Email sender regulations by mailbox providers

Email marketers, it's time to mark your calendars. On February 1st, 2024, Google and Yahoo will require bulk senders to authenticate their emails, make unsubscribing easy, and stay under a spam rate limit. Let's walk through the new standards: ✅ Email Authentication: Senders need DMARC, SPF, and DKIM verification. 🚫 Easy Unsubscription: One-click unsubscribe with a two-day honor period. 🙅 Low User-Reported Spam: Under 0.3% spam rate threshold. These new requirements are a good thing! Less spam in inboxes means your legitimate emails are more likely to be seen. Authenticated emails are also essential for security reasons, making phishing attempts easier to squash. Emails also look more reputable and on-brand from your organization's domain than your technology provider's. (The same guidance applies to URLs.) For nonprofits, these rules take effect after the EOY fundraising season. That said, February 1st will be here before you know it. Here are some steps to take: EMAIL AUTHENTICATION There are two ways to verify if you have DMARC, SPF, and DKIM records in place. 1. Find an email from your organization sent to your personal Gmail address. Click the three dots and select "Show Original." Each record should be marked as "PASS." 2. Use a web tool such as EasyDMARC's domain scanner. Enter each domain you use to send bulk emails, and it will show you whether DMARC, SPF, and DKIM records are in place. If you don't have all three in place, check with your tech provider for a how-to guide. EASY UNSUBSCRIPTION To meet the new "one-click" unsubscribe requirements, emails must include a List-Unsubscribe header. Email services use this to add unsubscribe links directly to their interfaces, so readers don't need to dig through the fine print to find the link. Look for an underlined "Unsubscribe" link in Gmail next to the email sender. In Yahoo's interface, click the three dots next to the spam button and look for an "Unsubscribe" option. Most modern email platforms have this covered, but contact yours if it is not in place. Honoring unsubscribes within two days means ensuring you have your email tool(s) set up correctly to exempt opt-outs. This should be instant, but watch out if you send from multiple platforms. When someone asks to unsubscribe from one tool, make sure their choice is respected in all the others. This is all the more reason to integrate your tech stack and have a centralized system for collecting consent, sending emails, and managing opt-outs. LOW USER-REPORTED SPAM With the right tools, the 0.3% threshold is easy to manage. First off, enable Google's Postmaster Tools to see where you stand. Secondly, make sure you only send to engaged contacts. This will reduce your spam rate and increase your engagement rates. Email deliverability doesn't need to be a mysterious process! Familiarize yourself with the terminology, get your house in order, and commit to better email practices.

Google and Yahoo have rolled out new email requirements, and if you're sending email, you are quite surely sending a lot of mail their way. So, it's crucial to get yourself compliant with their rules and monitor your email performance to ensure you *stay* compliant. Here's what to focus on: 1️⃣ Bounces: Enforcement is being rolled out in a phased approach, starting with non-compliant emails facing delays in delivery. Eventually, these will result in rejections, so ensure compliance to avoid disruptions in delivery. 2️⃣ Opens: Track open rates, especially at the provider level, to gauge performance accurately. A drop post-compliance could signal reputation issues. 3️⃣ Unsubscribes: While a spike post-implementation is expected, monitor for sustained trends, indicating potential recipient fatigue or list hygiene issues. 4️⃣ Spam Complaints: Maintain spam rates below 0.1%, aiming even lower for consistent inbox placement. Monitor closely, as complaints can adversely affect deliverability. 5️⃣ Overall Reputation: Evaluate your sender reputation using metrics like StreamScore. Consistent positive engagement indicates compliance and enhances deliverability. Additional Tips: ➡️ Leverage tools like #Google Postmaster Tools and #Yahoo Sender Hub for deeper insights into sender reputation, complaint rates, etc. ➡️ Conduct seed testing to assess inbox placement, focusing on Google and Yahoo addresses. Although use this directionally, as false positives are common. ➡️ Ensure you're compliant with authentication standards (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) using tools like the Google Postmaster Tools compliance dashboard and About My Email, built by Steve Atkins from Word to the Wise. Late to Comply? Well, get movin'... like, today! Then keep a close eye on delivery, bounces, and engagement metrics. Address your compliance gaps promptly — focusing on your most important mail streams like transactional mail first — to mitigate potential damage to recipient trust (and your sender reputation!) Ultimately, compliance, best practices, and performance monitoring are key to a successful email program...not only because these are required by Google and Yahoo, but also because they're the right thing to do for the sake of your email recipients! Remember they are who we are really here to please, not the mailbox providers. I'm sure I'm missing some great tips, so please back me up by adding them in the comments, you nerd. 😉 Also, reach out for support whenever needed! I've been living and breathing this topic for months, and more importantly — I'll be chatting directly with representatives from Google and Yahoo in a webinar on April 10th! I'd be happy to ask them questions on your behalf. 💌 #emailmarketing #deliverability #compliance

