How do bounces impact email deliverability and how can I minimize them?
Summary
What email marketers say11Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Litmus explains the importance of monitoring and analyzing bounce codes to understand the reasons behind bounces. This allows for targeted improvements to email sending practices and list hygiene, ultimately reducing future bounces and improving deliverability.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign recommends using double opt-in to ensure that subscribers have actively confirmed their interest in receiving emails. This reduces the likelihood of invalid or mistyped email addresses ending up on the list, leading to fewer bounces.
Email marketer from Email on Acid details that employing email authentication methods like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC can improve deliverability and reduce bounces. These methods help verify the sender's identity and prevent spoofing, leading to fewer emails being marked as spam or bounced.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum emphasizes using email verification tools to validate email addresses before sending. This helps identify and remove invalid, disposable, or spam-trap email addresses, significantly reducing bounce rates.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that regular email list cleaning is essential for maintaining good deliverability. They suggest using an email verification service to remove invalid, inactive, or risky addresses that can lead to bounces.
Email marketer from Mailchimp Support shares that maintaining a clean email list is crucial for minimizing bounces. This includes removing unsubscribed contacts, correcting typos, and using an email verification service to identify and remove invalid or risky email addresses.
Email marketer from Constant Contact explains how spam filters can impact deliverability. Understanding what triggers spam filters and avoiding those practices can minimize bounces and improve email inbox placement. Common triggers include using spammy words, sending from blacklisted IPs, and failing authentication checks.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that using confirmed opt-in methods helps ensure only valid and willing addresses are on the list, minimizing bounces. Excessive bounces can negatively impact sending reputation by signaling to mailbox providers that the sender may not be sending to valid addresses.
Email marketer from HubSpot points out that low engagement rates, such as opens and clicks, can negatively impact deliverability and increase the likelihood of emails being marked as spam or bounced. Strategies for improving engagement include segmenting lists, personalizing content, and sending relevant emails.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests examining bounce errors and codes for soft bounces to understand the reasons behind the bounces. He advises that it's worth looking at why it's happening as if a lot of typos or non existent domains are getting on your list, then that's not ideal.
Email marketer from ZeroBounce shares that real-time email address validation at the point of entry can prevent invalid or typoed addresses from ever entering your list. This significantly reduces bounce rates and improves overall deliverability.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks shares that bounce rates under 2% have little impact on deliverability. This can be achieved through proper bounce handling and employing address collection methods that reduce the likelihood of non-deliverable addresses.
Expert from Email Geeks states that if domains don't exist, the mail never leaves the MTA. She highlights the underlying issue of a flawed address collection process leading to non-existent domain opt-ins, suggesting it indicates a deeper problem that could harm deliverability in the long term.
Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, emphasizes the importance of monitoring bounce rates to understand deliverability issues. She explains that different bounce codes provide insights into the reasons for bounces (e.g., invalid addresses, spam complaints, temporary failures). Understanding these codes helps in implementing corrective actions.
Expert from Spam Resource, Steve Linford, suggests several methods for reducing hard bounces, including implementing double opt-in, regularly cleaning lists of inactive subscribers, and utilizing feedback loops to remove complainers immediately. He highlights that hard bounces damage sender reputation and should be minimized as much as possible.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from RFC explains that understanding SMTP error codes is crucial for diagnosing bounce issues. Error codes provide valuable information about the reason for the bounce, allowing senders to take appropriate action to fix the problem.
Documentation from SparkPost explains that hard bounces (permanent delivery failures) significantly harm sender reputation and must be promptly removed. Soft bounces (temporary issues) should be monitored and addressed if they persist, as they can also negatively impact deliverability over time.
Documentation from Postmark highlights the importance of automatically suppressing bounced email addresses to prevent future sending attempts. This helps maintain a clean sender reputation and avoid being flagged as a spammer.
Documentation from SendGrid explains that high bounce rates negatively impact sender reputation, leading ISPs to filter or block emails. Minimizing bounces involves practices like using double opt-in, regularly cleaning email lists, and properly handling bounce notifications to remove invalid addresses.