Is it bad to email addresses that keep soft bouncing?
Summary
What email marketers say17Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests using hard and soft bounces to inform where bad data is coming from and fixing it at the source, and updating the opt-in status or deleting bad addresses in an internal database/CRM.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that default soft bounce tolerance is how many times on separate sends an email can soft bounce before the address is made inactive. Suggests the importance of setting a soft bounce tolerance policy, even a high one.
Email marketer from SendGrid Documentation advises treating soft bounces similarly to hard bounces, recommending immediate suppression. They indicate that a soft bounce often means the email cannot be delivered now or in the future. While retrying once or twice might be acceptable, persistent soft bounces should result in permanent removal from the mailing list.
Email marketer from HubSpot Blog advises closely monitoring soft bounce data and acting on it promptly. They explain that consistently sending to soft bouncing addresses can lead to deliverability issues, lower engagement rates, and damage to your sender reputation. They recommend setting up rules to automatically unsubscribe contacts who repeatedly soft bounce.
Email marketer from Reddit suggests that while you can retry a soft bounce a couple of times, repeatedly emailing those addresses is damaging. Once an address soft bounces 3-5 times, it is best to assume it is no longer valid and remove it from the list to protect sender reputation.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign Blog emphasizes the importance of cleaning your email lists regularly, including removing addresses that soft bounce repeatedly. Continuing to send to these addresses can hurt your deliverability rates because ISPs may view you as a sender who does not maintain a clean list. A clean list helps ensure higher engagement and a better sender reputation.
Email marketer from MailerQ Blog explains that persistently soft bouncing email addresses are a signal to slow down sending or remove the address. Repeated soft bounces indicate that the mailbox provider is having issues with the sender or the recipient's address is no longer valid. Continuing to send to these addresses can negatively impact your sender reputation.
Email marketer from Validity's Return Path Blog emphasizes that effectively managing bounces, including soft bounces, is a critical component of email deliverability. Sending to addresses that consistently soft bounce indicates a problem with list quality and can damage your sender reputation, potentially leading to blacklisting and lower inbox placement rates.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that different soft bounce types have different risk factors and that mailbox full soft bounces should not be retried forever.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor explains that although soft bounces are typically a temporary delivery failure, ongoing soft bounces can negatively affect your sender reputation and reduce the chance your emails will reach your subscribers' inboxes. They recommend using automated list management to automatically remove soft bounces.
Email marketer from Litmus Blog stresses the importance of email list hygiene, including monitoring and addressing soft bounces. Persistently sending to addresses generating soft bounces can lead to lower engagement rates, and negatively impact inbox placement. Regular list cleaning is critical for maintaining a good sender reputation.
Email marketer from StackExchange explains that continuing to send emails to addresses that consistently soft bounce can lead to ISP's reducing trust and marking future emails as spam. Maintaining a clean list by removing soft bounces will improve deliverability.
Email marketer from Email on Acid Blog advises removing addresses that repeatedly soft bounce to protect your IP reputation. They explain that ISPs monitor bounce rates to assess the quality and legitimacy of senders. High soft bounce rates indicate a lack of list hygiene and can lead to blacklisting and reduced deliverability.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that at their ESP, email addresses are eligible for future campaigns after a soft bounce. Suggests implementing a strong sunset policy to remove persistent soft bounces and unengaged recipients.
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests asking the ESP about removing addresses after a certain number of soft bounces in a row, and mentions that their company kicks addresses off the list after three days of consecutive soft bounces.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that they set up an automation to unsubscribe anyone with three or more bounces ever, using Iterable.
Email marketer from Email Geeks states personal preference to suppress soft bounces after multiple bounces over 3+ weeks without recorded activity, and then un-suppress after a recorded open/click.
What the experts say2Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise (Laura Atkins) explains how bad data, including addresses with soft bounces, degrades deliverability and that a focus on data quality is critical for successful email programs.
Expert from Spam Resource emphasizes the importance of proactively managing bounces, including soft bounces, as part of maintaining good list hygiene. Ignoring soft bounces can lead to deliverability issues and damage your sender reputation. They recommend implementing a system to automatically unsubscribe addresses that consistently generate soft bounces after a certain number of attempts.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Oracle Responsys advises managing both hard and soft bounces to ensure optimal deliverability. Sending emails to addresses that repeatedly soft bounce can harm your sender reputation. Implementing processes to identify and suppress such addresses is vital for maintaining high deliverability rates.
Documentation from SparkPost clarifies that continuously sending to addresses with soft bounces can hurt your sender reputation. While soft bounces are temporary, repeated occurrences indicate a problem. Monitor bounce rates and have a strategy for suppressing those contacts.
Documentation from Mailchimp explains that while soft bounces might seem temporary, repeatedly sending to addresses that generate soft bounces can negatively impact your sender reputation. They state that ISPs use bounce rates as a metric to determine the quality of a sender and high bounce rates can lead to emails being marked as spam.
Documentation from Amazon Web Services explains that sending emails to addresses that generate repeated bounces (both hard and soft) can negatively impact your sender reputation. They suggest monitoring bounce rates and removing addresses that consistently bounce to maintain deliverability and avoid being flagged as a spammer.
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