How should I handle bounced emails?
Remove hard bounces immediately and stop retrying them, and monitor soft bounces for repeats. Most email platforms suppress hard-bounced addresses automatically, so check that this setting is on and review the cause if bounces rise.
A hard bounce means the address is invalid or does not exist, and continuing to send to it signals poor list hygiene to mailbox providers. A soft bounce is temporary, for example a full inbox or server issue.
Treat repeated soft bounces as a hard bounce after a few attempts. If bounces suddenly increase, look at where the addresses came from, since typos at signup and low quality sources are common causes.
Use form validation and consider double opt-in to keep bad addresses out from the start.
In practice.
A store notices a spike in bounces after a giveaway. It finds that many entries had typos in the domain. It adds address validation to the form, confirms the bad addresses are suppressed and the bounce rate returns to normal.
Want this handled for your store? See our klaviyo email marketing service or book a free audit.
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