In this article, we will discuss email bounces and what you can do to reduce your email bounce rate . With our advice and ActiveCampaign's decades of experience in the industry, you can turn your email marketing strategy around. Try out ActiveCampaign 's power now .
What is an email bounce?
An email bounce is an error message that you may receive immediately after sending an email, if the email you sent was not delivered. In this case, your email server or the destination server sends a non-delivery report (NDR) and an error message tells you why your email was not delivered.
To understand what an email bounce is, we must first answer the question: what are the steps involved in delivering an email ?
Fill in the “ From ” (sender) and “ To ” (recipient) fields , then click the “ Send ” button.
Your email is handed over to a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol ( SMTP ) server for delivery. Think of SMTP as a post office.
The SMTP server verifies your email against the DNS (Domain Name Server) server - this is a sort of address book for your domain and IP servers.
Once your recipient is identified, the SMTP server forwards your message to its MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) to complete the delivery. The MTA is a bit like the postman in our scenario.
Your email is successfully delivered to your recipient's inbox .
Sometimes, however, this last step does not happen as expected and we find ourselves faced with a bounce.
What causes email bounces, or non-delivery?
Reasons for a bounce can be a full mailbox , a server that does not respond properly, sending to an address that no longer exists , or sending to a fake address . There are several reasons for receiving a bounce notification.
The cause could be temporary, but also permanent. In order to solve the problem of a bounce, you must first understand what category your bounce email belongs to. There are three types of bounces:
Soft
Hard
Blocked Emails
light bulbTip: Don't delete your bounce email!
Keep the notification to understand why the message was not delivered : it may include, for example, the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) error code. Email providers also sometimes include messages to explain these codes. You will need to read these emails carefully to understand the reason for the failure.
See our list of the most common failure codes
Soft bounce
A bounce is called a “ soft ” bounce when a server afghanistan whatsapp number data 5 million temporarily rejects an email – most email services attempt to resend a message after a soft bounce. Here are some of the most common causes of a soft bounce:
Inbox full: The recipient of the email has received too many messages, reaching the maximum capacity. In this case, your message will bounce until the mailbox has been freed up.
Email Size: If you include large images in your emails, or add attachments weighing many gigabytes, your emails are likely to be “bounced,” especially if the recipient has a bounce filter.
Server Down - A server may have crashed, been overloaded, or undergoing maintenance. This means you will have to wait and send the message to that address later.
Auto-Reply: If the recipient is on vacation and has set up an auto-reply message, your email is likely not to be delivered.
Hard bounce
A hard bounce occurs when your email is permanently undeliverable to a particular address. Causes include:
Fake Email Address: Some people provide fake email addresses. This is more likely to happen if you ask for an address online in exchange for something, such as content or a discount. Setting up a double opt-in helps prevent this type of bounce.
Incorrect email address: There is no spell checker in the “address” field of emails and mistakes can happen.
Blocked Email: Some domains (such as government or institutional ones) have very strict spam filters. Or, the recipient may have blocked your email address on purpose. In the first case, simply ask the recipient to add your address to their contacts.
The problem of a hard bounce email cannot be solved immediately: the only thing you can do is remove these addresses from your mailing list . If you do not do this and continue to send messages to these people, you run the risk of having your address blocked.
Blocked emails (spam)
About 85% of emails sent every day are considered spam. Email block lists are created by ESPs (email service providers) to filter out malicious or fraudulent content , such as spam or malware . They were not created to frustrate you, but to protect recipients from the nearly 300 billion emails sent every day.
Why do emails get blocked? It usually happens because of:
Spam Complaints: An occasional complaint is unpleasant, but to be expected. If complaints about you build up to a certain level, providers may decide to put your messages in the spam folder or on a blacklist.
High bounce rate : If you don’t clean your email lists, your bounce rate will start to rise.
Increased list or email volume: If your list is growing too quickly, it's a warning sign: you may have purchased a list of addresses. So, if you start sending a huge number of emails, your address will be suspected of being spam.
Bad content: The content of your emails could be considered spam if you routinely use suspicious words in the subject line, such as “OFFER” written in all caps and followed by 17 exclamation points.
Being put on a block list can be a simple inconvenience, or it can mean that your campaign will not be delivered to any of your subscribers. Major ISPs have block lists. However, the most popular lists are public and are used by providers and companies around the world. How do you get off a block list ?
