What’s the lifespan of a bounce event for hygiene rules?
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You're managing a list, and you're seeing bounces pile up. Your question: how long should you keep that bounce data before you act on it? And once you suppress an address, how long does it stay suppressed? These are two different questions.
Hard bounces are immediate and permanent. A hard bounce (invalid address, bad domain, explicit rejection) isn't a bounce event with a lifespan. It's a termination signal. Suppress the address immediately and never send to it again. Hard bounces stay suppressed forever. There's no retry window, no waiting period, no coming back.
Soft bounces have a retry window. A soft bounce (server down, mailbox full, rate limit hit) is temporary. Your Email Service Provider automatically retries soft bounces for you, usually three to five times across separate campaigns. That retry window typically lasts two to three weeks. Once those retry attempts fail, suppress the address temporarily (a few weeks to a few months), then consider a re-engagement campaign before removing it permanently.
The data itself? Keep bounce records as long as your ESP stores them (usually 3-6 months minimum). These records help you audit suppression accuracy and spot patterns (are you bouncing to a whole domain? That might be a reputation issue). Most ESPs let you export bounce history for analysis.
Unsubscribes and complaints stay suppressed forever, just like hard bounces. Those addresses are legally and reputationally off-limits. Want to understand your bounce patterns? Run a report in your ESP or use our Blocklist Checker to see if your domain is affected by widespread list quality issues. If your suppression rules feel unclear, our SOS team can walk you through your ESP's bounce handling.
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