Glossary

Hard bounce

Hard bounce

A hard bounce is a permanent failure caused by an invalid recipient address or non-existent mailbox. These addresses are automatically added to your suppressions list when a hard bounce occurs, preventing subsequent delivery attempts and further hard bounces. 

Email delivery failures fall into two main categories: 

  • Temporary failure (deferral): The recipient server temporarily rejects the message. Delivery will be retried according to the sender’s retry schedule. Temporary failures are not final events and will ultimately resolve as either a successful delivery or a permanent failure. 
  • Permanent failure: The email cannot be delivered, either immediately or after one or more temporary failures. Permanent failures can be classified as either a soft bounce or a hard bounce. 

Why it matters:  

Hard bounces signal invalid or non-existent addresses to inbox service providers (ISPs). High rates of hard bounces can negatively impact your sender reputation, making ISPs less likely to place your emails in subscribers’ inboxes in the future. 

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