If you’ve been directed to this article it’s because the MyBizMailer system has noticed that the Hard Bounce Rates for your campaigns/account have either reached or exceeded the hard bounce rate threshold or they are getting close to doing so.

It’s important that you read through this guide to help to not only reduce your hard bounce rates but also keep your sender reputation in good standing. This also will keep your account from being suspended and minimize the limitations that may be placed on your account.

What Does Bounced Mean in Regards to Email Marketing?

Bounces occur when an email is sent out successfully from the MyBizMailer servers but cannot be delivered to your recipients email address. Each and every bounce (hard & soft) are logged for each campaign that you send. You can see these stats while viewing your detail campaign reports.

What Is a Hard Bounce?

A hard bounce is when an email permanently cannot be delivered to. Hard Bounced email addresses are then automatically marked from “Subscribed” to “Inactive” by the MyBizMailer system. These “Inactive” subscribers will not be emailed again. An email hard bounces because of one of the following reasons: - The recipients email address does not exist - The domain does not exist - The recipients email server has completely blocked delivery

What is a Soft Bounce?

Soft bounces are more of a temporary issue. The MyBizMailer system logs the email address but then allows three more attempts to try and email them. If those attempts do not result in a successful delivery then the system will mark that subscriber as “Inactive” and will not mail them again.

What is a Good Target Bounce Rate?

Honestly 0 is the best. But in this day and age that’s a near impossible thing to achieve. The latest statistics on email addresses estimate that the average user keeps the same email address for only 6-12 months.

With that being said the system has a Hard Bounce threshold of 5% (per campaign).

What Can Cause Really High Hard Bounce Rates?

MyBizMailer is strictly a permission based email marketing/newsletter delivery service. This means we do not allow lists that do not have proper opt-in confirmation.

The three main reasons behind High Hard Bounce Rates are:

• Purchased Lists
• Stale Lists
• Offline Lists

Purchased Lists:
MyBizMailer is strictly a permission based email marketing/newsletter delivery service. This means we do not allow lists that have been purchased or acquired from someone who has a purchased list. These types of lists provide low quality subscribers, usually cause High Hard Bounce Rates and more often than not contain spam trap email addresses which ultimately lead to blacklisting.

Stale Lists:
It’s tough to find that sending frequency sweet spot. But the truth of the matter is that if you haven’t emailed your subscribers for a while there’s a high chance that your Hard Bounce Rates will go through the roof when you do send out your latest campaign.

Offline Events:
Did you collect a bunch of email addresses at the last trade show or event you attended? Great! But did you get express written (documented) consent to email these people on a regular basis? MyBizMailer is strictly a permission based email marketing/newsletter delivery service. This means you need permission to email your subscribers.

What Kind of Actions Will MyBizMailer Take if My Hard Bounce Rate Goes Above 5%?

If You’re Coming Close to 5%...
You may receive a message warning that your account is coming close to the threshold.

If Your Campaign(s) Reach a 5% Hard Bounce Rate...
If your campaign(s) has reached a 5% Hard Bounce Rate you will not be permitted to view or download the detailed reports that are associated with your campaigns.

You may be asked to provide documentation in regards to the details of how and when these subscribers joined your list.

Your campaign(s) may be stopped.

If Your Campaign(s) Exceed a 5% Hard Bounce Rate...

Your campaign(s) will be stopped.

You will be asked to provide documentation in regards to the details of how and when these subscribers joined your list.

Your account may be suspended. (You will not be issued a refund)

Some Final Things

MyBizMailer is strictly a permission based email marketing/newsletter delivery service. This means we do not allow lists that do not have proper opt-in confirmation.

We do not provide list cleaning services. There are a number of online services that can do this for you.