In February 2024, Google and Yahoo introduced new security standards to help reduce spam for their users. If you don’t meet them, emails you send from a business email address will probably go straight to spam or be rejected altogether.
Does This Affect Me?
If you send emails from a business email address, this affects you, whichever platforms you send those messages from. By business email we mean an address that ends in your company’s web domain, like @yourcompany.com.
If you have a personal email address ending in something like @gmail, @hotmail or @yahoo, it won’t affect you.
What Do I Need to Do?
In summary, you need SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up for your domain, a spam rate below 0.3%, and one-click unsubscribe in your marketing emails. That might sound complicated, but it isn’t, and we’ll talk you through it.
Step 1: Create Your SPF, DKIM and DMARC Records
Setting up SPF, DKIM and DMARC records might sound technical, but it’s quite easy, and the email platform you use will give you the information you need. Here’s what to do, in simple steps:
1. Get the code from your provider. Your email service (Zoho, Gmail, Outlook and so on) will give you the code you need to create these records. Start by searching online for “SPF”, “DKIM” and “DMARC” along with the name of your email service. If you can’t find it, ask their support team for help.
2. Open your domain settings. Go to the control panel of your domain provider and find the DNS settings. If your website uses a CDN (content delivery network), change your DNS settings there instead.
3. Add an SPF record. First, check whether you already have one: it will start with “v=spf1”. If you don’t, create a new record, set the type to TXT and paste in the SPF code from your email provider. In the Host field enter “@”, and set the TTL to the lowest value possible (or leave it blank if allowed).
If you do already have an SPF record, you’ll see an “include:” statement in it. Just add another include straight after it (no special characters or commas needed): edit the record and paste in the include text from your email provider.
4. Add a DKIM record. Add another TXT record and paste in the DKIM code from your email provider. You’re allowed more than one of these. In the Host field enter “@”, and set the TTL to the lowest value possible (or leave it blank if allowed).
5. Add a DMARC record. First, check whether you already have one: it will start with “v=DMARC1;”. If not, create a new TXT record with the DMARC details from your email service. Only one DMARC record is allowed, because it’s your single policy for how your emails should be handled.
Step 2: Register for Google Postmaster Tools
Registering for Google Postmaster Tools shows you your current spam rate and lets you keep track of it. Keep it below 0.3%, or your emails will start going straight to recipients’ spam folders.
Your spam rate goes up when people mark your emails as spam. To keep it down, make sure your emails are relevant and useful to your audience, and remove inactive contacts from your mailing list so only engaged people receive your mail.
Step 3: Include One-Click Unsubscribe
Make sure every email campaign platform you use includes a one-click unsubscribe link in the email footer. If the link takes people to a page where they choose which topics they do and don’t want, you’ll fail the test: they need to be able to click once to be removed from your list.
The good news is that most reputable email marketing platforms already do this by default, but if you’re not sure, check.
More Detail, If You’re Interested
That’s it: this should stop your emails going to spam because of the new standards. If you’d like to know what SPF, DKIM and DMARC actually do, here’s a simplified explanation.
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a record that gives other companies permission to send email on behalf of your domain. So if you send email through Zoho Campaigns, Mailchimp or any other service, your SPF record must include that provider. The bouncers at your recipient’s mailbox are effectively saying to your provider’s email: “If your name’s not on the list, you’re not getting in!”
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is a digital signature encoded into the emails sent from your domain. The receiving system can check it to make sure the email hasn’t been intercepted and changed. It’s like a wax seal on a letter: if the seal is broken, you know the letter has been opened.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is the final layer. It tells receiving systems how you’d like them to react, for example to reject an email outright or mark it as spam if the wax seal is broken. It can also send you reports on whether your emails are being received and how they’re handled. It’s like telling the bouncers what to do with party crashers: turn them away, or let them in with a warning.
