What Is a Bounce Rate in Email Marketing?
Bounce rate in email marketing refers to the percentage of emails sent that could not be delivered to recipients’ inboxes and were returned (or “bounced back”) to the sender
. This metric is crucial for evaluating the health of your email list and the effectiveness of your campaigns.
How Is Bounce Rate Calculated?
The bounce rate is calculated using the following formula:
Email Bounce Rate (%)=(Number of Bounced EmailsNumber of Emails Sent)×100\text{Email Bounce Rate (%)}=\left(\frac{\text{Number of Bounced Emails}}{\text{Number of Emails Sent}}\right)\times 100Email Bounce Rate (%)=(Number of Emails SentNumber of Bounced Emails)×100
For example, if you send 1,000 emails and 50 bounce, your bounce rate is (50/1,000) × 100 = 5%
Types of Email Bounces
- Hard Bounce: Permanent delivery failures, such as invalid or non-existent email addresses.
- Soft Bounce: Temporary issues, like a full inbox or a problem with the recipient’s mail server
Why Does Bounce Rate Matter?
A high bounce rate can indicate problems with your email list quality (such as outdated or fake addresses) and can negatively affect your sender reputation, potentially leading to your emails being marked as spam or blocked by email service providers
What Is a Good Bounce Rate?
- Below 2%: Considered healthy and normal.
- 2%–5%: Warning level; review your list and practices.
- Above 5%: Critical; immediate action needed to clean your list and improve deliverability
Key Takeaways
- Bounce rate measures the percentage of undelivered emails in your campaign
- Keeping your bounce rate low is essential for effective email marketing and maintaining a good sender reputation.
- Regularly clean your email list and use permission-based sign-ups to reduce bounce rates
A low bounce rate means your emails are reaching more recipients, maximizing your campaign’s potential impact.
