How do soft bounces and unsubscribe rates impact Gmail sender reputation during IP warming?

Email marketer from Constant Contact explains that while you are IP Warming you should take care to avoid soft bounces and spam traps to ensure a good Sender Reputation. High unsubscribe rates early on signal that recipients aren't expecting your emails, which can hurt your sender reputation and future deliverability.

Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that if unsub-click makes up a high % ratio of uClick it generally indicates “friction” - which speaks to more macro issues of relevance, over-communication, etc.

Email marketer from Mailjet shares that during IP warming, high soft bounce rates suggest sending to invalid or inactive addresses, damaging sender reputation with Gmail. They add that elevated unsubscribe rates early on can signal that recipients didn't opt-in or the content isn't relevant, leading to lower engagement and potentially harming sender reputation.

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum explains that soft bounces and a ton of unsubscribes early on are red flags. You gotta scrub your list *before* you start warming up. Gmail will think you're just a spammer if you don't.

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that if you know an inbox is full, why not skip that one for a bit? They prefer setting up skipping these. No point in sending an email when you know it’s a high chance of bouncing.

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor explains that a sudden increase in soft bounces or unsubscribe rates during IP warming is a warning sign that something is wrong with your list or your sending practices. ISPs use these metrics to judge the legitimacy of your email, and high rates can lead to deliverability problems.

Email marketer from Email on Acid responds that High soft bounce rates during IP warming can indicate poor list quality, signaling to Gmail that the sender isn't practicing good email hygiene. Unsubscribes, especially when disproportionately high, raise red flags about consent and relevance, which can negatively impact sender reputation and inbox placement.

Email marketer from Reddit explains that soft bounces from full inboxes and high unsubscribes during warm-up can flag your emails as unwanted, even if they're not technically spam. Google wants to see engaged users, so cleaning your list and targeting engaged subscribers is critical early on.

Email marketer from Litmus explains that both soft bounces and unsubscribes can have an impact on sender reputation during IP warming. High bounce rates can indicate problems with your list, while high unsubscribes can indicate that recipients are not interested in your content.

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that users with full mailboxes generally have neglected their account and likely have not engaged with your emails in quite some time. So you should consider your engagement targeting strategy if you are mailing to these users resulting in mailbox full soft bounce.

Email marketer from ZeroBounce says that soft bounces and unsubscribes during IP warming need prompt action. Clean your list and fix your targeting if you want to avoid a bad reputation with Gmail and land in the inbox.

Email marketer from HubSpot states that during IP warming, a surge in soft bounces indicates poor list quality, making Gmail wary of your sending practices. Also, High unsubscribe rates early on signal that recipients aren't expecting your emails, which can hurt your sender reputation and future deliverability.

Email marketer from GlockApps shares that persistent soft bounces during IP warming show Gmail you're not cleaning your list. High unsubscribes mean people don't want your emails and can trigger spam filters, hurting your deliverability to everyone else.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that engagement on a clicked link is better than a spam click and so unsubscribes are more of a positive thing.

Expert from Email Geeks responds about soft bounces for over quota and indicates that you might not be using the cleanest data to send with. They advise to go back and look at the data you’re using to warm up and rethink the segmentation.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that a high complaint rate at Gmail is certainly a negative rep indicator that can cause problems but actual unsubscribes are a positive thing

Expert from Email Geeks shares that MBPs like to see unsubs being used vs spam complaints being submitted and isn't sure they actively track which link is being tracked that closely though.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that their biggest worry would be that the engagement data from 2 months ago isn’t reliable. Unless they were regularly having problems with over quota gmail mailboxes, this is twigging their ‘something is off here’ radar.

Expert from Word to the Wise shares that during IP warming, high soft bounces and unsubscribes often stem from poor list acquisition. Using older, unengaged lists or scraping addresses is a recipe for deliverability disaster. Focus on permission-based acquisition to ensure recipients actually want your mail.

Expert from Spam Resource responds that when warming up an IP for an existing email program, high soft bounces due to outdated addresses and excessive unsubscribes indicate underlying issues. These signals impact the overall reputation of the new IP address and future deliverability if not corrected during the initial warm-up phase.

Documentation from Mailchimp explains that during IP warming, high soft bounce rates can indicate that you are sending to invalid or inactive addresses, which can damage your sender reputation. Also, High unsubscribe rates can indicate that recipients are not expecting your emails, which can also damage your sender reputation.

Documentation from MailerQ Documentation explains that soft bounces can be particularly harmful during IP warming, because they can indicate that your IP is being used by someone who is not a legitimate sender. High unsubscribe rates also tell ISPs that your mail is unwanted.

Documentation from SparkPost Documentation explains that soft bounces, especially due to full inboxes or temporary server issues, can degrade sender reputation if persistent. High unsubscribe rates during IP warming indicate a mismatch between expectations and delivery, prompting Gmail to view the sender with caution, affecting deliverability.

Documentation from SendGrid shares that soft bounces, such as those caused by mailbox full errors, should be monitored closely during IP warming, as they can lead to deliverability issues if not addressed. They also say that a sudden spike in unsubscribe rates can alert ISPs like Gmail that there's a problem with the sender's practices, which can throttle or block emails.

Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools Help explains that consistently high soft bounce rates can negatively impact sender reputation by indicating issues with list hygiene or sending practices. High unsubscribe rates, while not directly penalized, can indirectly affect reputation if they reflect poor targeting or content relevance.