| HubSpot | |
|---|---|
| Their stated threshold | HubSpot's guidance treats a hard bounce rate above 2% as a problem and their deliverability team reaches out to accounts with sustained higher rates. |
| What happens if you cross it | HubSpot can restrict an account's email sending and will contact you about list quality. Because email sits inside the CRM, a restriction affects sequences and workflows too, which makes the blast radius wider than on a standalone sending tool. |
| Where the bounce data lives | Marketing, Email, then the Recipients tab of a sent email, filtered to Bounced. Across the account, a contact list filtered on Marketing email bounced shows everything. |
| How bounces are classified | HubSpot distinguishes hard from soft bounces and sets Marketing email bounced to true on a hard bounce, which permanently blocks marketing email to that contact until you clear it deliberately. |
Bringing the rate down
Each step is an action inside HubSpot, in the order worth taking them.
Build a list of bounced contacts and read their sources
Create an active list where Marketing email bounced is true, then add the Original source property as a column. Bounces cluster by source, and the cluster is your answer.
Check whether the addresses came from a form or an import
Form submissions with high bounce rates mean a bot problem or a missing honeypot. Import bounces mean the source list. Different problems, different fixes.
Set marketing contact status deliberately
Contacts you will not mail should be non-marketing. They stay in the CRM for sales, they stop counting toward your bill, and they cannot be mailed by accident.
Add the verification result as a contact property
A custom property holding the verdict lets you build lists that exclude catch-all and unknown results from a first send without deleting anyone from the CRM.
Fix the form before fixing the list
HubSpot forms accept anything that passes a format check. Blocked domain rules and a reCAPTCHA stop the flow of junk, and cleaning without that is bailing out a boat.
The mistake people make here
A bounce report mixes two causes that need opposite responses: addresses that do not exist, and receivers refusing mail they could have delivered. The first is fixed by checking the list. The second is a sending problem and no amount of cleaning will move it.
Questions people ask
Can I un-bounce a HubSpot contact?
You can clear the flag manually, and you usually should not. HubSpot set it because the receiving server returned a permanent failure. Clear it only when you know the mailbox was recreated.
Does a bounced contact still count toward my bill?
Only while they are a marketing contact. Switching them to non-marketing removes them from the billed count and keeps the CRM record intact.
Why do my form submissions bounce?
Usually bots, or people entering a fake address to reach gated content. HubSpot forms validate format and nothing else, so a blocked domain list and a captcha do more than any cleaning pass.