Glossary
What is bounce rate?
In email, the bounce rate is the share of messages that could not be delivered, usually because the address does not exist. A high bounce rate tells mail providers a sender is guessing addresses, and they start sending its mail to junk.
What is the difference between hard and soft bounces?
A hard bounce means the address is wrong or gone, and it will never work. A soft bounce is a passing problem, such as a full inbox or a server that is down for a while. Hard bounces are the ones that hurt a sender's name.
How do you keep it low?
- Check addresses before the first send.
- Never send to an address that has bounced before.
- Be wary of old lists: people change jobs, and their work addresses close.
A website's bounce rate, the share of visits that leave after one page, is a different number with the same name.
What does Propel do?
An address that bounced is never written to again, from any campaign. Propel keeps the bounce and opt-out trend for each mailbox and each sending domain, so a rise shows early. See Get customers.