Why Your Bounce Rate Matters More Than Ever

Bounce rate is the share of messages that could not be delivered. It looks like a housekeeping metric, but providers use it to judge whether you know your audience.

What is a healthy rate

A common rule of thumb is a hard bounce rate below 2% per campaign. Anything above 5% is a warning sign, and above that you risk throttling or blocks.

What pushes it up

• Old lists that were never cleaned
• Typos and fake addresses from sign-up forms
• Purchased or scraped lists
• Imports from events and partners

Why it matters now

With stricter provider rules, a bounce spike is no longer a minor nuisance. It can lower your reputation for every message you send afterwards, including transactional mail.

How to bring it down

1. Verify the list with an email checker or the bulk verifier.
2. Remove hard bounces after every send.
3. Add real-time checks to sign-up forms.
4. Re-check inactive contacts before big campaigns.

Measure it

Compare the bounce rate of the last three campaigns. A downward trend after cleaning is the clearest proof the effort paid off.