This could be the most important post you read all year when it comes to email marketing.
Why?
Yahoo and Gmail have rolled out new verification requirements so they can be sure we have control of the domains we’re sending from.
And in this post, I’ll be going over everything you need to know so you don’t get left behind.
Let’s begin:
What you need to know:
Here are some of the changes that Gmail has put in place:
- Gmail now requires single-click unsubscribe is required so that all users can unsubscribe with one click (ConvertKit does this automatically)
- You must make sure your spam complaint rate limit stays under 0.3%, or emails risk being sent to spam
- Authenticating your email and domain name is now required.
Yahoo’s changes for bulk senders:
Here are some of the changes that Yahoo has put in place:
- The same as Gmail, Authenticating your email and domain name is now required.
- As well as Gmail – One-click unsubscribe is mandatory to help users easily opt out of unwanted emails (The deadline for this has been extended to June 2024)
- And Yahoo has said that a spam-rate threshold will be enforced, and all senders must keep spam low
In a nutshell, Gmail and Yahoo need to be sure that you own the domain you’re sending from, so how can they monitor this?
Here’s what you need to do:
- You must add DMARC and SPF records to your domain name in the DNS zone (You’d find this section on whatever website you bought your domain name from, I.e Namecheap or GoDaddy)
- You must also add a DKIM record to your domain name in the DNS zone.
- Verify your email address. If you’re doing email marketing for your business, you MUST send from a domain name. So it would be ‘Name@businessname.com’.
- Set up postmaster.google.com and aim to keep your spam rate below .3% (this is important).
How do I verify my domain inside my email-sending software?
Here’s a quick video on how to verify your domain name inside Convertkit.
Video credit for Melissa Litchfield for the above video. Click here to check out her channel.
If you have any other questions, just leave a comment below and let me know and I’ll make sure to get back to you.
Some other rules worth knowing:
The CAN-SPAM Act is the main anti-spam law surrounding commercial emails in the United States.
And in 2024, there are some key rules that you need to keep in mind:
- Senders must now include a working unsubscribe link in all emails. This link has to be clear and easy for recipients to opt out of. Failure to do this can lead to lawsuits.
- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) now requires senders to get explicit consent before sending commercial email. Implicit consent is no longer acceptable so you must make sure your signup forms are GDPR compliant.
Amongst all of the other rules, it’s vitally important to know these guidelines if you’re doing email marketing for yourself, or on behalf of other clients.
Email deliverability:
On top of all of this, it’s important to stay on top of email best practices and ensure your emails are landing where you intended them to land.
If you want to learn more about that, then you can check out some of my blog posts where I go over how to do this in-depth:
Frequently Asked Questions:
These changes affect everyone who uses email marketing in their business, so anyone who sends emails en masse.
Yep. It does not matter if you have 1 or 100,000. You must set it up.
You can click here. It’s a blog post where it takes you step by step on how to do it.
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Your insights into email marketing segmentation have been invaluable.