The Email Game is Changing: What You Need to Know for the Great 2024 Update

If you haven't heard... Google & Yahoo are cracking down on email compliance and setting new rules that all email marketers must follow, starting in February 2024. At least 75% of your emails are going to Google, Yahoo & Microsoft accounts, so you need to make sure you comply with these new rules. If you don’t, you risk having your emails going to spam or worse - being blocked from these accounts altogether.

It sounds scary, but I promise you... just like any other component of your business, you can figure this out! In this article I lay out the key things you need to know to stay compliant and up to speed.

But first... 

Why is this happening?

Two reasons:

• So. Much. Spam. Out of 300+ BILLION emails sent daily, about 50% is spam. They’re trying to reduce the garbage going to your inbox, and bring trust back to email.
• People are abandoning their email accounts. This poses a security risk - AND - they can’t make money off those abandoned accounts.

Makes sense, right?

So here's what you need to know: 

1. Google is requiring one-click unsubscribe. Most Email Service Provider (ESP) will implement this on their end. 

The rest is up to you…

2. You need to authenticate your domain by adding SPF, DKIM & DMARC to your DNS records.

Uhh... What the heck are those?! 

1. SPF – ensures your email is actually coming from you, like an “approved senders list”.
2. DKIM – ensures your email isn’t being tampered with after its sent.
3. DMARC – tells the “postmaster” what to do if an email comes from an un-approved sender, and reports back on the mail it gets from you (which tells you if the rules you set are working properly).

You need to do this authentication strategically. Most of us have been using our ESP’s sender reputation, which means we now need to build our own. So we can’t just throw these records in all willy-nilly, especially if you DO have a larger list. 

Again, this is BEST PRACTICE. You can choose to leave it up to your ESP and keep using their servers, but you're relying on a group reputation instead of building up your own. I have switched over to using my own custom domain for sending and encourage you to do the same, if possible. 

3. You absolutely CANNOT be sending bulk/marketing emails with an @gmail account. They will be blocked completely. You must have your own domain, so that you can authenticate it. If you don't have one, time to go domain shopping! I personally like Namecheap for puchasing domains, and Google Workspace for hosting my email inbox. 

4. The way spam complaints are measured by Google is changing from 0.1% (1 in 1000 per emails sent) to 0.3% (3 in 1000 complaints per engaged contacts). If you exceed 0.3%, you will be blocked completely. Use Google’s Postmaster Tools to monitor your spam rates & more.

5. You need to manage engagement and keep your list clean. You only want to keep people on your list who are reading and engaging with your emails, so remove those inactive recipients & hard bounces ASAP.

6. Read through Google & Yahoo’s Sending Guidelines and ensure you’re following best practices. This includes things like increasing your sending volume slowly, monitoring your affiliates, and keeping transactional & marketing emails separate.

Alright, that's the jist of it. Your ESP should have an update on their internal changes by now, so be sure to check your inbox for an announcement to see what they are implementing, and if any action is required on your end in regards to adding records.

Moving forward this year, it's critical to ensure you're sending out good emails. Keep it simple, limit images and large files, and most importantly, write content that your audience is excited to open and engege with. 

You've got this!