delivered | 38 | delivery | Email successfully delivered to recipient |
| SP Deferred | 39 | delay | Temporary delivery delay (SparkPost will retry) |
| SP Dropped | 40 | policy_rejection | Email dropped by SparkPost policy |
| SP Hard Bounced | 41 | bounce, out_of_band | Permanent delivery failure |
| SP Soft Bounced | 42 | (reserved) | Temporary delivery failure |
| SP Opened | 43 | open, initial_open | Recipient opened the email |
| SP Clicked | 44 | click | Recipient clicked a link |
| SP Spam Report | 45 | spam_complaint | Recipient marked email as spam |
| SP Unsubscribe | 46 | list_unsubscribe, link_unsubscribe | Recipient unsubscribed |
Bounce Type Details
SparkPost categorizes bounces into different types:Hard Bounce (ID: 41)
Hard Bounce (ID: 41)
Permanent failure (invalid email, domain doesn’t exist). Includes both synchronous
bounce events and asynchronous out_of_band bounces. These addresses should be removed from your list.Soft Bounce (ID: 42)
Soft Bounce (ID: 42)
Temporary failure. SparkPost may retry these automatically. Consider these as temporary issues.
SparkPost Bounce Classes
SparkPost provides detailed bounce classification viabounce_class:
| Bounce Class | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | Unable to classify |
| 10 | Invalid Recipient | Hard bounce - invalid address |
| 20 | Soft Bounce | Temporary failure |
| 21 | DNS Failure | Temporary DNS lookup failure |
| 22 | Mailbox Full | Recipient’s mailbox is full |
| 23 | Too Large | Message size too large |
| 24 | Timeout | Connection timeout |
| 25 | Admin Failure | Administrative failure |
| 30 | Generic Bounce | No RCPT permission |
| 40 | Generic Bounce | Network error |
| 50 | Mail Block | Blocked by recipient |
| 51 | Spam Related | Blocked as spam |
| 52 | Spam Content | Content flagged as spam |
| 53 | Prohibited Attachment | Attachment type blocked |
| 60 | Auto-Reply | Auto-reply message |
| 70 | Transient Failure | Temporary system failure |
| 80 | Subscribe | Subscribe request |
| 90 | Unsubscribe | Unsubscribe request |
| 100 | Challenge-Response | Challenge-response system |
Event Data
Each SparkPost event includes:- Message ID (for correlation)
- Recipient email
- Timestamp
- SMTP response code (for bounces)
- User agent (for opens)
- Clicked URL (for clicks)
- SparkPost-specific IDs (
message_id,transmission_id) - Bounce class (for bounce events)
- Geographic information (country, region, city)
Event Type Quick Reference
| Event | ID | SparkPost Event Name |
|---|---|---|
| Sent | 37 | injection |
| Delivered | 38 | delivery |
| Deferred | 39 | delay |
| Dropped | 40 | policy_rejection |
| Hard Bounce | 41 | bounce, out_of_band |
| Soft Bounce | 42 | (reserved) |
| Open | 43 | open, initial_open |
| Click | 44 | click |
| Spam | 45 | spam_complaint |
| Unsubscribe | 46 | list_unsubscribe, link_unsubscribe |
Next Steps
- View analytics to see event statistics
- Troubleshoot issues with event processing