What is the safe threshold for hard bounces?
Hard bounce thresholds guide list quality standards:
Industry benchmarks:
Excellent: Below 0.5%. Good: 0.5-1%. Acceptable: 1-2%. Concerning: 2-5%. Critical: Above 5%.
ESP enforcement:
Most ESPs flag accounts above 2%. Account review typically triggered at 5%. Suspension common above 10%.
Context matters:
New list or source: Higher initial bounces expected. First send to dormant segment: May spike. Regular sends: Should be consistently low.
Calculation:
Hard bounces divided by messages sent. Exclude soft bounces from this metric. Track over time, not just single sends.
Keep hard bounces under 2% as your north star. Above that, list quality needs attention.
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