As your contact list grows, you might see some emails bounce due to typos, inactive addresses, inbox bots, or strict mail servers. A few bounces are normal but too many can hurt your sender reputation or get your tools flagged.
The good news? With a few simple steps, you can reduce bounces and keep your emails landing in the right inboxes.
What is an email bounce?
An email bounce happens when a marketing or promotional email can’t be delivered to the recipient’s inbox. It’s like the message tried to reach someone but got sent back instead. Emails can bounce for many reasons, and too many bounces can hurt your sender reputation. If email servers see a high bounce rate, they may start blocking your messages altogether.
Two types of email bounces
There are two kinds of email bounces to know about: soft bounces and hard bounces.
- Soft Bounce: A soft bounce means the email address is valid but the message couldn’t be delivered. This is usually for temporary reasons like a full inbox, a server issue, or a message that’s too long.
- Hard Bounce: A hard bounce happens when an email can’t be delivered because the address is invalid or doesn’t exist. Since this is a permanent issue, it’s best to remove that address from your list.
What causes emails to bounce?
The email doesn’t exist
If a bounce is marked as 'non-existent email address,' it could mean there’s a typo in the address or the person may no longer be with the organization.
The email is suspended
The email address may be suspended not just for bouncing your emails, but also for bouncing emails from other senders.
The email is blocked
If email addresses are in the 'Blocked' category, it means the receiving server has blocked your email. This is common with organizations like government offices or schools, where email servers tend to be more strict about what they accept.
The email couldn’t be delivered
If bounced emails fall under the 'Undeliverable' category, it usually means the recipient's email server is temporarily down, too busy, or couldn’t be found.
The mailbox is full
If your contact’s inbox is full, your emails will bounce back until there’s space for them. This could also mean they’re no longer using that email address. Some email providers, such as Outlook, have storage limits on their basic plans as low as 15GB. This can cause an inbox to fill up faster than expected.
The recipient has an auto-reply set up
If someone has an auto-reply set up, like when they're on vacation, your emails may bounce. However, unlike other bounce types, this means your email was successfully delivered to their inbox. They just can't access it at the moment.
How to reduce your email bounce rate
Bounces can hurt your email list growth by affecting your deliverability and the overall success of your campaigns. Keep a close eye on bounce rates and address any issues quickly.
Remove an email address from your list
If an email is a hard bounce, it's best to remove that address from your list right away. The best way to remove these addresses from your email list is to unsubscribe them.
Recommended tools for email validation
Manually checking every email on your client list can be a lot but the good news is you don’t have to do it alone. There are reliable tools that can quickly validate your email addresses, helping ensure your messages reach real, active inboxes.
Here are a few websites we recommend exploring:
- Mailbox Layer: This is an easy-to-use email validation tool that lets you check a few email addresses for free. If you need to verify larger lists, they also offer subscription plans with more features.
- NeverBounce: Like Mailboxlayer, NeverBounce helps clean up your contact list by verifying email addresses and removing invalid ones.
FAQ
What is the bounce rate limit on the platform and what happens if I exceed it?
The platform allows a bounce rate of up to 3%. To follow anti-spam rules, if your campaigns hit this limit three times, your account will be permanently blocked from sending promotional messages.
Related to