Stay Ahead of the Curve: A Guide to New Email Deliverability Requirements
As you may have heard, Gmail and Yahoo are rolling out significant changes to their spam prevention methods to enhance email security and user experience. These updates bring new requirements for bulk email senders (5k+ per day), effective February 2024. At Digital Additive, we’re dedicated to ensuring our clients’ messages reach their customers and don’t end up in spam folders. That’s why we’ve worked with each one to ensure they’re prepared for the changes ahead.
Want to double-check that your sends will land in inboxes? Here’s a breakdown of the key changes being implemented in Gmail and Yahoo as well as actionable steps you can take to accommodate these updates.
1. Email Authentication: Your Credibility Check
What it is:
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Verify DKIM: Ensure your email sending domain has a verified DKIM record. Account Engagement users can follow the provided resources for configuration.
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Consider additional measures: Explore stricter DMARC policies or BIMI/Google Verified Checkmark for enhanced security.
2. One-C
What it is: Th
Review headers: Verify your email headers include “List-Unsubscribe” and “List-Unsubscribe-Post” fields. Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement users have this automatically added.
Confirm functionality: Double-check that your Unsubscribe link or Email Preference Center link works correctly.
3. Keep Spam Complaints Low: Maintain a Good Reputation
What it is: Gmail tracks your spam complaint rate and penalizes senders with high rates.
A 0.3% spam complaint threshold is coming to Gmail in 2024.
Monitor: Use Google Postmaster Tools to track your spam complaint rate and identify problem areas.
Focus on quality: Send relevant content to engaged subscribers to minimize complaints. Ideally, senders should aim for a complaint rate of 0.1% or less.
Additional Tips for Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement Users
- Custom Return-Path: Work with Support to configure a custom return-path for full domain alignment, strengthening your DMARC policy.
- Unsubscribe Functionality: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Account Engagement automatically inserts a one-click unsubscribe header, but you can continue using a two-click unsubscribe page if preferred.
- Sender Authentication Package: Senders who use SFMC’s Sender Authentication Package (SAP) will automatically be aligned with these updated requirements. Find out more about SAP here.
