diff --git a/cmd/client/main.go b/cmd/client/main.go
index 74d715b..143f340 100644
--- a/cmd/client/main.go
+++ b/cmd/client/main.go
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import (
 	"crypto/x509"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
-	"math/rand"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
@@ -32,14 +31,15 @@ import (
 	kingpin "gopkg.in/alecthomas/kingpin.v2"
 
 	"github.com/ShowMax/go-fqdn"
+	"github.com/cenkalti/backoff/v4"
 	"github.com/go-kit/kit/log"
 	"github.com/go-kit/kit/log/level"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
+	"github.com/prometheus-community/pushprox/util"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus/promhttp"
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/promlog"
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/promlog/flag"
-	"github.com/prometheus-community/pushprox/util"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ var (
 	tlsCert     = kingpin.Flag("tls.cert", "<cert> Client certificate file").String()
 	tlsKey      = kingpin.Flag("tls.key", "<key> Private key file").String()
 	metricsAddr = kingpin.Flag("metrics-addr", "Serve Prometheus metrics at this address").Default(":9369").String()
+
+	retryInitialWait = kingpin.Flag("proxy.retry.initial-wait", "Amount of time to wait after proxy failure").Default("1s").Duration()
+	retryMaxWait     = kingpin.Flag("proxy.retry.max-wait", "Maximum amount of time to wait between proxy poll retries").Default("5s").Duration()
 )
 
 var (
@@ -76,6 +79,15 @@ func init() {
 	prometheus.MustRegister(pushErrorCounter, pollErrorCounter, scrapeErrorCounter)
 }
 
+func newBackOffFromFlags() backoff.BackOff {
+	b := backoff.NewExponentialBackOff()
+	b.InitialInterval = *retryInitialWait
+	b.Multiplier = 1.5
+	b.MaxInterval = *retryMaxWait
+	b.MaxElapsedTime = time.Duration(0)
+	return b
+}
+
 // Coordinator for scrape requests and responses
 type Coordinator struct {
 	logger log.Logger
@@ -168,7 +180,7 @@ func (c *Coordinator) doPush(resp *http.Response, origRequest *http.Request, cli
 	return nil
 }
 
-func loop(c Coordinator, client *http.Client) error {
+func (c *Coordinator) doPoll(client *http.Client) error {
 	base, err := url.Parse(*proxyURL)
 	if err != nil {
 		level.Error(c.logger).Log("msg", "Error parsing url:", "err", err)
@@ -201,35 +213,18 @@ func loop(c Coordinator, client *http.Client) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// decorrelated Jitter increases the maximum jitter based on the last random value.
-type decorrelatedJitter struct {
-	duration time.Duration // sleep time
-	min      time.Duration // min sleep time
-	cap      time.Duration // max sleep time
-}
-
-func newJitter() decorrelatedJitter {
-	rand.Seed(time.Now().UnixNano())
-	return decorrelatedJitter{
-		min: 50 * time.Millisecond,
-		cap: 5 * time.Second,
+func (c *Coordinator) loop(bo backoff.BackOff, client *http.Client) {
+	op := func() error {
+		return c.doPoll(client)
 	}
-}
 
-func (d *decorrelatedJitter) calc() time.Duration {
-	change := rand.Float64() * float64(d.duration*time.Duration(3)-d.min)
-	d.duration = d.min + time.Duration(change)
-	if d.duration > d.cap {
-		d.duration = d.cap
-	}
-	if d.duration < d.min {
-		d.duration = d.min
+	for {
+		if err := backoff.RetryNotify(op, bo, func(err error, _ time.Duration) {
+			pollErrorCounter.Inc()
+		}); err != nil {
+			level.Error(c.logger).Log("err", err)
+		}
 	}
-	return d.duration
-}
-
-func (d *decorrelatedJitter) sleep() {
-	time.Sleep(d.calc())
 }
 
 func main() {
@@ -299,14 +294,7 @@ func main() {
 		TLSClientConfig:       tlsConfig,
 	}
 
-	jitter := newJitter()
 	client := &http.Client{Transport: transport}
-	for {
-		err := loop(coordinator, client)
-		if err != nil {
-			pollErrorCounter.Inc()
-			jitter.sleep()
-			continue
-		}
-	}
+
+	coordinator.loop(newBackOffFromFlags(), client)
 }
diff --git a/cmd/client/main_test.go b/cmd/client/main_test.go
index e304317..0adeec2 100644
--- a/cmd/client/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/client/main_test.go
@@ -22,16 +22,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 )
 
-func TestJitter(t *testing.T) {
-	jitter := newJitter()
-	for i := 0; i < 100000; i++ {
-		duration := jitter.calc()
-		if !(jitter.min <= duration || duration <= jitter.cap) {
-			t.Fatal("invalid jitter value: ", duration)
-		}
-	}
-}
-
 type TestLogger struct{}
 
 func (tl *TestLogger) Log(vars ...interface{}) error {
@@ -76,7 +66,7 @@ func TestHandleErr(t *testing.T) {
 func TestLoop(t *testing.T) {
 	ts, c := prepareTest()
 	defer ts.Close()
-	if err := loop(c, ts.Client()); err != nil {
+	if err := c.doPoll(ts.Client()); err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index da2dca7..3307327 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ go 1.13
 
 require (
 	github.com/ShowMax/go-fqdn v0.0.0-20180501083314-6f60894d629f
+	github.com/cenkalti/backoff/v4 v4.1.0
 	github.com/go-kit/kit v0.10.0
 	github.com/google/uuid v1.1.1
 	github.com/pkg/errors v0.9.1
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 7af7da0..6a7395e 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -34,7 +34,10 @@ github.com/beorn7/perks v1.0.1 h1:VlbKKnNfV8bJzeqoa4cOKqO6bYr3WgKZxO8Z16+hsOM=
 github.com/beorn7/perks v1.0.1/go.mod h1:G2ZrVWU2WbWT9wwq4/hrbKbnv/1ERSJQ0ibhJ6rlkpw=
 github.com/bgentry/speakeasy v0.1.0/go.mod h1:+zsyZBPWlz7T6j88CTgSN5bM796AkVf0kBD4zp0CCIs=
 github.com/casbin/casbin/v2 v2.1.2/go.mod h1:YcPU1XXisHhLzuxH9coDNf2FbKpjGlbCg3n9yuLkIJQ=
+github.com/cenkalti/backoff v2.2.1+incompatible h1:tNowT99t7UNflLxfYYSlKYsBpXdEet03Pg2g16Swow4=
 github.com/cenkalti/backoff v2.2.1+incompatible/go.mod h1:90ReRw6GdpyfrHakVjL/QHaoyV4aDUVVkXQJJJ3NXXM=
+github.com/cenkalti/backoff/v4 v4.1.0 h1:c8LkOFQTzuO0WBM/ae5HdGQuZPfPxp7lqBRwQRm4fSc=
+github.com/cenkalti/backoff/v4 v4.1.0/go.mod h1:scbssz8iZGpm3xbr14ovlUdkxfGXNInqkPWOWmG2CLw=
 github.com/census-instrumentation/opencensus-proto v0.2.1/go.mod h1:f6KPmirojxKA12rnyqOA5BBL4O983OfeGPqjHWSTneU=
 github.com/cespare/xxhash/v2 v2.1.1 h1:6MnRN8NT7+YBpUIWxHtefFZOKTAPgGjpQSxqLNn0+qY=
 github.com/cespare/xxhash/v2 v2.1.1/go.mod h1:VGX0DQ3Q6kWi7AoAeZDth3/j3BFtOZR5XLFGgcrjCOs=