How to Fix Email Bounce Back?
Around 31 billion emails bounce back daily to their senders, never getting to their recipient’s inboxes.
A high email bounceback rate can seriously hurt your reputation as a sender, leading to email providers giving you a low sender score. If your sender score is low, your emails might be automatically marked as spam, so avoiding email bounceback is critical for your email marketing strategy. Read on to understand precisely what email bounce back is and the best ways to prevent it.
What is Email Bounce Back?
Email bounce back is when emails cannot be delivered to their intended recipients. There are numerous reasons this happens, but the sender is notified of an email bounce back via an automated message from a service provider. This message usually gives a few suggestions on how to fix the problem.
Since there are so many email service providers, there are multiple ways to be notified of an email bounce back.
The automatic reply informing you of an unsuccessful delivery can come from your email server or the intended recipient’s server. These messages will all look similar and say, “Your email could not be delivered to example@gmail.com because the address couldn’t be found or is unable to receive email.” However, you can recognize and avoid Emails bouncing back in many cases.
Soft Bounce vs. Hard Bounce
Before learning how to fix email bounce back, you should know the two types: soft bounce and hard bounce.
A soft bounce means that the Email was valid and reached its recipient but was bounced back due to temporary issues. These issues can sometimes be fixed by simply waiting and sending the Email later or by checking the size of the email you sent. If you encounter a soft bounce, try again later, and the Email will most likely go through once the problem is fixed on the receiver’s end.
On the other hand, a hard bounce is when an email is bounced back for permanent reasons. This is a more severe problem than a soft bounce. This bounce generally happens immediately, as soon as you send the Email. Not all hard bounces can be fixed because some hard bounces happen if an email doesn’t exist anymore or a receiver has blocked your Email.
But some hard bounces can be fixed. It could be as simple as checking the email to ensure it’s spelled correctly, or the problem could be more complicated.
Possible Reasons for Email Bounce Back
The best way to prevent Email bounces back is by avoiding them altogether. Recognizing what causes them will help you know how to prevent them before they happen.
Possible Reasons for Soft Bounces:
- A full mailbox
- The recipient’s server was down or offline
- The message was too large
Soft bounce issues are frequently resolved by trying to send the Email again later. Rarely is a soft bounce the sender’s fault?
Possible Reasons for Hard Bounces:
- The recipient’s Email was invalid
- Incorrect domain name
- Delivery blocked
- The email address doesn’t exist
Some email domains like a government or an institution have spam filters on their emails that automatically block certain emails, or it is possible someone stopped your Email on purpose. One of the best ways to avoid email bounceback is by enabling double opt-in when a user signs up for an email list.
The user will enter their Email and then be emailed a link and must open it and confirm their Email. This dramatically reduces the number of spam email addresses on your email list; thus, a bounce back before it happens.
What is an Acceptable Email Bounce Rate?
The lower the bounceback rate, the better. A bounceback rate of 2% or lower is the standard to aim for. This means less than two percent of your emails are bounced back to you. You may find that bounceback rates fluctuate with each Email you send, which is normal. However, any drastic changes should be a red flag.
If your back bounce rate is anywhere from 2-4%, you should investigate why, and if it’s above 10%, you should take immediate steps to lower the back bounce rate.
How to Decrease Email Bounce Rate?
Email can be a powerful tool for your business, but it can also be frustrating and quickly take up valuable time.
Knowing how to analyze your email analytics—opens, clicks, unsubscribes, bounce back rates, etc.—is key to understanding how to decrease your bounce back rate.
The higher your email volume, the harder it is to handle. The best way to prevent email bounce back is to do things right the first time.
Bluedot Email is your all-in-one solution to anything related to email marketing. Let Bluedot Email handle your email marketing, so you have more time to focus on your business.
From assisting you in writing the perfect and compelling subject line to creating a personalized video email campaign and becoming an expert email marketer, Bluedot Email is ready to help you connect to your audience, convert emails to sales, and grow your business.
