• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

OrganicWeb

Mailchimp Training & Consulting

  • Home
  • Services
    • Mailchimp Training
    • Mailchimp Consulting
  • Free Tools
    • Mailchimp Tutorials on YouTube
    • Subject Line Generator
    • Marketing Ideas Generator
    • Map Maker for Email
    • WhatsApp Click to Chat Generator
    • Avoid Email Going to Spam
    • Email Link Generator
    • Is Mailchimp Down?
    • Marketing Facts and Stats
  • Content
    • Blog
    • Videos
  • Contact & About
    • Contact
    • About

The Reason for Yahoo Hard Bounces in Mailchimp

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.

554 error described in the Yahoo SMTP error code table

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.

Found this useful? Please share:

Related

  • What does ‘cleaned’ mean in Mailchimp?
  • Should you verify email addresses?
  • How is the email marketing open rate measured?

Filed Under: Marketing

Watch Gary in action

Gary frequently adds Mailchimp instructional videos to his YouTube channel. Subscribe to keep updated.

→  Subscribe   ←

How to add an editable attachment to a Mailchimp campaign.

How to add, and send, coupon codes in Mailchimp.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Reginaldo Nepomuceno says

    June 9, 2019 at 1:58 pm

    This is the tiniest bit of knowledge that can save somebody’s day! Thanks, Gary!

    Reply
  2. Philip says

    January 1, 2020 at 7:27 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Gary says

      January 1, 2020 at 7:42 am

      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.

      Reply
  3. tilly pick says

    January 10, 2020 at 12:03 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Gary says

      January 10, 2020 at 8:19 am

      Tilly,
      Please:

      1. Click “Activity” then “Bounced” when viewing one of your Mailchimp reports.
      2. Click “Bounce Reason” to the right of one of the Yahoo soft bounced email addresses.
      3. Look for something similar to “Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 550 Mail to example@yahoo.com has been suspended”

      Let me know the diagnostic code as this may help identify why Yahoo isn’t accepting email messages.

      Reply
  4. MARIE says

    February 13, 2021 at 1:13 am

    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

    Reply
    • Gary says

      February 14, 2021 at 9:36 am

      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:

      • Authenticate your sending domain in Mailchimp and
      • Ensure that you’re not listed as a spammer on any spam lists e.g. https://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx
      Reply
  5. Ed says

    March 4, 2021 at 11:01 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Gary says

      March 5, 2021 at 7:10 am

      Hi Ed, thanks for the comment. If you figure out why Yahoo has disabled the mailbox then please leave a comment.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You are here: Home / Marketing / The Reason for Yahoo Hard Bounces in Mailchimp

Primary Sidebar

Mailchimp write about my work

Read on Mailchimp.com

Learn from a Mailchimp Pro Partner

Signup to receive info about Gary's Mailchimp beginner and advanced classes.

Sign up

Gary on Australian National Radio

Changes are coming to the Australian Spam Act

Read Gary's article in SmartCompany

Meet Gary, Mailchimp Expert

Gary is a Mailchimp Expert and Partner. He delivers Mailchimp training and consulting services in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Gary presents at Mailchimp events and hosts the first, and only, Australian Mailchimp sponsored event. He is M.B.A. qualified from Henley Business School, U.K.

Contact Gary for your Mailchimp needs

Footer

Customer Rating

Mailchimp Pro Partners

Contact

Contact Gary for all your Mailchimp training, consulting and integration needs.

Contact Gary.

Copyright © 2022 · Sitemap · ABN: 40800872179 · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service