perhaps, you have been experiencing a considerable number of yahoo addresses bouncing for over ten months; It’s not an accident. As a result of a cleanup process carried out by Yahoo, several hundred marketers around the world have witnessed an increase in email bounce rate.
yahoo emails are returning to sender. why? and what should you do?
It is believed that the cleanup will affect inactive accounts, meaning any account that has not been used for more than twelve months. such accounts are deleted, deactivated or released to other new users.
Many email marketers understandably wonder how the process could affect their business, and if it does, what steps can they take to protect their email deliverability?
First of all, keep in mind that challenges do not have easy solutions. however, by taking some necessary steps, you will save yourself from any significant consequences. however, before proceeding, it is important that we understand the effort that yahoo is making to run an efficient and secure email service platform.
In June 2013, the initiative began when former Yahoo Senior Vice President Jay Rossiter wrote an article about the process. the blog post revealed that the company would delete all unused email accounts that had not been accessed for more than twelve months. furthermore, 30 days after deleting said account, the email platform will recycle the identities and then provide them to the public again. Rossiter cleverly tried to make the whole process seem like a win-win effort by adding that people can get the ID they’ve always wanted.
a lot of bounces for email marketers
It is understandable that some are enthusiastic about such a statement; however, the overall consequences can be quite significant for email senders and receivers. Earlier this year, the company stepped up the cleanup process by deactivating a significant number of unused email accounts.
what are the consequences?
Email marketers experience the most significant impact from yahoo mass bounces. as a result, they strive to maintain their email hygiene and return emails to the inbox.
what to do now?
Yahoo’s effort is taking a toll on your email marketing; what are the solutions?
maintain a clean list using an email verifier
Email marketing is all about maintaining a safe and healthy email list. so try getting an email checker to remove any redundancy in your list if it’s been a while since you’ve done this. this way you can easily find the accounts that may result in email bounces. What’s more, with an email checker, you’ll be able to get rid of spam traps, temporary addresses, and role-based addresses, which never add any value to your business.
Also, you can protect your registration form by installing an email verification api. this system helps to validate emails in real time and block inappropriate registrations. furthermore, it is useful for keeping a clean list for a long period of time. however, keep in mind that email verification services and email service providers tend to have a difficult time verifying a disabled account. this means that in inactive state, the account is disabled; however, once the owner logs back in, the email service provider will re-enable the account.
get rid of non-engaging subscribers
This method is a common approach to email deliverability because it helps maintain long-term sender reputation. Get to know your inactive subscribers by reading a regular report on your email marketing. Also, try to remove any addresses that haven’t received any of the emails sent to you in the last three or four months.
One of the metrics for determining a sender’s reputation is engagement rate. Keeping inactive addresses on your list is a worthless risk, whether it’s on Yahoo’s list or not. although, by removing some addresses, you will lose some subscribers; however, considering that there is no commitment from them, is there really any loss?
be careful with your spam complaints
After a yahoo email account is closed, the account will be recycled and available to any new user. Will this influence your email marketing?
Let’s take a practical look at the situation: If one of your subscribers, [email protected], decided to switch to another email service provider. however, even though the owner didn’t delete the yahoo account, he also hasn’t logged in for over twelve months. in this case, yahoo will automatically disable the account, followed by deletion.
now, after a while, if another adelaide finds out that [email protected] is available, she’ll definitely pick the address. and in no time, the new owner will receive emails from you. In such a situation, Adelaide will most likely unsubscribe and then tag you as spam. And as an email marketer, you should know that being labeled spam doesn’t help maintain a good reputation. the consequence is always being seen as an illegitimate sender by internet and email service providers. therefore, it will not be easy for your emails to reach the inbox.
So what can you do to save yourself from spam complaints?After receiving a notification, try manually removing the abusive emails from your list. For a faster and safer approach, get a functional email verifier. With an advanced system, you can even find known email whistleblowers with a history of marking emails as spam. this way you can remove them before they complain. Constant attention to reporting is crucial to managing yahoo bounces right now. We recommend that you carefully read your bounce codes; be mindful of your engagement rates and get rid of non-engaging subscribers with no regrets.
the consequence of false positives
As we mentioned earlier, email service providers or email verification services cannot validate an email account that has been labeled “disabled” by Yahoo. a “disabled” status implies that the owner has been inactive for some time, but once the owner logs in again, the account could be re-enabled. in such a state, any email sent to it will be retrieved even if the mailbox exists. consequently, an address for such an account will be labeled “deliverable” when evaluated with an email verifier, although the “undeliverable” status should be applied. this situation is called a “false positive” result. When it comes to yahoo accounts, the industry standard is around 96% accuracy, within deliverable emails. however, the overall quality of the data and its source play a crucial role. in general, a low-quality list will simply result in a high risk of false-positive results.