Understanding hard bounces and soft bounces in your reports

Your newsletter analytics display hard bounces and soft bounces as separate metrics, giving you clearer insight into delivery issues.

Hard bounces are permanent delivery failures, typically caused by invalid or non-existent email addresses.
Soft bounces are temporary problems, such as a full mailbox or a server issue that may resolve on its own.

Where to find bounce metrics

You’ll see the split in three places:

Edition metrics view — each newsletter edition shows separate counts and rates for hard and soft bounces.
Company analytics page — dedicated cards show hard and soft bounce counts and rates across your newsletters.
Newsletter Engagement Report CSV — columns break out hard and soft bounces alongside the combined total.

The overall Bounces total remains available in all views for quick reference and comparison with historical data.

Separating bounce types helps you take the right action:

Hard bounces signal addresses you should remove from your list to maintain sender reputation. Letterhead automatically suppresses addresses that hard-bounce — see Understanding bounces.
Soft bounces may resolve themselves and typically don’t require immediate action.

Use these metrics to refine your audience hygiene and improve overall deliverability.

Still can’t find what you need? Contact support.