Hard Bounce vs Soft Bounce in Email Marketing: What You Need to Know

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

If you’ve been in email marketing for more than five minutes, you’ve probably come across the term “email bounce.” Whether you’re just starting out or already running massive campaigns, understanding the meaning of email bounce is crucial for improving your deliverability and sender reputation.

But here’s where it gets a bit tricky — not all bounces are created equal. There are two main types: hard bounces and soft bounces. Knowing the difference between them — and more importantly, how to deal with each — can make or break your email strategy.

Let’s dive deep into the world of email bounces, demystify what they mean, look at email bounce reasons, and help you take control of your campaign’s performance.

What Is an Email Bounce?

An email bounce happens when your email message can’t be delivered to the recipient’s inbox. Instead of landing safely, it “bounces” back to you — sometimes immediately, sometimes after several attempts. The reasons vary, but all of them fall under two main categories: hard bounces and soft bounces.

Hard Bounce Email Meaning

A hard bounce is a permanent failure. Your email is not going to reach that address. Period.

Hard Bounce Reasons Include:

• The email address doesn’t exist
• The domain name is invalid or inactive
• The recipient’s email server has blocked delivery permanently

Hard Bounce Email Example:

Imagine sending an email to john123@example.com, but that email doesn’t exist anymore. You’ll get a hard bounce back message like:

“Recipient address rejected: User unknown.”

This is a clear sign you should remove this contact from your list immediately.

How to Fix Hard Bounce Email Issues:

• Regularly clean your email list
• Avoid purchasing email lists — they’re full of inactive or fake addresses
• Confirm email addresses during signup with double opt-in

If you keep emailing invalid addresses, you risk being flagged as a spammer. That’s bad for business. Make sure you land in the inbox, test your email deliverability, especially if you stumble upon bounces often.

Soft Bounce Email Meaning

A soft bounce is a temporary failure. The recipient’s email server is saying, “Not right now, try again later.”

Soft Bounce Reasons Include:

• The recipient’s inbox is full
• An email server is temporarily unavailable
• The email is too large
• Suspected spam or policy filters temporarily rejecting the message

Email Bounce Soft Examples:

“The recipient’s mailbox is full”
“Temporary server error. Try again later.”

In most cases, your email service provider (ESP) will attempt to resend these emails for a few days.

How to Fix Soft Bounce Email Problems:

• Wait and try again later — many soft bounces resolve on their own
• Ask your subscribers to whitelist your sender address
• Keep your emails light — large attachments or heavy formatting can trigger soft bounces
• Monitor your soft bounce rate (anything over 2% needs attention)

Types of Email Bounces at a Glance

Let’s structure the information we’ve just gathered:

Type	Definition	Is it fixable?	What to do?
Hard Bounce	Permanent delivery failure	No	Remove the email from your list immediately
Soft Bounce	Temporary delivery issue	Yes, sometimes	Retry sending; monitor if it keeps recurring

Ignoring bounce rates can lead to:

• A damaged sender reputation
• Getting blacklisted by ISPs
• Lower deliverability across the board. Deliverability is highly important for any type of business. Use GlockApps to check your deliverability and get reliable reports every time!

That’s why checking your email bounce back message example, understanding your bounce email address stats, and taking action on bounce reports are absolutely essential.

Final Thoughts

Knowing the difference between soft bounce vs hard bounce email issues is a must for any serious email marketer. Your success hinges on your ability to deliver — literally. Keep your bounce rate low, and you’ll see better engagement, fewer headaches, and more ROI from every campaign.

Remember:

• Use tools to check your list
• Monitor both hard bounce and soft bounce rates
• Fix what you can, and cut the rest

Stay proactive, stay clean, and let your emails do what they’re meant to do — get seen.