Summary
Across experts, marketers, and email service documentation, the overwhelming consensus is that maintaining a low bounce rate is crucial for a healthy sender reputation and email deliverability. While the ideal threshold varies, most recommend staying below 2%, with some striving for under 1% or even 0.5%. High bounce rates are viewed as indicators of poor list hygiene, inadequate permission practices, and sending to invalid/uninterested recipients, ultimately leading to deliverability issues, emails marked as spam, and potentially account suspension. Proactive monitoring, list cleaning, immediate hard bounce suppression, and effective bounce handling are essential to combat these issues.
Key findings
- Acceptable Bounce Rate: Aim for a bounce rate below 2%, with some advocating for rates below 1% or even 0.5%.
- Negative Impact: High bounce rates significantly damage sender reputation and email deliverability.
- Indicator of List Quality: Bounce rates serve as a key indicator of list quality, permission practices, and overall list hygiene.
- Action Required: High bounce rates require prompt action, including cleaning lists, suppressing bounces, and investigating the source of invalid addresses.
Key considerations
- List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove invalid, inactive, and uninterested recipients.
- Permission Practices: Implement robust permission practices, such as double opt-in, to ensure you're only sending to engaged and valid email addresses.
- Bounce Suppression: Immediately suppress hard bounces and manage soft bounces effectively to avoid repeated delivery attempts to invalid addresses.
- Monitoring & Analysis: Continuously monitor bounce rates and analyze the reasons behind them to identify and address underlying issues.
What email marketers say
14 marketer opinions
The consensus among email marketers is that maintaining a low bounce rate is crucial for a healthy sender reputation and good email deliverability. Most sources suggest keeping bounce rates below 2%, with some aiming for even lower thresholds (1% or even 0.5%). High bounce rates signal problems with list quality and data collection practices, potentially leading to deliverability issues and damage to sender reputation. Regular list cleaning, monitoring bounce rates, and immediate action upon detecting spikes are highly recommended.
Key opinions
- Acceptable Threshold: Most marketers aim for a bounce rate below 2%, with some striving for even lower rates (1% or 0.5%).
- Reputation Impact: High bounce rates negatively impact sender reputation, potentially leading to deliverability issues and emails being marked as spam.
- Data Quality Signal: Bounce rates serve as a signal for data quality, indicating potential problems with list hygiene and data collection practices.
- Actionable Insight: Monitoring bounce rates and taking immediate action upon detecting spikes is essential.
Key considerations
- List Hygiene: Regularly clean email lists to remove invalid addresses and maintain a healthy sending reputation.
- Bounce Suppression: Suppress hard bounces immediately to prevent repeated attempts to invalid addresses.
- Monitoring: Monitor bounce rates regularly to identify and address potential problems promptly.
- Data Collection: Ensure good data collection practices, such as double opt-in, to minimize the risk of invalid addresses.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks explains they look at bounce percentage as a signal for data quality, suggesting a rate below 2% generally indicates good data collection practices.
11 Feb 2024 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Email marketer from Constant Contact suggests that a clean email list reduces bounce rates, and will contribute to a solid sender reputation.
12 Feb 2024 - Constant Contact
What the experts say
4 expert opinions
Experts agree that bounce rate is a key indicator of sender reputation and list health. Sending to non-existent addresses indicates poor permission practices and a lack of list maintenance, damaging sender reputation. Aiming for a low bounce rate, ideally below 4% for initial sends and 1% for subsequent sends, is critical. High bounce rates signal issues that require proactive monitoring and addressing, including improving list hygiene practices.
Key opinions
- Reputation Indicator: Bounce rate is a key indicator of sender reputation and list health.
- Permission & Maintenance: Sending to non-existent addresses indicates poor permission practices and a lack of list maintenance.
- Acceptable Threshold: Aim for a bounce rate below 4% for initial sends and 1% for subsequent sends.
- Proactive Action: High bounce rates require proactive monitoring and addressing, including improved list hygiene.
Key considerations
- Permission Practices: Ensure adequate permission practices to collect valid email addresses.
- List Maintenance: Regularly clean and maintain your email list to remove invalid or inactive addresses.
- Monitoring: Monitor bounce rates consistently and investigate any significant increases.
- Proactive Addressing: Take proactive steps to improve list hygiene and address the root causes of high bounce rates.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks shares that clients should aim for delivery failures to non-existent addresses to be below 4% for the first send and below 1% for subsequent sends.
6 Nov 2024 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from SpamResource responds that a high bounce rate is a sign of poor list hygiene and can severely damage your sender reputation, leading to deliverability issues. Maintaining a clean and engaged list is crucial.
8 Apr 2024 - SpamResource
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Email service providers such as Google, Microsoft, SparkPost, and AWS emphasize the critical importance of maintaining low bounce rates for a healthy sender reputation. High bounce rates, especially sudden spikes or repeated soft bounces, can lead to filtering, blocking, emails being marked as spam, and even account suspension. Effective bounce handling and monitoring are essential for reaching the inbox and maintaining a positive sender reputation.
Key findings
- Negative Impact: High bounce rates negatively impact sender reputation.
- Potential Consequences: High bounce rates can lead to filtering, blocking, and emails being marked as spam.
- Importance of Handling: Effective bounce handling is essential for a good sender reputation.
- Account Risk: High bounce rates and complaints can result in account suspension (AWS).
Key considerations
- Monitoring: Monitor bounce rates closely to identify potential problems.
- Bounce Handling: Implement effective bounce handling mechanisms to remove invalid addresses from your list.
- List Hygiene: Maintain a clean email list to minimize bounce rates and protect sender reputation.
- Complaint Rates: Manage complaints effectively, as they also affect sender reputation (especially relevant for AWS SES).
Technical article
Documentation from Microsoft explains that monitoring bounce rates is essential for maintaining a good sender reputation with Outlook.com. High bounce rates can lead to emails being marked as spam.
8 Aug 2024 - Microsoft
Technical article
Documentation from SparkPost defines hard bounces as permanent delivery failures, immediately harming reputation. Soft bounces are temporary issues, but repeated soft bounces can also negatively impact sender reputation over time.
28 Sep 2021 - SparkPost
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