You might have heard the term bounce rate in the online world. This is also associated with email marketing. But what exactly is a bounce rate? Higher or lower, which bounce rate is better? What is a good or bad bounce rate in email marketing? How to reduce email bounce rate? Find everything you need to know about the email bounce rate, including meaning, formula, calculator, proper rate, factors behind it, ways to reduce it, and more.
What does Bounce Rate mean in Email Marketing?
Bounce rate is the Percentage of sent emails failing to reach the recipient’s inbox. When an email suffers a bounce back, that means the receiving mail server rejected the message and sent it back, indicating a delivery failure.
There are basically 2 sorts of bounces in email. Soft Bounces and Hard Bounces.
Hard Bounce (Permanent Failure): It is a permanent rejection of an email. That means if you don’t correct it, the mail will not be delivered to the recipient’s inbox. Common reasons behind hard bounces include invalid or non-existent email addresses, misspelled domain names, or the blockage of your server by the recipient.
Soft Bounce (Temporary Failure): In this case, the mail reaches the recipient’s server but is turned away before being delivered. This is a temporary rejection, and hence your platform may attempt to resend it. Well, in case of repetitive soft bounces, they consider it a hard bounce. Primary reasons include large email messages, a full recipient inbox, temporary server downtime, etc.
What is the Difference between Hard Bounce and Soft Bounce?
| Feature | Hard Bounce | Soft Bounce |
| Issue | Permanent delivery failure or rejection | Temporary delivery failure or rejection |
| Major Reasons (Causes) | Invalid email address, incorrect domain, or blockage from the recipient server | Too large messages, full mailbox, server temporarily down |
| What to do (Action) | Instantly remove the address from your list, and your reputation may be hampered | Retry sending later, but in case of repetitive soft bounces, remove the address |
| SMTP Error Codes | Begins with a 5XX code | Begins with a 4XX code |
| Impacts | Higher hard bounce rates influence the domain reputation and flag you as spam, and decrease deliverability severely | Much lower impact, but be careful about consistent & repetitive soft bouncing |
Email Bounce Rate Formula
Email Bounce Rate = (Total Bounced Emails ÷ Total Emails Sent) ×100
The term Bounced Emails refers to the mails that failed to be delivered to recipients’ inboxes. It belongs to both hard bounces (permanent delivery failures, e.g., invalid email) and soft bounces (temporary failures, e.g., full inbox). On the other hand, the term Total Emails Sent refers to the total number of attempted deliveries.
Email Bounce Rate Calculator
If you sent 10,000 emails and 220 of them failed to deliver, the calculation is:
(220 ÷ 10,000) ×100 = 2.2%
Where to find the email bounce rate calculator? Well, various email service providers, for instance, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, etc., calculate this automatically in their analytics dashboards.
Do I want a High or Low Bounce Rate?
You definitely want a low bounce rate in email marketing. The scenario is the same for E-commerce stores, portfolio sites, or multi-step lead funnels. However, in some cases of Blogs, news sites, or FAQ pages, high bounce rates might be good for making an impression when the user is finding whatever they were looking for very quickly. Although the system will count that as a bounce, the reader may have a good impression of your source.
In email marketing, a low bounce rate is key to success, and one would never hope for a high bounce rate under any given circumstances. Soft bounces sometimes might just be okay, but hard bounces are completely avoidable.
What is a Good Bounce Rate for Emails?
| Bounce Rate | Condition | Details |
| Less than 2% | Excellent | Carry On |
| 2% to 5% | Average | Needs monitoring and routine list cleaning |
| 5% to 10% | Concerning | Sender reputation is in danger |
| Over 10% | Red Line | Your ID can be restricted; serious actions demanded |
In Email Marketing, a bounce rate of less than 2% is considered Excellent and a healthy delivery rate. If the bounce rate is between 2% to 5%, they consider that Average, but it needs monitoring and routine list cleaning. Over 5% bounce rate means the condition is concerning, and you are having poor list health, and hence your sender reputation is in danger.
Suppose you are attempting to send a total of 10,000 emails, and fewer than 200 bounced emails means that it is good. Between 200 and 500 is average; more than 500 bounces will be concerning, and if the number exceeds 1000 (10% of 10k), then serious actions are needed.
According to Email Industry Data, Forbes revealed an average of 10.4% bounce rate in email marketing. They claimed that the 5 Businesses with the Lowest Bounce Rates are Repair and Maintenance (4.9%), Retail (7.7%), Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (8.5%), Dining and Food Services (9%), and Faith-Based Organizations (9.6%). Sources like ActiveCampaign suggest that a less than 2% bounce rate should be the one you look for. However, Reddit says that up to 5% is okay. By the way, there are users who don’t get concerned even with a 7 to 8% bounce rate.
