In email marketing, ensuring that your messages reach their intended recipients is critical for the success of your campaigns. However, sometimes emails fail to be delivered, leading to what is known as an "email bounce", which occurs when a message is returned to the sender because it could not be delivered to the recipient’s inbox. These bounces are not just inconvenient; they can significantly harm your sender reputation, reduce engagement, and even lead to blacklisting by email service providers (ESPs). In this article, we'll break down the different types of email bounces, why they occur, and how you can mitigate them.
Types of email bounces
There are two primary types of email bounces: soft bounces and hard bounces. Each type represents a different issue and requires distinct handling to maintain the health of your mailing list.
Soft bounce
A soft bounce usually occurs when an email cannot be delivered temporarily. These are usually caused by problems that are expected to be resolved, such as:
- The recipient’s inbox is full.
- The mail server is temporarily down or overloaded.
- The message is too large for the recipient’s mailbox.
Soft bounces don’t immediately damage your sender reputation, but they are still a sign of deliverability issues that should be monitored: if a soft bounce persists, the email may eventually be classified as a hard bounce.
Hard bounce
A hard bounce, on the other hand, is usually a permanent failure to deliver an email. This happens for a multitude of reasons, including:
- The email address no longer exists or was never valid.
- The domain name doesn’t exist.
- The recipient’s server has blocked delivery entirely, often due to email filters or blacklists.
Hard bounces are more damaging because they are a clear indication that the address is invalid. Sending repeated messages to hard-bounced addresses can quickly degrade your sender reputation, which can result in your emails landing in spam folders or being blocked entirely.
Why do bounces matter?
Bounced emails directly impact the effectiveness of your campaigns and, more importantly, your sender reputation. ESPs and internet service providers (ISPs) closely monitor your bounce rate to assess whether you are a legitimate sender: a high bounce rate signals poor list hygiene, which can result in throttled or blocked emails. Over time, this reduces your deliverability rate, which hurts your marketing efforts.
In addition, bounced emails waste your resources! You pay for every email you send, whether it reaches the recipient or not, and continuing to send emails to addresses that bounce is simply an inefficient use of marketing dollars.
How to reduce bounces
The best way to reduce email bounces is to clean your mailing list regularly with the Verifalia email verification service, which checks your email list for invalid, misspelled, disposable, risky or outdated addresses before you send your campaign; by identifying potential bounces ahead of time, you not only lower your bounce rate but also enhance your sender reputation and overall deliverability, ensuring your marketing efforts reach the intended audience.
In addition, Verifalia provides detailed reports that help you understand why emails are bouncing, offering insights to avoid future issues: each email is classified into simple categories - Deliverable, Undeliverable, Risky, and Unknown - while over 40 status codes pinpoint the exact reason for the bounce. This detailed classification helps marketers and developers alike manage their email infrastructure effectively and make informed decisions about their mailing lists.
Whether you're managing a small campaign or overseeing complex email infrastructure, keeping your list clean with Verifalia is a crucial step toward building a more successful email marketing strategy.