Bounce Rate is the percentage of emails that could not be delivered to recipients’ inboxes and were returned to the sender. It’s a critical metric for measuring email deliverability and list health.
Types of Bounces
Hard Bounces
Permanent delivery failures that occur when an email address is invalid, doesn’t exist, or the domain has shut down. Hard bounces should be immediately removed from your list as they will never be deliverable.
Soft Bounces
Temporary delivery failures caused by issues like a full inbox, server problems, or message size limits. Soft bounces may resolve themselves, but persistent soft bounces should eventually be removed.
Calculating Bounce Rate
Bounce Rate = (Total Bounced Emails / Total Emails Sent) Ă— 100
A healthy bounce rate is typically below 2%. Rates above 5% may indicate list quality issues and could harm your sender reputation.
Reducing Bounce Rate
- Use double opt-in to verify email addresses at signup
- Regularly clean your list by removing inactive subscribers
- Validate email addresses before adding them to your list
- Monitor engagement and remove consistently unengaged subscribers
Maintaining a low bounce rate is essential for protecting your sender reputation and ensuring your emails reach your subscribers’ inboxes.