How to Reduce Your Email Bounce Rate
2026-02-08 · 6 min read
Your bounce rate is the share of emails rejected by recipient servers. Keep it low (under ~2%) or mailbox providers start throttling you. Here is how.
Hard vs. soft bounces
A hard bounce is permanent (the address does not exist) and should be suppressed immediately. A soft bounce is temporary (mailbox full, server down) and can be retried.
Seven ways to lower it
1) Validate every address before sending. 2) Use double opt-in. 3) Never buy lists. 4) Authenticate with SPF, DKIM and DMARC. 5) Suppress hard bounces automatically. 6) Re-engage or remove inactive contacts. 7) Warm up new sending IPs gradually.
Let Relayly do it
Relayly validates lists in real time, suppresses bounces and complaints automatically, and monitors reputation — so your bounce rate stays healthy without manual list hygiene. See validation & deliverability →