You’ve created the perfect HTML (email) complete with an eye-catching subject line that everyone is sure to open. You send it out to your fresh, updated list and when you check the analytics, the open rate is slim and there are too many bounces. WHAT!? Truth is, we’ve been there too.

In simple terms, a bounced email doesn’t arrive in the recipient’s inbox and is sent back. But there’s more to it. Emails can bounce for several reasons. There are hard bounces, soft bounces and even general bounces.

Hard Bounce

A hard bounce email is returned to the sender and permanently undeliverable. Hard bounces can occur for many reasons, including typos, changed address; the email recipient’s mail server has blocked your server or there is an invalid domain.

Soft Bounce

Soft bounces get to the recipient’s server but bounce back due to recipient issues like auto reply, large email, full mailbox or the recipient’s server is down.

Other Bounces

Transient bounces occur when the message could not be delivered but the server is still trying.

Mail blocks can also cause bounces. This happens when the recipient’s inbox recognizes the email as spam, has settings to block attachments or has blocked the send email address.

So, now that you know what types of email bounces you received, how do you adjust for the next send? There are a few steps you can take.

• Use double opt-in lists. This means the email address has subscribed and requested to receive emails.
• Make sure email addresses are spelled and formatted correctly and that the account has not been deleted.
• Check the domains to make sure spam filters aren’t catching emails.