[GTM glossary](/glossary.txt) Soft bounce Sales Development & Prospecting # Soft bounce In short A soft bounce is a temporary failure to deliver an email. The address exists, but something prevented delivery at that moment, such as a full mailbox, a server outage, or a message that is too large. Unlike a hard bounce, a soft bounce does not mean the address is bad. Most email platforms retry for a period, then treat repeated soft bounces as a problem and may suppress the address. ## Common causes of soft bounces * **Full mailbox:** The recipient's inbox is over its storage limit. * **Server issues:** The receiving server is down or overloaded. * **Message too large:** Big attachments can exceed limits. * **Auto-reply or filters:** Temporary policies or greylisting can delay acceptance. --- ## How to handle soft bounces ### Let the platform retry Most tools retry a few times over a day or two. Avoid manual resends that look like spam. ### Set a limit If an address soft bounces across several separate sends, treat it as unreliable and suppress it. Say your rule is three failed campaigns in a row; that threshold is an example, so tune it to your tool. ### Check your own content Heavy attachments and image-laden emails raise the chance of a soft bounce. Link to files instead. --- ## Why soft bounces matter for outbound A few soft bounces are normal. A rising rate can mean stale data or a sending-reputation problem on your side. Track them next to hard bounces and replies so a trend is visible early. --- ## Soft bounce vs. hard bounce A soft bounce is temporary and may resolve. A hard bounce is permanent and needs immediate removal. A repeated soft bounce can effectively become a hard one once you stop trusting the address. --- ## Soft bounce FAQs **What is a soft bounce in email?** A soft bounce is a temporary email delivery failure. The address is valid, but the message could not be delivered at that moment because of something like a full inbox, a server outage, or an oversized message. **What causes a soft bounce?** Common causes include a recipient mailbox that is full, a temporarily unavailable receiving server, a message or attachment that is too large, and temporary filtering such as greylisting. These conditions often clear without any action from the sender. **Should you resend after a soft bounce?** Usually your email platform retries automatically for a limited period. Avoid repeated manual resends. If an address keeps soft bouncing across several separate campaigns, suppress it or verify it before sending again. **Do soft bounces hurt sender reputation?** Occasional soft bounces have little effect, but a persistently high rate can suggest poor list quality and may influence how mailbox providers treat your mail. Monitor them alongside hard bounces and clean lists regularly. Share term --- ## More related phrases * [Domain warmup](/glossary/domain-warmup.txt) * [Email service provider](/glossary/email-service-provider.txt) * [Reply rate](/glossary/reply-rate.txt) ## Similar phrases * [Bounce rate](/glossary/bounce-rate.txt) Bounce rate is the percentage of sent emails that are rejected by the recipient's mail server and never reach an inbox, split into hard and soft bounces. * [Email bounce rate](/glossary/email-bounce-rate.txt) Email bounce rate is the percentage of sent emails that are not delivered to the recipient, and it signals list quality and sender health. * [Email deliverability](/glossary/email-deliverability.txt) Email deliverability is your ability to get emails into recipients’ inboxes instead of spam or being rejected, shaped by reputation, authentication, and content. * [Email verification](/glossary/email-verification.txt) Email verification tests whether a specific email address is likely to accept mail, helping teams cut bounces, protect sender reputation, and avoid wasting outreach on dead addresses. * [Hard bounce](/glossary/hard-bounce.txt) A hard bounce is a permanent email delivery failure, usually caused by an invalid address or domain, and it should trigger immediate removal of that address from your sending lists.