Soft Bounce
Term #34
A temporary email rejection (full inbox, server unavailable). Can be retried.
In practice
A single soft bounce isn't a problem. Repeated soft bounces to the same address effectively act like a hard bounce.
Common misconception
'A temporary soft bounce isn't a problem.' An address with 5 consecutive soft bounces isn't active. Continuing to send hurts your sender score.
How to fix it
High? (1) check email size — over 100KB causes issues, (2) check a blacklist at MXToolbox.com, (3) send to a small list first.
Example
A newsletter with 8 HD images had a 12% soft bounce rate. Compressing images to 200KB dropped it to 1.8%.
Priority
Track monthly bounce rate. Hard under 0.5%, soft under 2%.
Related terms
Keep learning. Metrics that touch the same area:
- Hard BounceAnalyticsAn email that failed to deliver due to a permanent reason (address doesn't exist). Must be removed immediately — hurts deliverability.
- DeliverabilityAnalyticsThe ability of emails to reach the main inbox, not spam. Affected by reputation, bounce rate, and list quality.
- ConversionAnalyticsA desired action a visitor takes — a purchase, sign-up, form submission. The basis for measuring marketing success.
- Conversion Rate (CR)AnalyticsThe percentage of visitors who completed a desired action. Average: 1-4% for purchases, depending on category.
- ATC – Add To CartAnalyticsThe action where a visitor adds an item to the cart. Average ATC rate: 8-10% of product page visits.
- Cart AbandonmentAnalyticsA customer added an item to the cart but didn't complete the purchase. Average: 70-75%. One of the biggest opportunities.
Jimmy tracks your Soft Bounce, automatically
WhatsApp alerts when something important changes. No dashboards, no hassle.