Internet has completely transformed the channel and mode through which communication occurs, and how information is exchanged and disseminated. Email, without any doubt, is a prominent means of communication in our daily operations, and for marketers, businesses, and professionals in general around the globe. But, still, handling the email campaigns can be problematic especially as for bounces’ management. Bounces are a condition whereby an e-mail message cannot be handed over to the user of the e-mail address. In this article, an attempt will be made to understand what a hard and a soft email bounce means, how they affect communications, and how they can be avoided.
Understanding Email Bounces
Email bounces are replied messages that are generated by the mail system when delivery of any email to the recipient’s mailbox is not possible. There are two types of email bounces: hard and soft. Hard bounces suggest that the email could not be delivered at all while soft bounces suggest that there was a problem with delivery at some specific time in future it might be delivered.
Hard Bounces
Permanent, actual and irreversible form of bounces where the messages delivered to the email addresses of the recipients are refused right from the sender’s extradition stage. Some common reasons for hard bounces include:
– The grammar of the email is poor with the particularity that the recipient’s email address contains typos.
MSExchange is out of space or The recipient’s mailbox is full.
The recipient’s e-mail account has been closed.
Destination’s domain is not active and probably does not exit at all.
Failed delivery of hard bounces is said to negatively affect your email campaign’s deliverability and reputation thus experiencing high bounce rates, low opens and clicks and chances of being blacklisted. You should periodically clean your email list and/or delete hard bounced off email addresses in order to keep the campaign effective.
Soft Bounces
In other words, delivery troubles short-lived can be considered as soft bounces. Some common reasons for soft bounces include:
The option is due to the full inbox of the recipient.
There are technical problems with the recipient’s email server.
– The size of the email also becomes a problem as the size is beyond the server’s limit.
Soft bounce is also different from hard bounce since they do not indicate an invalid email address. Overcoming the source of soft bounces and letting the email campaign continue will keep your sender reputation intact. However, when one email address delivers soft bounces for some time, it is advisable to exclude it from the list.
Consequences of Email Bounces
Bounce rates are very destructive to the performance of your campaign in terms of deliverability and engagement rates. Here are some consequences of bounces:
Damaged Deliverability
This results in a lot of bounces which reduces the delivery rate of the emails you are sending to your audience in your email marketing campaigns. ESPs and email servers depend on certain parameters like bounce rates in order to come up with the sender reputation and deliverability.
Reduced Engagement
Bounces also bring down the open and click-through rate since the recipients who were inactive to your emails will not open or click on the content. This could harm your campaign, and ultimately lead to a low return on investment (ROI or return on advertising investment (ROAI).
Potential Blacklisting
Extreme instances of hard bounce or high bounce rate can cause you to get black-listed; your IP or domain is black-listed. Blacklisting is highly dangerous for your email campaign since your emails will not be delivered to the target audience, and your sender reputation will be harmed.
Preventing Email Bounces
The best way to reduce the negative effects of email bounces to your campaign is to have measures that can address the causes of bounces. Here are some ways to avoid email bounces:
Clean Your Email List
It is required to update and cleanse your email list on a constant basis, this will be helpful to avoid hard bounces. Erasing invalid, inactive, and outdated email addresses because the high bounce rate and low delivery rate degrade the effectiveness.
Use Double Opt-In
Double opt-in means that you will be very sure that the addresses contained in the list are alive and accurate. This process sometimes entails that once someone subscribes to your list, you will send them an email having them confirm that yes they are interested in receiving mails from you before you add that particular email address on the mailing list.
Segment Your Email List
Mail segmentation according to the demographic factor, interest, or past behavior improves the customization of follow-up e-mails. This in turn means that bounces are limited and the chances of the e-mail delivery being flagged are improved.
shall evaluate and follow up the bounce rates.
Bounce rates particular to an email campaign can be easily tracked and by doing an analysis of the root causes of the bounce rates, certain problems can be easily mastered. This could be done by resizing your email images, and also when you want to develop your email templates or even alter the content of your e-mail.
Lease Your E-mail Services from Known Providers
Selecting an ESP with a good sender reputation means that more of your mails will get delivered to the user’s inbox instead of the spam folder. The ESPs should have to comply with general principals of emails, and with the legal conditions in relation to emails marketing such as the CAN-SPAM act in the USA.
Conclusion
First, email bounces can be a seriouschallenge to successful email marketing. When it comes to avoiding these two types, knowing the distinctions between hard and soft bounces as well as their effects will enable you to develop measures that will assist in avoiding complications to the campaigns deliverability once they reach the subscriber’s inbox. Some of the best practices that can be employed in order to avoid email bounces and thereby maintain a good sender standing include, list grooming, using double opt in list, list segmentation, monitoring of bounce rates and choosing the right ESP. Below are some guidelines and points of advice which if implemented can help you ensure that your targeted emails get to the targeted audiences and achieve great results.
