A bounced email is an email that couldn’t get to the recipient’s inbox and got returned to the sender’s server. This can be for many reasons which we’ll get into below.
Understanding email bouncing is key because it affects your email marketing. A high bounce rate can lead to decreased deliverability and even damage to your sender’s reputation. So, understanding what a bounced email is, why it happens, and how to prevent it is important for any email marketer.
Types of Bounced Emails
You need to know about two types of email bounces: hard bounces and soft bounces. These two are differentiated based on the reason for the bounce and the permanence of the issue causing the bounce.
Knowing the difference between these two types of bounces will help you strategize and take action to minimize your bounce rate and keep your email list healthy.
Hard Bounces
A hard bounce is an email that’s been returned to the sender because the recipient’s address is invalid or doesn’t exist. This could be because of a typo in the email address, the email account is closed or the domain name no longer exists.
Hard bounces are permanent failures, meaning the issue can’t be fixed without action from the sender, like correcting the email address or removing it from the mailing list. Sending emails to these addresses again can harm your sender reputation.
Soft Bounces
A soft bounce is an email that reaches the recipient’s mail server but is returned before it reaches the inbox. This could be because the recipient’s mailbox is full, the server is down, or the email is too big.
Soft bounces are temporary failures, meaning the issue may resolve itself over time or with some action from the recipient, like clearing out their inbox. But if an email address soft bounces for an extended period, it may eventually become a hard bounce.
