Marketing & Communications
March 14, 2026

Recipe: Optimise Soft Bounce Settings

Recipe: Optimise Soft Bounce Settings
# emails
# marketing
# Recipes for Success

Prevent your sender score from dropping due to repeated failed delivery attempts to full or unavailable inboxes

Recipe: Optimise Soft Bounce Settings
When emails repeatedly fail to be delivered to full or unavailable inboxes, this can negatively affect your sender score which in turn can affect the open rates of your emails. This recipe gives you the tools to automatically suppress recipients who soft bounce 3 or more times over a period of 15 days. This prevents your sender score from dropping due to repeated failed delivery attempts.


What you need

  • Dotdigital Account Access: You will need a login with administrative permissions to change account settings.
  • Your Sending Frequency: Know how often you typically send to your main list (e.g., Daily, Weekly) to choose the correct threshold.


Time required

Prep time: 5 minutes 
Cook time: 2 minutes


What will this help me achieve?

  • A healthier mailing list 
  • A stronger sender reputation
  • Cleaner data for email reporting 


Concepts we’ll be using

  • Soft bounces: A soft bounce occurs when an email has reached the customer’s email server but it has bounced back as undeliverable. Soft Bounces are usually temporary.
  • Suppressions: Suppressions exist in Dotdigital to temporarily, or permanently, stop certain customers from receiving your email communications.
  • Suppression Settings: Bounce settings allow you to control how many consecutive soft bounces an email address can return before it's added to your suppression list. 


Prep

  1. Log into your Dotdigital account 
  1. Navigate to: Settings > Email > Suppression Settings 


Activate 

  1. Set Your Limit: Based on your organization's sending frequency, enter the following number into the field or move the slider:


Daily Sender: Set to 16-20 bounces.
Twice a week Sender: Set to 6-10 bounces.
Weekly Sender: Set to 3-5 bounces.
2. Save Changes: Click the SAVE BOUNCE SETTINGS button to apply the new rules.
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