Amongst customers and on my network, I’ve seen continued chatter around the new bulk send requirements from Google and Yahoo. As most of you are aware, these new regulations will hit February 1, 2024. Like Outreach CEO Manny Medina said a couple of weeks ago, don't worry - these changes are positive for our industry. These new requirements are actually reinforcing best practices Outreach has been encouraging customers to adopt over the years. And as Outreach’s President of Product and Technology, I’d like to dive into this a bit more.   Last week, Google elaborated on its email sender guidelines and clarified they do not apply to messages sent to Google Workspace accounts. Sender requirements and Google enforcement apply only when sending email to personal Gmail accounts (@gmail.com accounts). We know these new regulations will impact our customers - those sending B2C communications more quickly than B2B - and will work with you to help update your settings to avoid business disruptions when these changes roll out. While these regulations impact personal emails, we can’t be sure it will be this way forever so we recommend organizations adopt our best practices now. How do you get a prospect to read your email? Send better, more relevant emails with personalized content that is targeted at a specific persona. As we've been recommending for years, we advise all of our customers to follow these best practices when sending emails to get more ROI: - Use Persona-based messaging to drive an Account-based selling motion - Limit use of automated email steps in sequences, and vary content when doing so - Limit exposure to unnecessary spam complaints by auditing your contact database to remove personal Gmail accounts and ensure that you are sending to corporate emails for all B2B prospects and customers  And I want to reiterate that we are here to help you through these changes. We want to partner with you to design a more efficient, strategic, organized sales process to unleash seller productivity and ultimately help your organization generate revenue. Our customers always come first - if you have any questions, please reach out, and the Outreach team will be happy to help you. 

On October 1st, Google retired Postmaster Tools v1 and fully shifted to v2. At the same time, they sent a bulk notice to senders who are not compliant with Google’s Email Sender Requirements. To continue sending to Gmail, you must have every requirement checked: - SPF & DKIM authentication - From: header alignment - DMARC authentication - TLS encryption - DNS records (A/PTR) - Spam complaint rate - One-click unsubscribe - Honor unsubscribe Static requirements (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, Alignment, TLS, DNS) are technical and must be configured correctly. These can be easily validated with DMARC monitoring solutions like EasyDMARC. Dynamic requirements (complaints, one-click unsub, honoring unsubscribes) depend on your sending practices. High complaint rates often mean bad list hygiene, poor targeting, or ignoring engagement rules. If you’re not honoring unsubscribes or providing a one-click option, you’re already out of compliance. Google’s stance is clear: “Failing to meet these requirements could lead to more of your emails being rejected.” No shortcuts. Get your static setup fixed. Get your practices in order. The margin for error is gone. #Google #Deliverability #DMARC

If you haven’t updated your email setup since 2022… There’s a good chance your emails are getting ignored—or blocked completely. Google and Yahoo rolled out three major changes that most online business owners still don’t fully understand. And ignoring them? It’s not just risky. It could be the reason your emails aren’t getting delivered. Here’s what changed: 1️⃣ You can’t use a Gmail (or Yahoo) address to send marketing emails anymore. If you’re sending from anything other than your own domain, your deliverability is already suffering—and you may not even know it. 2️⃣ Every marketing email must include a one-click unsubscribe. No more hiding unsubscribe links in tiny fonts or making people “log in to manage preferences.” If it’s not simple, you’ll rack up spam complaints—and that hurts your sender reputation. 3️⃣ Your domain must be authenticated (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). This isn’t just a technical checkbox. It’s how inbox providers determine if you’re legitimate—or a potential threat. If you skip this step, your emails could land in spam… or be silently rejected before they’re ever seen. And here’s the part most people miss: Authentication isn’t set-it-and-forget-it. You need to monitor it regularly and adjust your DMARC enforcement policy as your list grows and your sending volume increases. Inbox rules are getting tighter—and what worked before no longer cuts it. If you're not sure whether you're fully set up (or if your ESP just gave you a vague green checkmark), DM me "CHECK" and I’ll check yours out.

Google New Email Rules: What Marketers Need to Know Google new email rules, effective from October 15, 2024, are designed to reduce spam and improve email quality for Gmail users. These rules are particularly aimed at bulk email senders who send emails to 5,000 or more Gmail addresses within a day. Here’s a clearer breakdown: 1. Why the change? To reduce spam, phishing, and low-quality emails that clutter inboxes and often lead to unsubscribing. 2. What's the rule? Bulk email senders must: 📍 Authenticate emails using protocols like SPF (Sender Policy Framework) or DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail). This confirms the email is really coming from you and not a scammer. 📍 Keep spam rates below 0.3%, meaning that less than 0.3% of your sent emails should be marked as spam. 📍 Use real sender names in the "From" field, avoiding misleading names or trying to imitate Gmail. 📍 Include an easy, one-click unsubscribe option, and you must process unsubscribe requests within two days. 3. Solution for email marketers? →Ensure your email system is properly set up with authentication protocols. →Send targeted, relevant content to reduce spam complaints. →Be transparent with your sender details and honour unsubscribe requests immediately to maintain trust and comply with the rules. Following these rules will keep your emails from getting blocked or flagged as spam. This change is particularly challenging for marketers because maintaining a low spam rate and processing unsubscribe requests quickly requires careful list management and high-quality content delivery. #Google #email #gmail #EmailMarketing #DigitalMarketing #EmailTrends #GmailUpdates