What’s the difference between “soft” and “hard” reputation penalties?

Soft reputation penalties result in degraded but not blocked deliverability. Mail may land in spam more frequently, face throttling delays, or receive increased scrutiny. Delivery still occurs but at reduced effectiveness.

Hard reputation penalties result in explicit rejection. Mail bounces with specific error messages, IP or domain blocks prevent delivery entirely, or blocklist appearances cause widespread refusal.

Soft penalties are warning signs. They indicate providers are skeptical but still accepting your mail. Continued poor behavior escalates to hard penalties.

Hard penalties require direct remediation. Blocklist delisting requests, configuration fixes, or direct contact with provider postmaster teams may be necessary.

Soft penalties are speed limits and extra inspections. Hard penalties are port closure. The harbor still allows passage under soft penalties, but hard penalties mean your ship cannot enter at all.