Email marketing success depends on keeping your list clean and engaged. High bounce rates and excessive unsubscribes can hurt your sender reputation, leading to lower inbox placement. As a digital marketing agency that offers email marketing services, we understand how critical it is to manage these factors to ensure better engagement and results.
The Impact of Algorithms on Email Marketing
The success of digital marketing is heavily influenced by algorithms used by email service providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. These platforms analyse sender reputation, engagement rates, and bounce rates to determine whether emails should land in the inbox, promotions tab, or spam folder. If too many of your emails bounce or if users frequently unsubscribe, the algorithm may start flagging your emails as unwanted, reducing your overall reach. This is why maintaining a high-quality email list and sending relevant, well-structured content is crucial for campaign success.
For example, imagine an online store that sends out weekly promotional emails to its subscribers. Over time, a large portion of its emails go unopened, and several recipients mark them as spam. Additionally, the store’s email list includes outdated or invalid addresses, leading to high bounce rates. Email providers detect this pattern and start filtering these emails into spam folders, drastically reducing their reach. By cleaning up their email list, improving engagement with relevant content, and monitoring bounce rates, the store can rebuild its sender reputation and improve deliverability.
This is why maintaining a high-quality email list and sending relevant, well-structured content is crucial for campaign success.
Unsubscribers: Why People Opt Out
- People unsubscribe because they get too many emails, content is irrelevant, or they no longer need your services.
How to manage it:
- Offer email frequency options.
- Segment lists for better relevance.
- Ask for feedback upon unsubscribing.
Hard Bounces: Permanent Failures
- A hard bounce means an email can’t be delivered—typically due to an invalid or closed email address.
How to manage it:
- Remove hard bounce addresses immediately.
- Use double opt-in to prevent errors.
- Verify emails before sending.
Soft Bounces: Temporary Issues
- A soft bounce happens when an email is undeliverable but may be retried.
Causes include:
📬 Full mailbox
📡 Server downtime
📏 Email too large
How to manage it:
- Monitor bounce rates.
- Retry sending after some time.
- Optimise email size & content.
Best Practices to Improve Email Deliverability
Ensuring your emails reach the inbox is critical to your success. Here are a few additional best practices:
- Personalise subject lines and email content to boost engagement.
- Keep emails mobile-friendly and easy to read.
- Test emails before sending using tools that check for spam triggers.
- Monitor performance and adjust strategies based on analytics.
- Consider the optimal time to send an email—sending at peak engagement times can improve open rates and overall success.
How Plum Digital Hub Can Help
Managing email lists is essential for maintaining high deliverability and engagement rates. If you’re experiencing high bounce rates or losing too many subscribers, it’s time to rethink your strategy. By focusing on quality over quantity, segmenting your audience, and keeping your email list updated, you can build stronger relationships with your subscribers and maximise your email marketing success.
At Plum Digital Hub, we specialise in email marketing strategies that align with digital marketing best practices and algorithms to maximise deliverability and engagement. Our services include:
🚀 Email campaign strategy & automation
📩 List segmentation & management
📊 Performance tracking & optimisation
🛠 Email content creation & design
Would you like a deeper dive into email engagement strategies? Let’s chat! 
Reach out to us today, and let’s create impactful campaigns that drive engagement and growth. Contact us now to get started!
References
HubSpot (2023) – Why People Unsubscribe from Emails
Mailchimp (2023) – Understanding Hard Bounces
Campaign Monitor (2023) – Email Deliverability Benchmarks
