Email Marketing Changes in 2024
Buckle up! If you send marketing emails then you MUST be aware of the changes that are happening (soon!!) that can impact your email deliverability.
Google & Yahoo are implementing new security policies effective February 1st, 2024 to reduce the amount of spam in people’s inboxes. Many of these policies have been best practice, but will now be required! So, this is not something to mess around with.
You may have received information about these changes from your email service provider and ignored - I’m here to tell you - please don’t!
Here’s what you need to know to keep your emails from ending up in spam and to improve your email deliverability:
You must send marketing emails from a dedicated domain.
This means you can no longer send via someone else's domain. So, if you are using a free email service like Google, Yahoo, Hotmail (ex: yourname@gmail.com) for marketing emails then you MUST switch to your own domain (ex: name@companyname.com). Marketing emails from these providers will be blocked!
You must verify your domain & have email domain authentication records in place.
This is a guarantee of where your emails are coming from. Each email service provider has a different process for how to verify your email domain.
The values within these records will differ based on who your email service provider (ESP) is. (Examples of ESP’s: ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, MailChimp, MailerLite, etc.)
There are 3 specific email records that need to be included in your domain records.
SPF (sender policy framework)
Your email service provider is authorized to send your email on your behalf.
DKIM (domain keys identified mail)
The email is really coming from the domain it says it is.
Ensures that your email hasn’t been changed or tampered with along the way - so no one can send an email pretending to be you!
DMARC (domain based message authentication reporting and conformance)
The instructions to the “system” for what to do if your email doesn’t pass your SPF or DKIM “rules”
Options: Should the email be pushed through (but a record kept)? Should the email be quarantined (put it to the side or in a spam folder)? Or should the email be rejected (not sent at all)?
You must have a one-click unsubscribe button.
It must be easy & obvious for people to unsubscribe. Ultimately, this is better for you anyways as a more engaged email list is better (more on this in a moment)
You must maintain a low spam rate.
Your spam rate must remain below 0.3%. If you exceed 0.3% spam rate then your emails can be blocked fully!
Calculation of this spam rate is a little bit different now than it used to be. Previously this rate was determined by # of complains/#of emails sent. NOW, the spam rate is calculated by #of complaints/# engaged contacts.
So, what is an engaged contact? Engaged contacts are recipients that are active or responsive to your emails. Open rate is super important here (hello focusing on subject lines!). Users that don’t open your emails or report your email as spam are considered unengaged and with these new requirements should be removed from your list. Additionally, emails with hard or soft bounce or that have been marked as invalid should be removed promptly as well.
*It’s also important to note that the spam rate you see in your ESP is not the same as the spam rate that is being monitored by Google/Yahoo/etc. The spam rate in your ESP reflects the responses that people select upon unsubscribing and each ESP has different guidelines about what is allowed vs what is not to determine what constitutes spam. These spam rates are based on people marking your emails as spam in their email provider.
So, what do you need to do?
Check to see that your email domain has been verified. Many ESPs have required this, but not all. To check to see if your email domain has been verified with Google you can go to: https://postmaster.google.com/
Authenticate your email domain. If you are familiar with your domain records & where they are managed, go check them out and look for the 3 records noted above (SPF, DKIM, DMARC).
*Important: if you have not had these records in place then you do not have a reputation for your domain as you’ve been sending through your ESP so will need to build one! This will entail “warming up your domain” to show that the emails from your domain are legitimate and can be trusted. So, don’t just start sending off tons of emails after setting up these records as your reputation can plummet!
Find out from your ESP what options they have for the one-click unsubscribe in your emails.
Monitor your email engagement & scrub your list of those who are not opening your emails, have marked you as spam, hard or soft bounces, or invalid email addresses.
Once you sign up for Google Postmaster you can monitor your domain reputation, spam rates, authentication and other important metrics impacting your email deliverability.
Whew! So, that’s as brief, but comprehensive as I could make it. This stuff is super important and though I know it may seem easy to ignore I can’t stress enough that that is the last thing you should do.
Are you overwhelmed?? Real talk - it IS overwhelming to me too and I have a solid understanding of it. So, don’t stress, but try to take a look at your email marketing set up to make sure you are compliant. Go through the checklist to see what requirements may already be set up and what you need to address. Questions? Drop them in the comments below!
