How to Identify Soft Bounce Emails in HubSpot: A Complete Marketing Operations Guide

Introduction: The Hidden Challenge of Soft Bounces in HubSpot

As a marketing operations professional or HubSpot administrator, you've likely encountered the frustration of trying to identify soft bounce emails within your HubSpot CRM. While HubSpot makes it incredibly easy to spot hard bounces, soft bounces remain mysteriously elusive in the platform's standard filtering options. This gap in functionality can significantly impact your email marketing performance and overall marketing operations efficiency.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll reveal an indirect yet highly effective method to identify soft bounce emails in HubSpot, helping you maintain cleaner contact lists and improve your email deliverability rates. 

Understanding Email Bounces in HubSpot's Marketing Operations Framework

What Are Hard Bounces vs. Soft Bounces?

Before diving into the solution, it's crucial to understand the distinction between hard and soft bounces in email marketing:

Hard Bounces occur when an email permanently fails to deliver due to:

• Invalid or non-existent email addresses
• Blocked sender domains
• Permanently closed email accounts

Soft Bounces happen when emails temporarily fail to deliver because of:

• Full recipient mailboxes
• Server timeouts
• Message size limitations
• Temporary server issues

For marketing operations teams managing HubSpot instances, understanding these differences is critical for maintaining healthy email lists and optimizing campaign performance.

Why HubSpot Doesn't Have Direct Soft Bounce Identification

HubSpot's architecture prioritizes permanent delivery failures (hard bounces) because they require immediate action – these contacts should be removed from your active marketing lists. Soft bounces, being temporary, don't receive the same level of built-in tracking. This design choice, while logical from a platform perspective, creates challenges for marketing operations professionals who need comprehensive email health metrics.

The Problem: Finding Soft Bounces in Your HubSpot Portal

When you navigate to your HubSpot contacts and access the advanced filters, you'll quickly discover the limitation. Typing "hard bounce" in the filter search reveals the "Email hard bounce reason" property, allowing easy identification of contacts with permanent delivery failures. However, searching for "soft bounce" yields no results – there's simply no direct property or data point for soft bounce identification.

This gap in functionality affects:

• Email deliverability monitoring
• List hygiene maintenance
• Campaign performance analysis
• Marketing operations reporting
• Client communication strategies

The Solution: A Clever Workaround for Marketing Operations Teams

Step-by-Step Guide to Identifying Soft Bounce Emails

Here's the ingenious indirect method to identify soft bounce emails in HubSpot:

Step 1: Access Advanced Filters

1. Navigate to your HubSpot Contacts section
2. Click on "Advanced filters" in the top menu
3. Prepare to create a custom filter combination

Step 2: Set Up the Hard Bounce Filter

1. In the filter search, type "hard bounce"
2. Select "Email hard bounce reason"
3. Set the condition to "is unknown"• This identifies all contacts that haven't experienced a hard bounce

Step 3: Add the Marketing Email Bounce Filter

1. Click "Add filter" to create an AND condition
2. Search for "marketing email bounced"
3. Set this filter to "greater than or equal to 1"• This identifies contacts where marketing emails have bounced at least once

Step 4: Apply and Analyze Results

1. Apply the combined filter
2. Review the resulting contact list
3. These contacts represent your soft bounce emails – they haven't hard bounced (reason is unknown) but have experienced at least one marketing email bounce

Understanding the Logic Behind This Method

This workaround leverages HubSpot's data architecture intelligently. By combining two conditions:

• Contacts without hard bounces (Email hard bounce reason = unknown)
• Contacts with at least one marketing email bounce

We isolate contacts experiencing soft bounces. This method works because if a contact had a hard bounce, they would have a specific hard bounce reason recorded. The absence of this reason, combined with evidence of bounced emails, indicates soft bounce behavior.

Best Practices for Managing Soft Bounces in Marketing Operations

Regular Monitoring and List Maintenance

For marketing operations teams managing HubSpot portals implementing regular soft bounce monitoring should become part of your standard operating procedures:

1. Weekly Reviews: Run the soft bounce filter weekly to identify problematic contacts
2. Threshold Setting: Establish bounce thresholds (e.g., 3 soft bounces) before taking action
3. Re-engagement Campaigns: Create targeted campaigns for soft bounce contacts
4. Alternative Channel Outreach: Use other communication methods for high-value contacts

Creating Automated Workflows for Soft Bounce Management

Leverage HubSpot's workflow capabilities to automate soft bounce handling:

1. Notification Workflows: Alert sales teams when key contacts experience soft bounces
2. List Management: Automatically move repeated soft bounce contacts to suppression lists
3. Data Enrichment: Trigger contact enrichment processes to find alternative email addresses
4. Reporting Dashboards: Build custom reports tracking soft bounce trends

Our HubSpot workflow optimization services can help implement these automated solutions for your marketing operations.

