In this blog, we’ll take a deep dive into the differences between hard and soft bounce rates, including exploring the differences between the two types of bounce rates, their causes, and most importantly, how to deal with them. Let’s turn those frustrating bounce rates into opportunities to improve your email marketing strategy.
Before diving into the details of hard and soft bounces, it’s important to understand what an email bounce is. Simply put, an email bounce occurs when an email fails to deliver to a recipient’s inbox. It’s like trying to send a message that was returned because the email address was invalid, the mailbox was full, or the recipient no longer exists.
Why did the email bounce back?
There are several reasons why your email might not be reaching its destination. Let’s take a closer look at each of them:
Invalid Email Address : The most common cause of permanent bounces. If an email address does not exist (because it is misspelled, disabled, or entered incorrectly), the email will not be sent.
Full Mailbox : If the recipient's mailbox is full, the email will be temporarily unavailable, which typically results in a soft bounce.
Server Issues : Issues with the recipient's email server, such as a crash or overload, can prevent emails from being delivered, which is another common cause of soft bounces.
Spam Filters : If the recipient's email system marks your email as spam, your email may bounce back. This is often due to a poor sender reputation or suspicious email content.
Non-existent domain : If a domain name (e.g. gmail.com, yahoo.com) is invalid or expired, the email will bounce, which can lead to a hard bounce.
While bouncing emails are considered normal in email marketing, industry benchmarks say that less than 2% of emails bounce. Anything higher than that indicates there may be an issue with your emails, email list quality, deliverability, or overall campaign performance.
What is Hard Bounce?
A hard bounce is a permanent failure to deliver an email, often occurring when the email address is invalid or the recipient's domain does not exist. When an email actually bounces, it cannot be delivered to that email address, and continuing to send emails to that email address can harm your email reputation.
Common causes of heavy bounce
Invalid or non-existent email address : Misspelled addresses or addresses that don't exist are the most common causes of permanent bounces.
Invalid Domain : If the domain (such as gmail.com or yahoo.com) does not exist, the email will not be delivered.
Blocked Email Addresses : Some email addresses may be blacklisted or marked as spam, resulting in immediate rejection.
Inactive Mailboxes : Sometimes, email addresses that have been inactive for too long may be disabled by the email provider, resulting in permanent bounces.
How to identify a severe bounce ?
A hard bounce is easy to identify because it generates a specific error message or code from the recipient's server. These messages might say things like "Recipient address rejected," "Domain not found," or "Email address does not exist." When you receive such a message, you know the email address is invalid.
Impact on your email marketing
Hard bounces are a major problem for email marketers. When your emails consistently hard bounce, Email Service Providers (ESPs) take it as a sign of poor list management, and they may lower your sender reputation or even block your future emails from reaching your inbox. Therefore, removing hard-bounce email addresses from your list as soon as possible is imperative to maintain good deliverability.
What is Soft Bounce?
A soft bounce occurs when an email can't be delivered due to a temporary issue. Unlike a hard bounce, a soft bounce is usually resolved, and the email may eventually be delivered if you try again later. Common reasons for a soft bounce include server issues, a full mailbox, or temporarily blocking the email from the recipient's system.
Common causes of soft bounce
Full Mailbox : If the recipient's mailbox is full, emails cannot be sent until space is available.
Temporary Server Issues : Issues with the recipient's email server, such as overload or downtime, may cause delivery to be temporarily unavailable.
Large Email Size : If an email exceeds a limit (e.g. because it contains large attachments), the server may reject it.
Temporarily blocked : Sometimes the recipient's email provider may temporarily block an email due to network issues or a stuck email queue.