Delivering the annual canvass - Scotland

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Responses to Route 1 e-communications

If you decide to use an e-communication then it is up to you to determine the most suitable response mechanism(s) for your area.

For example, you could decide to signpost within your e-communication to an automated online, SMS or telephone response service which collects the required information. You could also allow responses to be provided in person, by email or by telephone, either to a call centre or directly to your team.

Managing changes to a property

If you receive information in response to a Route 1 e-communication telling you about changes, you should take action to process the information in the response as necessary.

What if more than one response is received?

You will need to ensure that you can identify where more than one individual within a property has responded to an e-communication and are clear on what actions you will take if there is any conflicting information in the responses.

For example, if you receive a response from one elector confirming that all the information is correct and accurate and you receive a response from another indicating that someone needs to be removed from the register at the property, you will need to make further enquiries to confirm the details of the property. If you believe that there may be changes needed to the property but are unable to confirm enough information to enable you to carry out review or ITR processes, then you must transfer that property to Route 2.

What should I do with email bounce backs?

An email bounce back is where an email is undelivered and returns a notification back to the sender. There are two types of bounce backs:

soft bounce – this is where delivery is delayed while the email server re-attempts delivery a number of times over a period of hours or days and is only considered undeliverable if the retry period expires without success
hard bounce – this is where the email address is deemed permanently undeliverable

Where a hard bounce occurs you should remove the email address from your database and then send a CCA to the property if you have no other e-communication options for individuals at the property.

In the case of a soft bounce you will usually need to wait to see if a hard bounce occurs as a result of still being unable to deliver the message after further attempts.

You should have a process in place to enable you to identify bounce backs and take appropriate action. We have created the table below which identifies some of the common reasons for bounce backs and action you may wish to take where this occurs.

Reason for bounce back	Action to take
Email blocked by the recipient (hard bounce)	There is nothing you can do as sender to prevent this. You should remove the email address from your database and send a CCA to the property if you have no other e-communication options for any individuals at the property.
Email address is invalid – for example, wrong address provided or transposed incorrectly (hard bounce)	Check your email data source for accuracy. If the address has been transposed incorrectly, correct the error and re-send the e– communication. If the address has not been transposed incorrectly – you should remove the email address from your database and send a CCA to the property if you have no other e-communication options for any individuals at the property.
The email is blocked by the server – for example, the email is in wrong format, too big or recognised as spam (hard bounce)	In advance of sending, review your ecommunication carefully, including with your IT team, and identify any potential reasons the email may be blocked - such as large graphics, photos or other corporate branding. Corporate branding that needs to be included as a way to signpost that the e-communication is genuine should be of a size that will be accepted by the receiving mailbox/server.
Receiving server is unavailable (soft bounce)	There is nothing you can do as sender to prevent this. This will become a hard bounce if no action is taken by the receiving server.
Receiving mailbox is full (soft bounce)	There is nothing you can do as sender to prevent this. This will become a hard bounce if no action is taken by the owner of the mailbox.
Respondent has an autoreply service set up (soft bounce)	There is nothing you can do as sender to prevent this. The email may still be delivered but you should check the content of the auto reply and make a decision as to whether further action is required. For example, the individual may have left a place of work. In this case, you could treat the auto response in the same way as a hard bounce.

If you receive bounce backs and have no other electronic method for contacting individuals at a property, you should continue with the Route 1 process by sending a CCA to the property.1 There is no requirement to re-allocate the properties to Route 2 unless you believe that there may be changes required at the property.

You will need to take steps to ensure that any email addresses which resulted in a hard bounce back are removed from your database to ensure the accuracy of the contact information you hold for future canvasses.

Last updated: 16 March 2021