What Causes Emails to bounce?
Invalid or non-existent email: When an email account doesn’t exist, or you’ve typed a mistaken name, or when you message an abandoned account. In all those cases, emails won’t get delivered, and hard bounces will occur.
Blocked domains: When the recipient has already blocked you and doesn’t want to get messages from you anymore. It will cause a hard bounce.
Strict security policies: With a lack of proper email authentication, such as SPF, DKIM, or DMARC, providers may restrict you from sending those emails.
Full inbox: Soft bounce occurs when the recipient’s mailbox is out of storage space.
Server down: Also, a similar thing happens when the recipient’s server is temporarily down or overloaded.
File size limits: Every file must be within the limit. When a message is too large or has attachments like large videos or high-resolution images, the server’s limit exceeds and the sender gets a soft bounce.
Aggressive spam filters: When the recipient server has set up spam filters and your content features trigger words, suspicious links, or possess a low overall sender reputation, the messages get soft bounces automatically.
Why is my Bounce Rate so High?
The reasons above cause your emails to bounce back. However, a higher bounce rate may result due to the following reasons:
| Reasons behind Hard Bounces | Why is your Soft Bounce Rate High? |
| You are trying to send to Invalid Email Accounts | The recipient server might be temporarily down. |
| Your list features many Non-Existing Email IDs | Recipient’s mailbox is out of storage space. |
| The recipient server has blocked you | You are trying to send messages that are too large or have larger files. |
| Your content doesn’t comply with security policies | The content has trigger words, suspicious links, or the account has a low sender reputation. |
How can I lower my Bounce Rate? (How to Avoid Bounce Rate)
Your content must have the following characteristics to avoid a high bounce rate or reduce it:
Double Opt-in Implementation: Prior to starting to send emails to the new subscribers, send them a verification link instead. It will help you eliminate fake addresses.
List Cleaning and Validation: Having an authentic list is more important than having a larger list. List verification tools may help you to dispel invalid domains and syntax errors. You can take help from tools like NeverBounce or ZeroBounce.
Domain Authentication: Your DNS settings configuration must include SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance). All these help you be recognized as a legitimate sender.
Removing Inactive Users: Find out users who haven’t opened a file within the last 3 to 6 months and prune them. With repetitive ignorance from a subscriber, your message gets automatic soft bounces.
Audience Segmentation: This is a very useful initiative to reduce bounce rate. Don’t send all messages to every subscriber. Instead, go for the ones who have an interest in a specific type of content. It will help them not to be bothered by your randomized messages, and with an interesting topic in the content, the open rate will increase and reduce ignorance.
Avoid Free Sending Domains: Free email providers like Gmail or Yahoo won’t be very useful for the marketing campaign. For that purpose, use a custom, branded domain.
Immediate Removal of Hard Bounces: Find which accounts are giving you hard bounces. Remove those immediately from your list.
Careful Management of Soft Bounces: Soft bounces may not be lethal like hard bounces, but repetitive soft bounces will degrade your sender’s reputation. Hence, manage those carefully.
FAQs
Is a 2% bounce rate good?
2% or less bounce rate is good in email marketing. But from over 2% to 5% is considered average.
How is bounce calculated?
Email Bounce Rate Calculation Formula = (Total Bounced Emails ÷ Total Emails Sent) ×100
What is a 100% bounce rate?
A 100% email bounce rate means every single email you sent has failed to reach the recipient’s inbox.
What is Amazon’s bounce rate?
Amazon (via Amazon SES and Amazon Pinpoint) considers less than 2% bounce rate as ideal. They flag your account if it has an over 5% bounce rate and take it under manual review. Meanwhile, Amazon may temporarily pause your ability to send emails if your bounce rate is more than 10%.
Why am I getting bounces for emails I didn’t send?
It’s most possibly due to “email spoofing”. Spammers do it in order to forge your email address in the “From” line of their messages.
How to fix a bounced email?
Correction of typo in the address, or waiting for the server to get ok, or clearing the list, removing accounts having issues.
What is the major reason for an email bounce?
The major reason for an email bounce is an invalid, misspelled, or outdated email address.
How quickly does an email bounce back?
Email bounces back instantly or within a few minutes. However, it can take up to 24 to 72 hours.
What is a bad bounce rate for emails?
If your bounce rate is more than 2%, you must be concern and if it’s over 5%, then it’s really bad.
Should I remove soft bounces from my email list?
Initially, you may handle those accounts carefully. In case of repetitive soft bounces, you should remove those emails.
Can a soft bounce become a hard bounce?
Yes, when a temporary issue like a full inbox, server downtime, or a spam block persists over repeated sending attempts.
