Gmail and Yahoo announced sender requirement updates in October 2023 which will minimise spam that is received by users. Both platforms will follow stricter authentication protocols for sending domains, unsubscribe links and spam rate thresholds. The plan for these updates will ensure a safer email experience and will go into effect in February 2024. This will cause substantial deliverability issues for bulk senders, or for those who send 5,000 or more emails a day, if their requirements aren’t met. So, if you’re an email marketing agency, you might want to listen up!

Shane McElroy – Product Manager at Klaviyo, stated that: “Meeting these requirements will make it easier for inbox providers to identify you as a legitimate sender, which in turn will make it easier than ever for you to reach your subscribers.”

Ensure you meet these new requirements by following this checklist to get your account ready for 2024:

✅ Set up DMARC Authentication for Your Sending Domain

A DMARC policy enables domain owners to choose how users receive unauthenticated emails from their domain. Implementing this policy to protect their domains from phishing and spoofing.
Setting up a DMARC authentication for your sending domain can be done first hand in your DNS provider. Configuring DMARC to p=none will satisfy Gmail and Yahoo’s upcoming requirements, and also help to analyze mail streams using your domain and work towards DMARC enforcement.

✅ Configure SPF and DKIM on Your Domain

Your Sender Policy Framework (SPF), confirms if an email sent from your company aligns with one of your established IP addresses, and your DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) identifies whether the email is fake or has been altered. It is necessary to configure your SPF and DKIM on your domain if you use a custom Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for sending emails, as this will help to prevent your emails being listed as spam.

✅ Align your “From:” Header with Your Domain

Bulk senders will need their own sending domain, as senders will not meet the requirements if the domain used is shared. Although, using a shared dedicated IP will still be accepted. The domain that your subscribers will see in their inbox within the “From” section will need to align with your sending domain to comply with DMARC.

For a more in depth understanding of this and examples of what domains will meet the requirements, click here. Additionally, if you are an entrepreneur without your own domain, impersonating gmail “From:” headers such as using gmail.com or googlemail.com, will mean your email will be listed as spam.

✅ Make Unsubscribing Easier and Clearer

Emails that ensure difficulty for recipients to unsubscribe will only encourage more users to mark them as spam, which in turn will damage your deliverability reputation. To abide by the new requirements, marketing emails must include a method to unsubscribe in just one step and an unsubscribe link within the message body. Complying with these requirements will likely improve your deliverability score, sender reputation, and engagement with customers.

To tackle this, In January 2024, our partner Klaviyo will be implementing a “list unsubscribe header” with an unsubscribe link at the top of the email. This will be applied to all marketing emails built within the platform, meaning brands won’t need to configure anything and the “one click to unsubscribe” requirement will be met.

✅ Keeping Your Spam Rates Low

Spam rate thresholds will be enforced; emails with a consistent high spam rate will be rejected or listed as spam. To follow the new requirements, spam complaints will need to be kept at 0.30% or under. Google’s Postmaster Tools can be used as a clear guideline to help with monitoring this and taking control over sending reputations.

Need help complying with Google and Yahoo’s new email sender requirements? Or need an email marketing agency that can do it for you? We’d love to chat! Get in touch today and let us help you.