10 Ways to Decrease Your Email Bounce Rate

Email bounce is frustrating. You spend time carefully crafting your message, value prop, and Call To Action. You hit the Send button, but nothing happens.

Odds are good you’ve been bit by email bounce. But what can you do about it?

What is email bounce?

Email bounce means that your email wasn’t delivered to the recipient’s address and is sent back to you with the error message.

Consider this: a subscriber voluntarily hands over their email address with the expectation of receiving valuable information from you. In return, they end up not getting it. It boils down to a lose-lose situation for everyone.

Email bounce happens. The non-deliverability of emails can be due to many reasons, but one of the most important concepts is soft vs hard bounce:

  • A soft email bounce means temporary delivery problems, like when the recipient’s inbox is full or your email is too large.
  • A hard email bounce describes a permanent delivery failure, like an email sent to an inactive or invalid email address, or an outdated domain. When an email hard bounces, it won’t ever reach the recipient.

What is email bounce rate and why is it important?

Bounced emails are a common part of email marketing. So common in fact that a metric has been created to measure it called ‘Email Bounce Rate.’  But what is a high email bounce rate? And what is an acceptable bounce rate for emails?  

Your email bounce rate can be calculated by dividing the number of emails bounced by the number of total email addresses in the mailing list and then multiplying by 100.

If your email bounce rate is higher than the average 2%, then there is something that needs your attention. 

Ways to reduce your email bounce rate

Keeping email bounce rates as low as possible is your ticket to higher deliverability. Here are 10 ways to reduce your email bounce rate:

1. Clean Your List Regularly

Just like anything, a quick tidy-up now and again will keep your list healthy and active, with a low bounce rate. Start by getting rid of inactive users and people who haven’t opened your emails in a while. Use any of the Email verifiers to clean your email list before scheduling the campaign

2. No spammy content

Statistics show that more than 53% of global emails sent are spam. People don’t like spam, and neither do their spam blockers. To avoid this, don’t use images that are either too large or too small. Avoid phrases like sale, clearance, free offer, cash bonus, and similar spammy vocabulary that a spam filter will screen out.

3. Quality, worthwhile content

Related to No spammy content above is having content that is relevant and useful to the subscriber. keep in mind the preferences of your readers and send them suitable emails only. If possible, customize your content for each reader to make them feel like you’re talking only to them.

4. Use a permission-based opt-in list

If the recipient didn't opt-in to be on your mailing list, then there are chances that they can mark your email as spam. It can damage your senders' reputation and further increase the email bounce rate. Get permission beforehand by asking the user to subscribe to your newsletter.

5. Use email authentication

An email marketer should authenticate the domain name as it proves to be helpful in the long run. Get the help of a good email service provider. Verified emails give the email recipients an idea of who you claim to be and, thus, not spamming them.

6. Remove hard bounced email addresses from your list

One thing you should do in your regular list clean-up is removing hard bounced email addresses from your list. Eliminating hard bounced emails as soon as they appear will keep your email bounce rate low and healthy.

7. Ask Subscribers for Any Changes

Email addresses change. It’s very unlikely that you have the same email address now as you did at eighteen. To make sure your list is full of active email accounts, ask your subscribers to let you know if anything changes, like when they get a new job and therefore a new email address, or if they update their details in any way.

8. Avoid free sender domains

If you're using free email domains such as "@gmail.com," then your emails might end up in the spam folder. Instead, you must avoid free sender domains and use a professional business domain for the email marketing campaign.

9. Set up a preference center

Give your subscribers an option to choose and control the information they receive in emails from you. Consequently, they should decide how many emails they would like to receive from your side.

10. Improvise your strategies

Testing your email list continuously is also essential. Constantly watch your email bounce rate analytics. Keep an eye on the new emerging marketing practices. Then change and improvise your email marketing strategies.

In summary

While email bounce is inevitable in email marketing, the above ideas will help you reduce and keep your email bounce rate low so your deliverability will remain high and you can ensure your message, value proposition, and Call To Action are reaching your subscribers.