How it worksPricingLog InSign Up Free
Commerce marketingReviewed September 7, 2026

What is Soft bounce?

A soft bounce is a temporary delivery failure, such as a receiving mailbox or server that cannot accept the message at that time.

Who this applies to#

  • Use the soft-bounce classification when the receiving system describes a transient condition rather than a permanent invalid destination

What Soft bounce requires#

  • Bound retries and monitor repeated failures instead of treating a temporary response as unlimited permission to resend
Amazon SES

SES describes soft bounces as temporary failures and may retry before returning a final result

What this does not require#

  • One soft bounce does not by itself prove that the destination is permanently invalid

Common mistakes#

  1. Calling every bounce permanent
  2. Retrying indefinitely
  3. Ignoring repeated temporary failures

Soft bounce checklist#

  • Read the response
  • Classify permanence
  • Bound retries
  • Escalate repeated failure

Commonly confused with#

OnVoard's take#

Bound retries for a soft bounce and watch repeated failure. A temporary classification is not permission to resend indefinitely.

Official sources#