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Bounced emails occur when an email message fails to reach the intended recipient’s mailbox provider or ISP. These bounces can be classified into different types, including soft bounce, hard bounce, technical bounce, block bounce, or unknown bounce.
A hard bounce occurs when the email address is permanently closed or does not exist and cannot receive any further electronic messages. In contrast, a soft bounce occurs when an email message fails to deliver due to a temporary issue, such as a full inbox or a server outage. Email service providers may label a soft bounce as hard if the email message fails to deliver after several attempts.
Email messages can bounce for various reasons, including server outages, incorrect email addresses, spam complaints, or a poor sender reputation. A restrictive DMARC record for the sending domain or flagged content in the message content can also cause email bounces.
While email bounces may not be a significant issue, reducing bounce rates can improve email deliverability and engagement. Some useful tips to reduce bounce rates include sending emails only to opted-in email addresses, regularly sending emails, decluttering email lists by removing unengaged emails and adopting a double opt-in process to obtain email addresses.
Additionally, monitoring email deliverability metrics such as bounce rates, open rates, click-through rates, and spam complaints can help identify and address bounce problems before they become significant issues. Maintaining a good sender reputation is essential by following email marketing best practices and complying with email providers’ policies and standards.
In conclusion, understanding the different types of email bounces and their causes is crucial to improving email deliverability and engagement. Email marketers can reduce bounce rates and ensure their messages reach their intended recipients by following email marketing best practices, regularly monitoring email deliverability metrics, and maintaining a good sender reputation.
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