Did you notice an increase in bounce rate due to Yahoo email?

A lot of internet marketers are complaining about the same.

Yahoo performed its cleanup process in March 2019. All those email accounts that were not accessed in the last 12 months were deleted and made available for public claims.

It’s not a surprise for those who keep themselves with the tech news. In 2013, the Senior Vice President of Yahoo, Jay Rossiter, hinted at the start of this process in a blog post.

All the deleted email addresses were made available to the public to claim after 30 days.

It may sound exciting for some. But it is a disaster for internet marketers.

The email marketers are now finding it difficult to keep their lists clean and deliver their emails right in the recipient’s inbox.

Sit back and relax. We’ve got the solution for you.

Here is a detailed guide for fixing the Yahoo email bouncing problem if you have been affected by this update.

Keep your list fresh

There is nothing more important for an email marketer than a good quality list. You can maintain the quality of the list by checking it frequently for inactive and invalid email addresses. However, it becomes cumbersome to do it manually.

You can automate the process by using an email verifier. It’s the most proven and effective method. You can detect those email addresses responsible for a high bounce rate before even sending the email.

How cool is that?

The process doesn’t end here. The email verifier service checks for spam traps, disposable, and invalid email addresses. All the spam traps, disposable, and invalid email addresses cause the failures in a marketing campaign. That’s why it’s better to get rid of these emails.

You can even set up a defense shield at the entry point. The email verification API serves as the defense shield. When a user subscribes or sign-ups for your service, it automatically verifies the email in real-time by using different mechanisms.

However, there is a problem.

If an account is disabled due to inactivity, the email verification service can’t verify it. It’s because Yahoo might activate that once the user logs back.

But there is a workaround for this problem too.

Don’t delete the email address if it appears to be unverified. Keep it separate from your list. Use the verification service again after some time. If the account has been activated, it will automatically be verified.

Get rid of unengaged subscribers

Over time, a subscribe might lose interest in your service or product. It will result in zero interaction from the subscriber’s side. If you’re looking to save your sender reputation, it’s best practice to get rid of subscribers.

Keep an eye on your campaign stats regularly. These stats can help you recognize the inactive and unengaged followers. Usually, if a subscriber doesn’t engage in 90 to 180 days, it should be removed from the list. Otherwise, the bounce rate will start to increase.

Among the key metrics which determine the sender’s reputation, engagement rate is essential. It’s not only true for Yahoo addresses but also other email service providers too. Why would you take the risk of keeping the inactive accounts when there is zero interaction from them?

According to ClickDimensions, unengaged subscribers should be removed from the list as quickly as possible. Otherwise, you are increasing your chances of getting into a blacklist.

Monitor spam complaints

Suppose Yahoo closed down an email account. After some time, it recycled that account and made it available for public claims. Somebody claimed it.

How it’s going to affect your marketing campaign?

Le’s say, a user, named XYZ, one of your subscribers, having email address [email protected], decided to change her email address or switch to a different email provider. The subscriber decided not to delete this Yahoo account. However, Yahoo observed that this specific account hasn’t performed any activity in the last 12 months. Yahoo disabled and deleted the account. After some time, it’s made available for a public claim.

At that time, another user named XYZ found the address ‘[email protected]’ suitable for her. Since it was available, she claimed it. She started to receive the emails from you because the address was on your list. There are high chances that she will unsubscribe because she never interacted with you. Furthermore, she might even mark your emails as spam before unsubscribing.

Once many people start doing the same with your emails, your domain reputation will be damaged. It’s the red flag for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and email service providers. They will consider your emails as spam. If this happens, all of your emails might go to the spam folder.

Here, the question arises what to do to avoid spam complaints?

Once you get to know that your emails are being labeled as spam, you need to find the culprits and remove them from this list. It will ensure that your list is free from such emails. However, it will take time and effort to do it manually.

An easier solution is to use an email list verify service. The email verification service’s advanced mechanism identifies the users’ history of labeling the emails as spam. So those emails will be detected and removed before they even mark your emails as spam.

Conclusion

Your bounce rate might have increased because of the recent updates by Yahoo. But you don’t need to worry. You can avoid this by keeping your email list fresh, getting rid of unengaged subscribers, and monitoring the spam complaints. For this purpose, you need to read the bounce codes and take action accordingly. This task requires a lot of time and effort.

You can make your life easier by using the email checking and verification service. MailTester’s dashboard is straightforward and intuitive. Your email list will be automatically checked, cleaned, and verified before you even start sending the emails. You and your team can collaborate and utilize all the services offered on the platform.