What is the meaning of Yahoo bounce code TSS04 and how to solve deliverability issues?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Mailjet Blog responds that Yahoo's TSS04 bounce often means Yahoo is throttling your emails. This can occur if your emails are being marked as spam or are being sent to too many inactive or invalid email addresses. Reduce the number of emails you send to invalid recipients, and start cleaning up your email lists by removing old, inactive emails. Make sure your subscribers want your content and use a double opt-in.
Email marketer from Email Vendor Selection shares that improving deliverability requires continuous monitoring and adjustment. Regularly review your sending practices, analyze bounce and complaint rates, and monitor your sender reputation. Actively engage with your recipients to ensure they want your emails, and promptly address any deliverability issues that arise. By staying proactive and adaptable, you can maintain a healthy sender reputation and improve your email deliverability.
Email marketer from Reddit User u/EmailHelp shares that cleaning your list and authenticating your email setup is key. Also check your content to see if words are being used that are triggering spam filters. Finally, make sure your recipients are engaged with your emails by prompting them to whitelist your email address.
Email marketer from SparkPost shares that you should segment your email list based on engagement and behavior to improve deliverability. Target your most active subscribers with engaging content and tailor your messaging to their preferences. This can help improve your sender reputation and reduce the likelihood of your emails being marked as spam. You can also create a separate segment for inactive subscribers and try to re-engage them or remove them from your list.
Email marketer from Email Geeks says to look at whether there was any increase in sending, or a new segment, etc. that could reasonably be the cause of increased complaints.
Email marketer from StackOverflow shares that you should ensure your email marketing platform is configured to properly process bounce messages to automatically remove bad email addresses. Handle temporary or soft bounces differently from permanent or hard bounces and ensure your list is updated regularly.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that showing bounces by domain to their boss, highlighting the number of target accounts affected, quickly got leadership's attention, especially when combined with customer complaints.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are essential for improving email deliverability. These protocols help verify that your emails are legitimately sent from your domain and haven't been tampered with. Implementing these protocols correctly can significantly improve your sender reputation and reduce the likelihood of your emails being marked as spam. Review that these are correctly set up and configured.
Email marketer from EmailOnAcid Blog shares that to resolve TSS04 errors, focus on improving your sender reputation. Verify that your sending IP and domain are properly authenticated with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Clean your email list to remove inactive or invalid addresses, and ensure recipients have explicitly opted in to receive your emails. Monitor your sending reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS to identify and address deliverability issues.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise, Steve Atkins, responds that a Yahoo TSS04 error typically means Yahoo is throttling your mail due to a low sender reputation. Focus on improving list hygiene, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and engagement to address the underlying issues causing the low reputation.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that properly managing your email lists and handling bounces effectively are crucial for maintaining a good sender reputation and avoiding deliverability issues. Clean your lists regularly to remove invalid and inactive email addresses and set up a system to process bounce messages.
Expert from Email Geeks recommends regular by-domain review, suggesting a program that re-computes the top 10 domains monthly and weekly does a 14-day lookback for top-line metrics to spot problems earlier.
Expert from Email Geeks explains she typically treats TSS04 as “we’ve been putting your mail in the bulk folder for an age and you didn’t notice and none of your recipients complained that they weren’t getting your mail, so we’re going to rate limit you and see if you clean up your act.”
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from RFC Standard details that enhanced status codes provide specific information about email delivery issues, including temporary failures and permanent rejections. The 4.X.X range typically indicates temporary failures where the email might be retried, while the 5.X.X range indicates permanent failures. You can use status codes to diagnose deliverability problems and determine appropriate actions, such as retrying delivery or removing invalid addresses.
Documentation from DMARC.org explains implementing DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) helps protect your domain from email spoofing and phishing attacks. DMARC allows you to specify how receiving email servers should handle messages that fail SPF and DKIM authentication checks. By implementing DMARC, you can improve your email deliverability and prevent malicious actors from using your domain to send fraudulent emails.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that sender reputation is a key factor in email deliverability. Google assigns a reputation to your sending domain and IP address based on various factors, including bounce rates, spam complaints, and engagement metrics. To improve your sender reputation, follow best practices for email authentication, list hygiene, and content quality. Regularly monitor your sender reputation using Postmaster Tools to identify and address any issues.
Documentation from Yahoo Help Central explains that a TSS04 error generally indicates that Yahoo has identified potential spam-like characteristics in your email traffic and has temporarily limited your sending volume. This is usually because Yahoo hasn't received complaints or signals from your subscribers. It's a rate-limiting measure to encourage senders to improve their sending practices and ensure recipients want their mail.
Documentation from Spamhaus Wiki explains maintaining a clean email list is crucial for deliverability. Regularly remove invalid email addresses, unsubscribe those who haven't engaged in a while, and use a double opt-in process to confirm subscribers' intent. Address bounces promptly, and use feedback loops to identify and remove complainers from your list. Segmenting your list based on engagement can also help tailor your messaging and improve deliverability.