As we’re moving into March, we’re sure you’re already aware of and taken care of these new requirements.
But just in case you missed it or are wondering why your deliverability has gone down, here’s an overview of some recent updates you should know about and what you can do about it.
In February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo rolled out new requirements for anyone who sends emails to their users. So if you’re an e-commerce brand that sends emails (including transactional emails), it’s crucial that you have followed these steps to make sure your customers keep receiving your emails and you stay out of the spam folder.
Why Did These Changes Happen?
Both Google and Yahoo explain their reasoning why they’ve made these changes in their respective blog posts on the topic. In essence, their goal is to make inboxes safer and less spammy. By having an authenticated address, bad actors aren’t able to impersonate legitimate senders, and easy unsubscribing and meeting spam rate thresholds leads to a better user experience.
Let’s face it, nobody likes a brand that makes it hard to unsubscribe or sends endless emails you aren’t interested in.
What Are The Requirements?
There are 3 main requirements that Google and Yahoo announced.
- Authenticate your mail
- Make unsubscribing easy
- Keep your spam rate under 0.3%
By meeting the above requirements, you’ll be in the clear and increase the chances of your emails reaching the recipients’ inboxes rather than being filtered into spam folders.
How Do I Meet The Requirements?
Now that you know what the new requirements are, let’s go over how to actually meet them and the next steps you can take.
Set Up DMARC Authentication And Have Your Own Domain
DMARC is what determines the authenticity of an email and confirms that it comes from the domain it claims it does. You can set up your DMARC authentication within the settings of your DNS provider. By setting up your DMARC policy to be “p=none”, you’ll be able to help prevent bad actors from impersonating your brand.
Related to this, if you’re a bulk sender (5K+ emails a day) you’ll also have to make sure you have your own domain and can’t use a shared domain. Your “from” name must also align with the verified domain that you’re sending emails from.
Make Unsubscribing Easy
Google and Yahoo will require you to have a one-click unsubscribe option in your emails. So if you only have a default unsubscribe link in the email footer that requires multiple steps, you would not be following the new requirements.
Anticipating these changes, Email Service Platforms like Klaviyo have started to automatically add a one-click unsubscribe to the top of their user’s emails. So that’s one less thing to worry about if you use Klaviyo. If you use a different platform for your email marketing, be sure to check with them about this topic to see if this will be added for you or something you’ll have to manually add to your emails.
Avoid Spam: Send Emails That People Want To Read
The best way to avoid the spam folder is to make sure you’ve received consent and send emails that are relevant to your subscribers. How you segment your list and your overall email marketing strategy plays a massive role in how subscribers respond to your emails. If you have many subscribers reporting your emails as spam and go over a threshold of 0.3%, Google and Yahoo will start placing future emails in the spam folder.
Need help with segmentation and crafting emails your subscribers will love to see in their inbox? Contact our team for a full audit and we’ll see if you’re a good fit.
What Happens If I Don’t Do Anything?
If you don’t follow the requirements above, you’ll be much more likely to see your overall deliverability drop and start landing in the spam folder for subscribers who use Gmail or Yahoo. Considering that Gmail alone has ~1.8 billion users, this is incredibly important for your brand and your email marketing. Also keep in mind that if your deliverability is dropping for certain segments of your audience (Gmail and Yahoo users), that your deliverability across the board will begin to be affected.
Need Help?
Not sure if you have the time to do all of the above? Or maybe you’ve had issues with deliverability or open rates in the past?
Reach out to our team for a full audit of your email marketing, and if we work together we’ll make sure you meet these new requirements and maximise your email marketing results.
