A soft bounce happens when an email cannot reach the recipient’s inbox. Unlike a hard bounce, which indicates an invalid or non-existent address, a soft bounce is most commonly the result of situations like an inbox full, server downtime, or email size restrictions.
Soft bounces, as frustrating as they are, are not the death of your email list – they’re a speed bump, not a dead end.
Let the data speak
- 45% of marketers report that email deliverability issues, including soft bounces, affect their campaign results.
- 8.4% of all emails are bounces of some sort – half-soft bounces.
- Gmail and Outlook are responsible for over 60% of soft bounces due to their aggressive spam and security filters.
Second chances
A soft bounce is a second chance – fix the issue, and your message can still land where it belongs.
This quote proves that a soft bounce is not the worst thing to happen to your email – it’s a solvable issue for now. Unlike a hard bounce, where the email address has been deemed invalid and must be removed from your list, a soft bounce happens due to solvable issues like the inbox being full of messages, the server being down, or mail size limits.
Companies improving email deliverability
Airbnb saw a growing rate of soft bounces due to users signing up with temporary or inactive emails. To address this, they executed real-time email verification at sign-up and created re-engagement campaigns to prompt users to change their emails. This reduced soft bounces by 27% in six months.
Another example is Amazon, which noticed that transactional emails (order confirmations) bounced due to the presence of full inboxes. Their solution? They sent reminders at optimal times when inboxes were less packed, segmented users based on engagement levels to concentrate on deliverability, and reduced email size to avoid ISP limits. This resulted in their soft bounce rate falling 30% over a year, improving customer communication.
Getting those emails delivered
Challenge: Soft bounces are less destructive than hard bounces, but ongoing soft bounces can harm email deliverability.
Solution:
- Use software like ZeroBounce or NeverBounce to screen out troublesome addresses before sending.
- Avoid sending large attachments or overly complex formatting that can trigger bounces.
- Regularly check bounce statistics to identify trends and implement necessary adjustments.
- If registering a new email domain, gradually warm it up to establish trust with ISPs and minimize bounce risks.
How to avoid soft bounces
- Verify emails before sending.
- Avoid rush hours when inboxes are busy.
- Ensure your domain is not blacklisted.
- Adhere to ISP rules.
- Monitor bounce rates.
