If you’ve ever run a text campaign only to see little to no response, your bounce rate might be to blame. But bounce rate isn’t just a campaign performance issue—it’s a compliance and deliverability issue that can affect your Trust Score and your ability to send messages at all.
Let’s break it down and talk about how to fix it.
What Is a Bounce Rate in SMS Messaging?
Your SMS bounce rate is the percentage of text messages that fail to deliver to the intended recipient. The most common culprit? Landlines and invalid phone numbers.
Here’s why that’s a problem:
You pay to send each message—even the ones that bounce.
Carriers track your bounce rate and penalize high rates.
Repeated failed attempts can damage your Trust Score, triggering daily sending limits or full delivery blocks.
If your bounce rate exceeds 7%, you risk being flagged by carriers. This can lead to message throttling (as low as 2,000 messages/day) or being placed under review. Repeat issues may trigger “Spam Likely” filtering or even account suspension, as high bounce rates threaten network integrity and compliance standards.
How a High Bounce Rate Impacts Your Trust Score
Think of your Trust Score like your texting credit score. It determines how much volume you can send and how likely your messages are to be delivered quickly and reliably.
A high bounce rate tells carriers:
You may be sending to outdated or purchased lists
You haven’t properly validated your numbers
Your data hygiene is poor
Even if unintentional, this can lead to:
Warning notices
Reduced deliverability
Daily send limits
Campaigns that fall flat
How to Lower Your SMS Bounce Rate (and Keep It That Way)
Here are three proven steps to lower your bounce rate and protect your Trust Score:
1. Validate Your List Before Sending
Use Rally’s mobile validation tool to verify numbers before you send. It checks whether a number is mobile or landline, and flags any invalid entries.
You can find this under the “Contacts” section—just filter by unverified numbers and run a mobile validation batch.
2. Automatically Opt Out Landlines
When Rally detects a landline, it will tag and opt them out automatically. This prevents future sends to numbers that will bounce, saving you money and improving your list quality over time.
3. Enrich Your Contact Data
Want to go further? Use data enrichment to enhance your list with additional fields—such as region, last donation amount, or membership level—and improve segmentation.
Bonus Tip: Segment for Better Engagement
Even if your bounce rate is low, sending the wrong message to the wrong contact can still hurt performance. Use custom fields to personalize your outreach and target based on:
Membership level
Last donation date
Event attendance
Region or chapter affiliation
This ensures your messages are both delivered and well-received.
The Bottom Line
Your bounce rate doesn’t just affect this campaign—it affects your entire ability to send messages at scale.
Clean data is the key to:
Higher delivery and response rates
Lower costs per message
Stronger Trust Scores
Better long-term performance
If your bounce rate is creeping up—or worse, already in the danger zone—take steps today to clean your list and validate your contacts.
Note: If you’d like to know where you stand, contact support to request your current Trust Score. Our team can review your recent sending activity and let you know if you're at risk of carrier limits. We’ll also provide specific recommendations to improve your score—such as validating numbers, removing high-bounce segments, and using better segmentation. (And good news: Trust Scores will soon be available directly in your Rally dashboard.)
Need help? Use RallyBot inside your dashboard or contact us at [email protected]. We’re here to make sure your message gets through.