Any digital marketer will tell you that high bounce rates can cripple a good email campaign. When your message isn’t delivered to your contacts, the purpose of your entire campaign is lost. In order to make sure your emails always go through, consult our list of ways to improve your bounce rate.
What is a Bounce Rate?
A bounce rate signifies the percentage of messages sent that did not go through to the recipient. There are two different types of bounces: soft and hard.
Soft Bounce
A soft bounce occurs when an email reaches the recipient’s server but is then returned back to the sender. They usually happen when the recipient’s mailbox is full or their email server is down.
They can also arise when an email is too big. Soft bounces are usually temporary and can go through when the existing problems are resolved.
Hard Bounce
A hard bounce is when an email cannot be delivered because of a permanent issue. This could be due to:
- A nonexistent email address
- An invalid domain name
- A blocked email address
Sending Confirmations
To even receive emails from a company, you would have had to sign-up to get on the List to begin with. A good way to ensure that every email on your list is accurate and valid is to send confirmation emails after sign-up.
If a confirmation email bounces, you can then remove that entry from your list to improve your bounce rate in the future.
Allow Updates
Sometimes user’s information changes. You should allow contacts on your list to change or update information if need be.
If your business operates through an online shop, you should require customers to review and verify their contact information before all transactions.
Optimize your Emails
Emails can occasionally be bounced if they are recognized as spam. Often, spam filters on servers will weed out any emails that seem too promotional.
Frequent keywords like giveaway, limited time offer, and apply online can likely trigger this recognition. Weird formatting or punctuation can also do the trick.
Keep your subject lines in mind, too. This is usually the first thing that spam filters look at and if it seems too promotional, your email will be bounced. Just make sure that your email and its corresponding subject line are always personalized and not overly promotional.
Review your Lists
An easy way to lower your bounce rate is by doing a manual review of your lists to remove illegitimate emails. There are even list-hygiene services that can do it for you.
Comb through your contact lists and take out any emails that are incorrectly spelt, without an @ symbol or without a valid address. This may fix any of the issues that typically cause a high bounce rate.
Bounce rates can be tricky. If you are diligent about your lists and the emails you send, you should be able to get yours where you want it to be.
