Summary
Following a one-day email volume spike, reducing soft bounces requires a multifaceted approach focused on sender reputation, list hygiene, and responsible sending practices. Experts and marketers alike stress the importance of monitoring sender reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS, identifying and suppressing problematic addresses, and warming up IP addresses after a spike. Responsible list management practices, including removing unengaged users and implementing feedback loops, are also crucial. Adjusting sending rates to throttled ISPs, ensuring proper email authentication, and segmenting lists to target engaged subscribers further mitigate the impact of a volume spike on deliverability.
Key findings
- Reputation Monitoring: Monitoring sender reputation via Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS is essential to identify and address issues post-spike.
- List Hygiene: Regularly cleaning lists by removing unengaged subscribers and bounced addresses helps maintain a healthy sender reputation.
- ISP Identification: Identifying ISPs generating soft bounces allows for targeted volume reduction and reputation improvement efforts.
- IP Warm-up: Warming up IP addresses is crucial for avoiding spam filters and ensuring deliverability after sending spikes.
- Address Removal: Removing addresses added during the spike that have not engaged improves overall engagement metrics.
- Authentication Importance: Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is vital for ISPs to verify email legitimacy.
Key considerations
- Feedback Loops: Implementing feedback loops allows automatic removal of invalid addresses.
- Throttling Mitigation: Reducing sending rates to ISPs that throttle email helps maintain deliverability.
- SMTP Error Analysis: Analyzing SMTP error codes provides clues about underlying deliverability problems.
- Segmentation Strategy: Segmenting lists to focus on engaged subscribers improves deliverability and reduces soft bounces.
- Frequency Caps: Implementing frequency capping prevents overwhelming subscribers and can improve engagement.
- Bounce Code Examination: Examining bounce codes helps understand the causes of soft bounces and implement appropriate list management strategies.
What email marketers say
11 marketer opinions
After a one-day email volume spike, reducing soft bounces involves a multi-faceted approach focusing on identifying and mitigating the causes of deliverability issues. Key strategies include monitoring and managing sender reputation with ISPs, improving list hygiene, identifying affected ISPs, re-engaging subscribers, ensuring proper email authentication, and adjusting sending practices to avoid throttling. Utilizing tools like Google Postmaster Tools, implementing feedback loops, and warming up IP addresses can further enhance deliverability.
Key opinions
- Reputation Monitoring: Closely monitor sender reputation with ISPs using tools like Google Postmaster Tools to identify and address negative impacts from the volume spike.
- List Hygiene: Regularly clean email lists by removing inactive subscribers and bounced addresses to maintain a healthy sender reputation.
- ISP Identification: Identify specific ISPs generating soft bounces to target efforts for reducing volume and improving reputation with those providers.
- Subscriber Engagement: Implement re-engagement campaigns to win back inactive subscribers and remove those who don't respond to improve sender reputation.
- Email Authentication: Ensure proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to verify email legitimacy and reduce soft bounces.
- Volume Adjustment: Gradually reduce sending volume to affected ISPs to avoid throttling and maintain deliverability.
Key considerations
- Feedback Loops: Implement feedback loops to automatically remove invalid addresses from your list, improving deliverability and sender reputation.
- IP Warm-up: If using a new IP address, implement a warm-up schedule to gradually increase sending volume and establish a positive sender reputation.
- Segmentation: Segment email lists and focus on sending targeted campaigns to engaged subscribers after a volume spike to improve deliverability.
- Frequency Capping: Implement frequency capping to limit the number of emails sent to each subscriber, preventing overwhelm and improving engagement.
- Bounce Code Analysis: Examine bounce codes to understand the reasons behind soft bounces and implement corresponding list management practices.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Quora answers that low engagement can be the reason. Focus on re-engaging your subscribers. Implement a re-engagement campaign to win back inactive subscribers and remove those who don't respond. This helps improve your sender reputation and reduces the risk of soft bounces.
