Email Deliverability February 4, 2026 8 min read

What Is a Good Bounce Rate for Email?

A good email bounce rate is under 2%, with under 0.5% being excellent. Bounce rates above 2% indicate list quality problems and can damage sender reputation. Hard bounces should ideally stay under 0.5%, while soft bounces should be under 2%. Rates above 5% require immediate attention.

Bounce rate is a key indicator of list health and sender reputation. Understanding what rates are acceptable helps you identify problems before they become serious.

Bounce Rate Benchmarks

Bounce RateAssessmentAction Needed
Under 0.5%ExcellentMaintain current practices
0.5% - 1%GoodMonitor and maintain
1% - 2%AcceptableReview list hygiene
2% - 5%ConcerningInvestigate and clean list
Above 5%CriticalStop sending, diagnose, clean

Hard Bounce vs Soft Bounce Rates

Hard and soft bounces should be tracked separately as they indicate different problems:

Hard Bounce Rate Targets

Soft Bounce Rate Targets

Why Bounce Rate Matters

Reputation Impact

High bounce rates signal poor list hygiene to mailbox providers. This damages your sender reputation, which affects deliverability even for your valid addresses.

Resource Waste

Every bounce wastes sending resources. High bounce rates mean you are paying to send mail that will never reach anyone.

Deliverability Signals

Consistently high bounces can trigger filtering or blocking at major providers. Some will temporarily or permanently block senders with excessive bounces.

Sudden Bounce Spikes

A sudden increase in bounces often indicates a specific problem: a DNS misconfiguration, a blocklist hit, or sending to a new unverified list segment. Investigate immediately rather than waiting for the next campaign.

Factors That Affect Bounce Rates

List Age

Older lists naturally have higher bounce rates. Email addresses decay over time as people change jobs, abandon accounts, and switch providers. Lists that have not been cleaned in 6+ months will show elevated bounces.

List Source

Industry

B2B senders often see higher bounces due to job changes. B2C senders with personal email addresses typically see lower bounces unless lists are old.

Sending Frequency

More frequent senders catch bounces faster and can clean lists quickly. Infrequent senders may see bounce spikes after long gaps.

How to Calculate Bounce Rate

The formula is straightforward:

Bounce Rate = (Bounced Emails / Emails Sent) x 100

For example: 150 bounces from 10,000 sent = 1.5% bounce rate

Track Separately

Maintaining a Healthy Bounce Rate

Prevention

Ongoing Maintenance

Monitoring

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 3% bounce rate acceptable?
A 3% bounce rate is on the high side. While it may not cause immediate problems, it suggests list quality issues that will worsen over time. Investigate the cause, clean your list, and aim to bring it under 2%. Sustained rates above 2% can affect sender reputation.
Why did my bounce rate suddenly increase?
Common causes include: sending to an old list segment, DNS or authentication changes, being added to a blocklist, or sending to a newly imported unverified list. Check what changed since your last successful send.
Should I count retried soft bounces in my bounce rate?
Count only final bounce status. If a soft bounce eventually delivers after retry, do not count it. If it never delivers and becomes a permanent failure, count it. Most email platforms handle this automatically in their reporting.

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