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In February 2024, Google and Yahoo updated their email sending requirements to reduce spam emails in their recipient inboxes. While these updates are for bulk senders sending to @gmail.com domains, it’s still important to stay on top of these changes in case other email domain providers follow Google’s lead.
According to Gmail, you are a bulk sender if you are sending more than 5000 emails daily. This means that bulk email senders must pay close attention to their new guidelines to ensure their marketing messages are hitting their subscribers’ inboxes. In this post, we’ll break down the new email guidelines so you can protect your IP address and sender domain’s reputation.
The main updates you need to pay attention to are the new unsubscribe guidelines and spam rate.
For so long, marketers have used a double opt-out unsubscribe to deter readers from unsubscribing. Think about it: you need to scroll to the bottom of an email, click “unsubscribe,” get routed to a confirmation page, and then click “unsubscribe” again.
Now, Google says you need to “enable easy unsubscription.” For email senders, this means that a one-click unsubscribe button is required.
Take the time now to make sure all of your email templates include a simple and easy-to-find unsubscribe button.
Previously, senders were required to honor unsubscribe requests within ten days to comply with the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003.
Now, Google and Yahoo require email senders to comply with unsubscribe requests within two days. Otherwise, you could be flagged as a potential spammer — thus increasing your odds of being blacklisted by Gmail and Yahoo Mail.
Technically, Google says that you need to keep your spam rate under 0.1% to be considered a non-spammer. That said, their official document states that your spam rates must not exceed 0.3%.
This means that for every 1000 emails you send, only 3 of them can get flagged as spam before your send reputation score is decreased significantly. You can access your send reputation score in the Google Postmaster Tools.
With all of this in mind, it’s more important than ever that you follow email-sending best practices.
While these new guidelines are stricter than past requirements, a lot of the email-sending best practices remain the same.
To not be flagged as spam and protect your send reputation, you need to:
Server-side email authentication helps protect an organization from fake and unwanted emails. Without proper authentication, your emails are more likely to be rejected and flagged as spam by email servers.
Security and authentication utilizing DKIM, SPF, and DMARC should be a standard practice regardless. With the new email guidelines in place, this key administrative step will ensure your sender domain and IP Address are confirmed as legitimate and secure.
DomainKeys Identified Email (DKIM) adds a digital key signature to your emails. With this key, service providers can verify that the email is yours and not some phishing email using your likeness.
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) specifies your allowed IP addresses and domains. This prevents spammers from sending unauthorized messages pretending to be from your email domain.
Domain-Based Messaging Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is a security protocol that determines how service providers should handle emails that don’t pass the SPF or DKIM authentication.
A lot of company leaders are tempted to purchase a lead list and send mass, depersonalized emails to promote their business. While this will get you in front of a lot of people, you will inevitably be flagged as spam. When that happens, your send reputation score will drop — causing your emails to automatically land in your subscribers’ spam box instead.
That’s why it’s now more important than ever to only send emails to people who have opted-in to your marketing messaging. Better yet, ensure you have a double-opt in process: where you send an additional email requesting explicit confirmation from your recipients to agree to hear from you.
“Content is king” is a common saying amongst marketers for a good reason. Without good content, your audience will lose interest and bail on your brand.
That’s why we highly recommend investing in content marketers who can truly translate your messaging into an inspiring and actionable call to action. They can personalize content tailored to segmented audiences that communicate relevant information.
Once your email copy is written, pay close attention to your email’s UX/UI. Your designers need to make sure everything not only reads well, but all the buttons — such as the unsubscribe button — are easy to find.
If you’re looking for additional email marketing best practices, check out this post.
Gimmicks are deceptive tactics to get an email recipient to click on your email. Some of these gimmicks include:
If you continue to use such misleading strategies to get clicks, your brand will suffer from a loss of credibility. That’s why it’s important to follow best practices to avoid getting sent to the spam filter automatically.
For more tips on how to avoid email spam filters, check out our “42 Email Marketing Tips to Avoid Spam Filters.”
Understanding Google’s new email sender requirements is crucial to ensuring your email subscribers can read your emails. Make sure you’re consistently following the most up-to-date guidelines and email marketing best practices to avoid the email spam box.
If you’re looking to maximize your reach with emails, consider partnering with EBQ’s digital marketers. Our certified experts take a data-driven approach to continually improve prospect engagement. Whether we work directly out of your platform or provide our insights manually, you always get full visibility into the process.
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