1 Mar 2025 - Quora
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that the first step is to identify which ISPs are generating the soft bounces. This will help you target your efforts to reduce volume and improve reputation. Use your email analytics to identify the ISPs with the highest bounce rates and adjust your sending practices accordingly.
6 Oct 2023 - Email Marketing Forum
What the experts say
4 expert opinions
After a one-day email volume spike, reducing soft bounces requires careful list management and a focus on sender reputation. Experts advise removing unengaged addresses added during the spike and suppressing problematic ones identified by bounce codes. Throttling by ISPs like Yahoo and Gmail is a concern, necessitating a reduction in sending rates to those ISPs. Warming up your IP address slowly after such a spike is also crucial to avoid triggering spam filters.
Key opinions
- List Pruning: Removing unengaged addresses from the spike and suppressing problematic addresses identified by bounce codes is essential.
- Throttling Mitigation: Reducing sending rates to ISPs like Yahoo and Gmail that are throttling your mail is necessary to improve deliverability.
- Reputation Damage: A volume spike can damage your sender reputation, potentially leading to increased throttling and bounce rates.
- IP Warm-up: Warming up your IP address is crucial for avoiding spam filters and ensuring deliverability after a sending spike.
Key considerations
- Bounce Code Analysis: Examine bounce codes to understand the nature of the soft bounces and identify problematic addresses.
- Authentication: Ensure proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to improve deliverability and prevent soft bounces.
- Feedback Loops: Monitoring and responding to feedback loops can help identify and address deliverability issues.
- Gradual Volume Increase: Increase volume slowly and methodically when warming up your IP address to avoid triggering spam filters.
Expert view
Expert from Spamresource.com shares a step by step process that can be followed when warming up your IP - this is important after large sending spikes. The article indicates the importance of increasing volume slowly to avoid issues with ISPs and spam filters.
15 Dec 2023 - Spamresource.com
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that after a volume spike, careful list management is crucial. Examine bounce codes to understand the nature of the soft bounces. It's essential to identify and suppress problematic addresses. She also suggests ensuring proper authentication and monitoring feedback loops.
22 Feb 2025 - Word to the Wise
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Following a one-day email volume spike, documentation advises focusing on monitoring and managing sender reputation, analyzing soft bounce patterns, and implementing IP warm-up procedures. Persistent soft bounces should be treated as potential hard bounces to maintain list hygiene. Utilizing tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS is crucial for tracking domain and IP reputation. Gradual volume increases over time are essential to establish a positive sender reputation, especially for new IPs or domains.
Key findings
- Soft Bounce Monitoring: Monitor the frequency of soft bounces and treat persistent ones as potential hard bounces to maintain list hygiene.
- Reputation Tracking: Use Google Postmaster Tools to monitor domain reputation and Microsoft SNDS to monitor IP reputation, especially after a volume spike.
- SMTP Error Codes: Check specific SMTP error codes for clues about the causes of soft bounces.
- IP Warm-up: Implement a warm-up schedule for new IP addresses or domains, gradually increasing sending volume over time.
Key considerations
- Address Issues Promptly: Address any issues identified in Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS, such as spam complaints or high bounce rates.
- Avoid Large Volumes: Avoid sending large volumes of email all at once, especially to inactive subscribers.
- Proactive Reputation Management: Proactively manage sender reputation to avoid deliverability issues after a volume spike.
- Regular Analysis: Regularly analyze soft bounce patterns and SMTP error codes to identify and address underlying deliverability problems.
Technical article
Documentation from RFC explains that soft bounces are temporary delivery failures, and the server will try again. Monitor the frequency of soft bounces, and if they persist, treat them as potential hard bounces to maintain list hygiene. Check the specific SMTP error codes for clues about the cause.
13 Oct 2024 - RFC
Technical article
Documentation from Microsoft SNDS shares information about using Microsoft's Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) to monitor your IP reputation with Microsoft. Check your IP address in SNDS after the volume spike to see if it has been flagged for any issues. Resolve any reported issues to improve deliverability to Outlook.com and Hotmail users.
5 Oct 2024 - Microsoft SNDS
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