NOTICE: New Send Reqs for Gmail and Yahoo!
Marketing companies like us, in Kelowna are gearing up for a busy season. Recently, Google announced new sending requirements for users of Gmail. Shortly following this news, Yahoo revealed similar requirements of their own to be put into effect in the coming months. Businesses that use either of these platforms for their primary modes of communication, will need to abide by these new regulations going forward. In this article, we will be going over everything you need to know about how to adapt your Email marketing to these new preconditions. Follow along below to learn more about this timely matter!
What to Know About New Sending Criteria for Gmail and Yahoo! Users
In the final quarter of 2023, Google published a news release indicating that they were planning to release a new set of sending requirements for users. These new obligations are set to go into effect this month (February 2024). If you are a business or user who sends less than 5,000 Emails per day through Gmail, then these rules will not apply. However, anyone who sends over this amount (5,000+) will need to conform to the changing conditions. Yahoo announced a similar brief to its users, however, there were limited details disclosed.
For Gmail senders, the new requirements will be mostly centered around Email authentication best practices. While these were once recommendations, governing bodies are now enforcing them to safeguard domains and prevent the misuse/malicious activities that can occur within the larger network of Email communications. Users will now be forced to take authentication more seriously and adjust their domain structure.
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) records
Tools such as SendGrid have been advising customers of best practices like publishing Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) records. SPF is a way for a domain to list all the servers they send Emails from. DKIM enables domain owners to automatically verify Emails sent from their domain. Doing both of these things helps to ensure a more secure Email environment. This is because these steps work to prevent phishing, spoofing, spamming, and malware distribution.
Another requirement that Gmail will be enforcing in February is the need to publish a Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) record. To put it simply, a DMARC record tells a receiving Email server what to do given the results after checking SPF and DKIM.
Full List of Requirements & How We Can Help You Adjust?
To help you get a better idea of the new requirements that Gmail intends to enforce, we have included a full list:
- Set up a SPF and DKIM Email authentication for your domain
- Verify that sending domains or IPs have valid PTR records
- Ensure spam rates in Postmaster Tools are below 0.3%
- Format Emails according to the Internet Message Format Standard
- Make sure that you don’t impersonate Gmail From: header
- Add Authenticated Received Chain (ARC) headers to outgoing messages if you forward mail regularly
- Set up DMARC Email authentication for the domain you send from
- The domain in your From: header must align with the SPF domain or the DKIM domain for direct mail
- Enable one-click unsubscribe in the body for subscribed messages
- Use Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection for transmitting email
For those who want to read a more in-depth description of this new criteria for senders, check out SendGrid’s article called “Gmail and Yahoo’s New Sender Requirements: A Closer Look.”
If you aren’t sure where to start with ensuring that your business complies with these new regulations, then get in touch because we can help! Configuring your Email marketing to fit these new standards can be tricky. Especially, if you’re not familiar with the long list of acronyms listed above. By hiring the help of an expert you can ensure that you aren’t subject to enforcement actions from Google or Yahoo.
Contact us Today!
Working with marketing companies like Atomic 55 in Kelowna is a great way to make sure you are staying on top of the latest technology requirements! To learn more about how to update your Email marketing to fit Google’s new conditions, contact us today. Our team would be happy to help you with all things related to this new email change policy.
