What is the meaning of Yahoo bounce code TSS04 and how to solve deliverability issues?

Summary

The Yahoo TSS04 bounce code indicates email throttling due to a low sender reputation, often stemming from spam-like content, low engagement, or poor list hygiene. Addressing this requires a multi-faceted approach: improve list hygiene by removing inactive/invalid addresses and using double opt-in; implement robust email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC); actively monitor and address deliverability issues using tools like Google Postmaster Tools; segment lists based on engagement; analyze bounce and complaint rates; and review sending practices regularly. Communicating the impact of deliverability issues to leadership by highlighting bounces by domain can help secure resources for improvement.

Key findings

  • TSS04 Throttling: Yahoo TSS04 indicates email throttling due to low sender reputation.
  • Cause: Low Engagement: Often results from unengaged recipients and a lack of complaints/signals from subscribers.
  • Cause: Poor List Hygiene: Sending to inactive or invalid addresses contributes to a low sender reputation.
  • Solution: Authentication: Implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is crucial for verifying sender legitimacy.
  • Solution: Monitoring Tools: Utilize tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS to identify and address deliverability issues.
  • Leadership Attention: Presenting bounces by domain to leadership can help highlight deliverability problems and their impact.

Key considerations

  • Proactive Monitoring: Continuously monitor sending practices, analyze bounce rates, and address deliverability issues proactively.
  • List Segmentation: Segment email lists based on engagement to target active subscribers and attempt to re-engage inactive ones.
  • Content Review: Regularly review content to avoid spam triggers and ensure relevance to subscribers.
  • Authentication Setup: Ensure proper setup and configuration of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to authenticate emails.
  • Process Bounce Messages: Configure email platforms to process bounce messages and remove bad addresses automatically.
  • Continuous Improvement: Commit to continuous monitoring and adjustment of email marketing practices to maintain a healthy sender reputation.

What email marketers say
9Marketer opinions

The Yahoo TSS04 bounce code indicates that Yahoo is throttling email due to a low sender reputation. This is often caused by increased complaints, sending to inactive or invalid email addresses, or issues with email authentication. Resolving TSS04 errors involves improving sender reputation through list cleaning, proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), monitoring sender reputation, and proactively addressing deliverability issues.

Key opinions

  • List Hygiene: Cleaning email lists to remove inactive or invalid addresses is essential for reducing bounce rates and improving sender reputation.
  • Authentication: Properly implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC helps verify the legitimacy of your emails, improving deliverability and reducing the risk of being marked as spam.
  • Engagement Monitoring: Actively monitoring sender reputation and engagement metrics helps identify and address deliverability issues before they escalate.
  • Complaint Handling: Addressing complaints and feedback from recipients helps improve email content and reduce the likelihood of future complaints.
  • Domain Bounces: Highlighting bounces by domain to leadership can help get attention to deliverability issues.

Key considerations

  • Sender Reputation: Focus on building and maintaining a positive sender reputation by following email best practices and addressing deliverability issues promptly.
  • List Segmentation: Segment your email list based on engagement and behavior to target your most active subscribers and re-engage or remove inactive subscribers.
  • Content Quality: Ensure your email content is relevant, engaging, and avoids spam triggers to encourage recipients to interact with your emails.
  • Bounce Processing: Configure your email marketing platform to properly process bounce messages and automatically remove bad email addresses from your list.
  • Monitoring: Continuously monitor sending practices, analyze bounce and complaint rates, and monitor sender reputation.
Marketer view

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.

October 2021 - Mailjet Blog
Marketer view

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.

November 2021 - EmailVendorSelection.com
Marketer view

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.

February 2023 - Reddit
Marketer view

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.

May 2021 - SparkPost
Marketer view

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.

February 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

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.

October 2021 - StackOverflow
Marketer view

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.

March 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

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.

December 2022 - Litmus
Marketer view

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.

March 2022 - EmailOnAcid Blog

What the experts say
4Expert opinions

The Yahoo TSS04 bounce code indicates Yahoo is throttling mail due to low sender reputation, often resulting from unnoticed placement in the bulk folder or lack of recipient engagement. Addressing this requires improving list hygiene, email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), engagement, and regular review of domain performance. Effective email list management and bounce processing are also critical.

Key opinions

  • TSS04 Meaning: TSS04 indicates Yahoo has been placing emails in the bulk folder without notice and is now rate limiting senders.
  • Sender Reputation: Yahoo TSS04 error typically means Yahoo is throttling your mail due to a low sender reputation.
  • List Hygiene: Properly managing your email lists and handling bounces effectively are crucial for maintaining a good sender reputation and avoiding deliverability issues.
  • Regular Review: Regular by-domain review with metrics lookback helps spot deliverability problems earlier.

Key considerations

  • Improve Engagement: Focus on improving engagement to show recipients want to receive emails.
  • Email Authentication: Focus on improving email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).
  • List Management: Clean your lists regularly to remove invalid and inactive email addresses and set up a system to process bounce messages.
  • Proactive Monitoring: Implement a system for regular domain performance review to proactively address issues.
Expert view

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.

September 2024 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

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.

August 2022 - Spam Resource
Expert view

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.

March 2024 - Email Geeks
Expert view

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.”

June 2022 - Email Geeks

What the documentation says
5Technical articles

The Yahoo TSS04 error indicates potential spam-like characteristics and temporary rate-limiting due to lack of engagement. Improving deliverability involves maintaining a clean email list with double opt-in, implementing DMARC to prevent spoofing, understanding RFC status codes for diagnosing delivery issues, and monitoring sender reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools, all contributing to better list hygiene, authentication, and content quality.

Key findings

  • TSS04 Indicator: Yahoo identifies potential spam-like characteristics and limits sending volume.
  • List Hygiene Importance: Maintaining a clean email list is crucial for deliverability.
  • DMARC Protection: DMARC protects domains from spoofing and phishing.
  • RFC Status Codes: Enhanced status codes provide information about delivery failures.
  • Sender Reputation: Sender reputation is a key factor in email deliverability.

Key considerations

  • Clean Email List: Regularly remove invalid addresses and use double opt-in.
  • Implement DMARC: Protect your domain from email spoofing and improve deliverability.
  • Monitor Status Codes: Diagnose deliverability problems using RFC status codes.
  • Monitor Sender Reputation: Use Google Postmaster Tools to track bounce rates, spam complaints, and engagement.
  • Email Best Practices: Follow best practices for email authentication, list hygiene, and content quality to improve your sender reputation.
Technical article

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.

December 2023 - RFC Standard
Technical article

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.

February 2025 - DMARC.org
Technical article

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.

June 2021 - Google
Technical article

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.

September 2023 - Yahoo Help Central
Technical article

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.

September 2023 - Spamhaus Wiki