Changes made by Google and Yahoo that will impact your deliverability!
In early October, both Google and Yahoo announced new rules regarding authentication and compliance for companies sending large volumes of emails.
These changes will take effect from February 2024, but Google mentions that testing will begin earlier.
Google will require senders of more than 5,000 emails per day to meet specific authentication measures to ensure email message delivery. Yahoo did not specify a minimum number of messages but committed to adhering to the same standards as Google.
If you send newsletter communications, you must adhere to industry standards for email authentication:
Email authentication with DKIM and DMARC
Only good quality of the database - number of marked as spam below 0.3%
Clear and one-click unsubscribe
More detailed information:
DKIM and SPF should align with the domain in the "From" field.
Publishing a DMARC record with at least a "p=none" policy is required.
Proper DNS configuration.
Email messages must be formatted according to the standard format of internet messages described in RFC 5322.
The email header must include a one-click unsubscribe link.
All promotional emails must contain an easy and clear unsubscribe link in the email content, leading to a subscription preference center that allows the removal of subscribers from the mailing list within 2 days.
Maintaining a spam complaints rate of 0.1% or lower is necessary. Spam complaints exceeding 0.3% will result in blocking and non-delivery. Both Google and Yahoo did not specify a specific time frame for the average spam complaint rate. (Spam Complaints – when an email recipient marks the message as spam)
Who will be affected by these changes?
This policy change affects all email senders. If you do not comply with Google and Yahoo's rules, your email will not be delivered, not even to the spam folder!!!
Your email messages will simply be blocked.
Google will return a DNS error code.
While Google and Yahoo do not plan to provide very detailed information about the full blocking criteria, they have provided our industry with sufficient guidance and tools to make meeting these requirements relatively straightforward.
Which messages will be affected by the change?
All marketing messages, and additionally, all transactional messages will be monitored. Google and Yahoo will require these messages to have low complaint rates.
Why should you be concerned?
If you send newsletter messages to customers in the European market, your address structure likely contains around 40% Gmail domains and 12% Yahoo domains, making up 50% of your database.
What should you do?
Ensure that your DNS records (SPF and DKIM entries) are correctly configured.
Verify that you are sending communication only to engaged users.
Check if you are sending the right messages to the right recipients.
Ensure you have a DMARC policy set to at least "p=none."
Make sure all your emails have a visible unsubscribe link that works correctly or is not hidden due to the message being too long.
Ensure you are sending the right email communications, and customers are not marking your messages as spam, as Google will protect them from unwanted messages in the inbox.
You can learn more about Google's planned changes here: link
You can learn more about Yahoo's planned changes here: link
Need more help?
If you have more questions about deliverability your emails, do not hestiate to contact us at hello@edrone.me