How to resolve Yahoo soft bounces and TSS04 errors when email warming up too fast?
Summary
What email marketers say11Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares their experience of encountering TSS04/IPTS04 errors across multiple ESPs simultaneously despite consistent sending patterns. They explain that submitting feedback forms to Yahoo resolved the issues, and advise to reply to generic responses requesting further investigation with data and explanations.
Email marketer from EmailDrip shares that a slow and steady approach to warming up your IP address is essential, starting with a small number of emails to highly engaged users and gradually increasing the volume. This helps establish a positive reputation with ISPs like Yahoo.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign shares you need to watch for spam trigger words and phrases, use high-quality content, and personalize emails. If the content is poor or has spam characteristics it increases the chances of deliverability issues.
Email marketer from Email Geeks agrees with Laura's advice and recommends not removing soft bouncing addresses due to TSS04 errors, as users may still want the mail. They also agree with Laura and Daniel's suggested methods for resolving the issue.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum explained that when getting a Yahoo error it's important to read the Yahoo error codes. These codes give a ton of information that tells you exactly what the problem is.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that segmenting your email list and targeting specific groups can improve deliverability. By sending relevant content to engaged subscribers, you can reduce the likelihood of bounces and complaints that trigger TSS04 errors.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor explains that regularly monitoring your email deliverability metrics, such as bounce rates, complaint rates, and engagement levels, helps you identify and address potential problems early on. This allows you to proactively adjust your sending practices to avoid deliverability issues with Yahoo and other ISPs.
Email marketer from Sendgrid explains that maintaining a clean email list is important. Regularly remove inactive subscribers and those who have hard bounced to improve your sending reputation and avoid being flagged as a spammer. Better lists also increase revenue.
Email marketer from Gmass answers that engagement is key. Focus on sending to recipients who actively open and click your emails. Yahoo and other ISPs consider engagement metrics when determining deliverability. Poor engagement can lead to soft bounces and TSS04 errors.
Email marketer from Litmus states that using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC helps receiving mail servers verify that you are who you say you are, and that your messages weren’t altered in transit. This builds trust, which can help boost your email deliverability to Yahoo and other providers.
Email marketer from Reddit shares warming IPs and domain names with email is about sending a low volume of emails per day and slowly increasing the volume over a few weeks. Starting too fast can lead to soft bounces, blocks, and a bad reputation that will impact deliverability across all email providers.
What the experts say6Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks shares that Yahoo escalates spam handling through stages: spam folder for unengaged and new recipients, then existing recipients, then all mail, followed by rate limiting, stronger rate limiting, and finally blocking. They suggest looking back 6 months to review engagement and open rates, especially considering Yahoo's pixel pre-fetching.
Expert from Email Geeks advises against aggressively removing soft bouncing addresses due to Yahoo using soft bounces as a signal. They recommend fixing the underlying issues causing recipient complaints before removing them. They also suggest investigating links in the message that might have a bad reputation.
Expert from Spamresource.com explains that sender reputation plays a large part in how email providers assess incoming email traffic. If a new IP or domain has a low reputation, it should be warmed slowly to prevent errors like TSS04. Focus on building a positive reputation over time by engaging subscribers.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that TSS04 means you’re warming up too fast and to reduce sending to levels that previously delivered successfully. They also suggest focusing on engaged recipients and those with clear permission to receive mail, and to step back on the warmup process, wait a few days, then increase again.
Expert from Word to the Wise (Laura Atkins) shares that AOL and Yahoo's enhanced DMARC enforcement can cause authentication failures if mail isn't properly authenticated, leading to potential deliverability issues. It is best practice to adjust sending practices to align with DMARC requirements.
Expert from Email Geeks recommends opening a postmaster ticket with Yahoo, as sometimes a backend reset is needed even after implementing all the right fixes.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from SparkPost explains that understanding bounce codes is crucial for troubleshooting delivery issues. While TSS04 is specific to Yahoo, other soft bounce codes can provide insights into potential problems with your sending reputation and practices.
Documentation from Microsoft shares while focusing on Microsoft services, the document emphasizes the importance of following best practices for bulk email sending to maintain a good reputation. This includes proper list management, avoiding spam triggers in content, and monitoring bounce rates to quickly address issues affecting deliverability.
Documentation from Yahoo Help explains that the TSS04 error indicates messages are temporarily deferred due to unexpected volume or user complaints. Senders should review their sending practices, focusing on permission, list hygiene, and content relevance.
Documentation from Google states that while not specific to Yahoo, the principles of good sending practices apply universally. Use authentication methods (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), maintain a clean list, and monitor your sending reputation to avoid deliverability issues, including those that lead to deferrals.