Email Bounce Rate: What It Is and How to Reduce It

You spend time crafting great emails — but if they never reach the inbox, it's all wasted.

A high email bounce rate can hurt your sender reputation and stop your campaigns from working.

Let's break down what bounce rate means, why it happens, and how to reduce email bounces fast.

What Is Email Bounce Rate?

Your email bounce rate is the percentage of emails that couldn't be delivered to recipients.

There are two types of bounces:

Soft Bounce: A temporary issue like a full inbox or server problem.

Hard Bounce: A permanent issue, such as a fake, invalid, or deleted email address.

Too many bounces tell email providers you're sending to bad or inactive lists — and that can damage your domain reputation.

Internet service providers (ISPs) may start sending your emails to spam.

You pay to send emails that never reach anyone.

Real leads and customers may stop getting your messages altogether.

A clean list = higher inbox rates and better results.

Always check your list with a trusted email verification tool like PureMail.

It flags invalid, risky, and disposable addresses so you don't send to them.

Add PureMail's API to your signup forms or CRM.

It instantly validates emails before they enter your database — blocking fake or mistyped ones.

Even valid emails can become inactive over time.

Running your lists through PureMail every few months keeps them healthy and your bounce rate low.

People who haven't opened your emails in months may no longer be active.

Clean them out to keep your list strong.

Your email bounce rate can make or break your deliverability.

By cleaning and verifying your lists, you'll send to real people, protect your reputation, and get more results from every campaign.

Stop sending to ghosts — start sending to real inboxes.