Advanced Strategies for Email Deliverability in HubSpot

Implementing a Comprehensive Email Health Strategy

Beyond identifying soft bounces, marketing operations professionals should develop holistic email health strategies:

Email Validation and Verification

• Implement double opt-in processes
• Use email validation tools before importing contacts
• Regular database cleaning protocols
• Progressive profiling to maintain data accuracy

Engagement-Based Segmentation

• Create engagement scoring models
• Segment lists based on interaction levels
• Implement sunset policies for inactive contacts
• Develop re-engagement campaign strategies

Technical Optimization

• Monitor sender reputation scores
• Implement proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records
• Optimize email send times based on engagement data
• A/B test subject lines and content for better deliverability

Integration with Marketing Operations Workflows

For MarkOps teams integrating soft bounce management into broader workflows is essential:

1. Lead Scoring Adjustments: Modify lead scores based on email deliverability
2. Sales Alignment: Notify sales teams of delivery issues for their contacts
3. Campaign Attribution: Account for soft bounces in campaign ROI calculations
4. Client Reporting: Include email health metrics in client dashboards

Measuring Success: KPIs for Email Deliverability Management

Key Metrics to Track

Monitor these essential metrics to evaluate your soft bounce management effectiveness:

• Soft Bounce Rate: Track the percentage of soft bounces per campaign
• Recovery Rate: Measure how many soft bounce contacts become deliverable
• List Health Score: Create a composite score including various deliverability factors
• Engagement Recovery: Monitor re-engagement success rates
• Revenue Impact: Calculate lost revenue from undeliverable emails

Building Custom HubSpot Reports

Create comprehensive dashboards that include:

• Soft bounce trends over time
• Bounce reasons analysis
• Geographic distribution of bounces
• Industry-specific bounce patterns
• Campaign-specific deliverability metrics

Common Challenges and Solutions in Marketing Operations

Challenge 1: High Volume Soft Bounce Management

For marketing operations teams handling large databases, managing high volumes of soft bounces can be overwhelming.

Solution: Implement batch processing workflows and prioritization based on contact value and engagement history.

Challenge 2: Client Communication About Deliverability

Explaining email deliverability issues to clients requires clear communication and actionable insights.

Solution: Develop standardized reporting templates that translate technical metrics into business impact statements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: How often should I check for soft bounces in HubSpot?

A: Marketing operations best practices recommend checking for soft bounces at least weekly. For high-volume senders or critical campaigns, daily monitoring may be appropriate.

Q2: What's the difference between a soft bounce and a hard bounce in HubSpot?

A: Hard bounces are permanent delivery failures (invalid addresses), while soft bounces are temporary issues (full mailboxes, server problems). HubSpot automatically tracks hard bounces but requires the workaround described above for soft bounce identification.

Q3: Can soft bounces turn into hard bounces?

A: Yes, repeated soft bounces can eventually result in hard bounces if the temporary issue persists. Most email service providers will convert persistent soft bounces to hard bounces after a certain threshold.

Q4: How does identifying soft bounces improve my marketing operations?

A: Identifying soft bounces helps maintain list hygiene, improves deliverability rates, protects sender reputation, and ensures your marketing messages reach intended recipients.

Q5: Should I immediately remove soft bounce contacts from my lists?

A: No, unlike hard bounces, soft bounce contacts shouldn't be immediately removed. Monitor them over time and consider alternative outreach methods or re-engagement campaigns before removal.

Q6: Can HubSpot workflows automatically handle soft bounces?

A: While HubSpot doesn't have built-in soft bounce workflows, you can create custom workflows using the filter method described in this guide to automate soft bounce management.

Q7: How do soft bounces affect my email sender reputation?

A: While soft bounces have less impact than hard bounces, persistent soft bounces can still negatively affect your sender reputation and overall deliverability rates.

Q8: Is this soft bounce identification method reliable for all types of HubSpot portals?

A: Yes, this method works across all HubSpot subscription levels (Starter, Professional, Enterprise) that include email marketing capabilities.

Transform Your Email Marketing Operations with Expert HubSpot Management

Managing soft bounces effectively is just one component of a comprehensive marketing operations strategy. As businesses increasingly rely on sophisticated marketing automation, the need for expert HubSpot management has never been greater.

As a certified HubSpot professional I specialize in optimizing marketing operations for maximum efficiency and ROI. My team helps businesses implement advanced strategies like the soft bounce identification technique outlined in this guide, along with comprehensive email deliverability optimization, workflow automation, and data management best practices.

Ready to elevate your HubSpot marketing operations? Contact my team today for a personalized consultation. We'll analyze your current email deliverability challenges, implement advanced filtering strategies, and develop a customized plan to optimize your entire marketing operations infrastructure. Whether you're looking to improve email performance, streamline workflows, or maximize your HubSpot investment, our marketing operations experts are here to help you achieve measurable results.

Schedule your free HubSpot marketing operations assessment today and discover how professional management can transform your email marketing effectiveness.