I’ve been working with a client recently that suddenly started to get large numbers of hard bounces from the email campaigns she sent from Mailchimp.
I thought I’d share the reason for this as it may assist others.
The client in question sends email campaigns regularly to tens of thousands of recipients. Her open and click rates are very high for her industry. Over the years she has used Mailchimp her hard bounce rates have been very typical and constant.
It was odd therefore when she advised me how the hard bounce rates had jumped significantly.
Diagnosing Hard Bounce Errors in Mailchimp
Mailchimp makes available the “bounce reason”. Although it can be a bit tricky to understand if you’re not used to it, many of the hard bounces in the clients account had the following diagnostic information:
554 delivery error: dd Sorry, your message to *****@yahoo.com cannot be delivered. This mailbox is disabled (554.30)
That the mailbox is disabled is a perfectly good reason for a hard bounce. When looking at the email addresses in the list of bounced email addresses in the Mailchimp report for a campaign it was immediately obvious that the majority of email addresses that hard bounced were Yahoo email addresses.
The Yahoo account that you’re trying to send to doesn’t exist. We recommend that you contact the recipient directly to confirm their correct email address.
Why Yahoo Email Addresses Suddenly Hard Bounce
After a bit of research the reason for the Yahoo email addresses hard bouncing become obvious; Yahoo occasionally disable email addresses that haven’t been signed-in to for 12 months or more.
This is the tiniest bit of knowledge that can save somebody’s day! Thanks, Gary!
This does not answer the question and dilemma. Dig deeper. It is something about Yahoo. We can send a direct email to a yahoo address and it is received pronto. Send from MailChimp and it soft bounces. It’s either Mailchimp or Yahoo that are to blame. I had the same problem with SBC and PacBell until I contacted them directly as NONE of my emails would be sent to these addresses. They removed the block. It is a systemic problem.
Hi Philip, this article is about hard bounces and not soft bounces. It will be best to contact Yahoo directly if you’re concerned about soft bounces.
Hi. We are having the same soft bounce issue. Since December, it seems. Affects 10% of our list. How did you resolve this with Yahoo? We’re a non-profit and are using a free account, so don’t have technical assistance etc.
Tilly,
Please:
Let me know the diagnostic code as this may help identify why Yahoo isn’t accepting email messages.
Hi, I have the same issue as Tilly Pick. I am getting yahoo soft bounces with error code of 554 5.7.9
What do I do please? Mailchimp documents are not helpful.
Thanks
Mari
Hi Marie,
Error 554 5.7.9 indicates that the receiving server is refusing your message as it’s being identified as likely spam. To resolve this issue:
Sorry, but that just does not explain it. I don’t use MailChimp and mail from my own server, but came across this thread, so thought I will add to it.
I am not on the spam lists, have FBL, DMARC and SPF set up and watch the bounces like a hawk. My SenderScore is 91, just dipped from 99/97 due to increased mailing volume and, possibly, some bounces (some are legitimately old accounts that I am trying to re-confirm/get rid of).
Yet, I had a user sign up yesterday, verify their email account and fill out their profile on the website. After the review and approval of the profile this morning, the mail notification was sent and hard-bounced less than 24 hours after the signup:
This mailbox is disabled (554.30).
So much, for has been inactive for 12 months.
Hi Ed, thanks for the comment. If you figure out why Yahoo has disabled the mailbox then please leave a comment.