What is the Email Bounce Rate and How to Control It?
An email bounce is the return of an email message that your email service provider tried to send but could not deliver. In simple words, when you send an email and it fails to deliver to your recipient’s inbox and returns, this is called an email bounce.
Now, if you send 100 emails and two of them return, you will say "What’s the big deal". True, but not unless your business is on the rise or expanding. It's when even 2 out of 100 bounces matter. After all, it can reach up to a 5% bounce rate. According to Statista, the email bounce rate in Great Britain will be 2.13% in 2022. While a bounce rate between 1 and 2% is said to be healthy, an increase in that is a sign of more bounce emails.
In this blog, we will help you understand the concept of a high bounce rate, its causes, and its solutions. Let's start!
Bounces occur for various reasons and are categorised into two main types:
Soft Bounce:
A soft bounce is nothing to worry since it is a temporary failure to deliver an email. It typically occurs for reasons that might be resolved in the future. Common causes of soft bounces include:
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Temporary issues with the recipient's email server, such as it being temporarily offline or over capacity.
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The recipient's mailbox is full, so it cannot accept new messages until space is cleared.
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Content filtering or email security settings temporarily prevent the email from being delivered.
Email servers and email marketing platforms will often retry sending the email for a certain period (e.g., hours or days) in the case of a soft bounce before marking it as a permanent failure.
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Hard Bounce:
Unlike soft bounce, a hard bounce is a permanent failure to deliver an email. It occurs when the email message cannot be delivered due to a permanent issue. Common causes of hard bounces include:
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Invalid recipient's email address or it doesn't exist.
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The recipient's email domain does not exist.
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The recipient's email server has marked your domain or IP address as spam, and emails are blocked permanently.
Techniques to Fix the Email Bounce
Fixing email bounces depends on whether it's a soft bounce or a hard bounce. Here are the steps you can take for each type:
1. Soft Bounce:
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Wait and Retry: In many cases, the issue causing the soft bounce might be temporary. You can wait for a little while and then resend the email. Email servers will often retry sending the email automatically.
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Check Recipient's Inbox: Sometimes, soft bounces occur because the recipient's inbox is full. Hence, you can either wait until they create some space or remove it from your email list.
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Review Email Content: Ensure that your email content does not violate any spam rules or content filtering policies, as this could trigger soft bounces. Modify the email content if necessary.
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Monitor Your Sending Reputation: If you're sending a large number of emails and consistently experiencing soft bounces, it's essential to monitor your sender reputation. Ensure that your email server and IP address are not blacklisted or marked as spam.
2. Hard Bounce:
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Remove the Invalid Email: If you receive a hard bounce notification indicating that the email address is invalid or doesn't exist, remove that email address from your mailing list. Beacuse, if you keep sending emails to invalid addresses, it can harm your sender's reputation.
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Check for Typos: Sometimes, hard bounces occur due to simple typos in email addresses. Double-check the email address for any mistakes and correct them.
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Update Your List: Regularly clean and update your email list. Remove addresses that consistently result in hard bounces to maintain a healthy list of recipients.
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Consider Email Verification Services: You can use email verification services to check the validity of email addresses before sending emails. These services can help reduce hard bounces.
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Avoid Purchased Lists: Avoid using purchased email lists, as they often contain a high number of invalid or outdated email addresses, leading to more hard bounces.
Key Takeaway
When you get a bounce message, it tells you why the email couldn't be delivered, so you can fix the problem and try again if possible. Managing bounces is important for keeping your email list accurate and making sure your emails reach the right people. By managing email bounces effectively, you can maintain a clean and accurate email list, improve your email deliverability, and ensure that your messages reach their intended recipients.
