Guest Blog Post: Your Guide to Complying with Google and Yahoo in 2024
This post was generously written by Jess from Virtual Office Bestie. I work closely with Jess as an email marketing support. We’ve both been getting many clients asking about the effects of the new rules affecting Google and Yahoo email accounts in 2024. Below Jess goes into detail about what you need to update and why.
If you need help making the adjustments below, visit the Virtual Office Bestie website, she’ll sort you out!
As the email landscape evolves, major changes are coming, impacting mainly bulk senders and those exceeding 5,000 daily emails. Even if you're not a heavy sender, the new requirements can affect your deliverability rates.
Who will be impacted by these new requirements?
This will affect mainly bulk senders and those sending more than 5,000 emails per day. Failing to meet these new criteria may result in encountering deliverability challenges when sending emails to Google and Yahoo email addresses.
Even if you don’t send that many emails, you may still notice a drop in your deliverability rates if you don’t comply.
How do you get your account ready for the changes?
It’s Time to Get a Professional Email Address
Firstly, you will need to get an email which includes your domain name. Not only does this look more professional, but this is one of the major changes coming soon. You will need to remove @gmail and @yahoo.com from your email address.
If you don’t already have a domain, it is worth investing in one now.
Clare recommends providers such as Namecheap & Ventra IP for their great customer service and included features.
Get Authenticated
Next, make sure that you have set up a DMARC policy for your domain. This part is a bit more technical and may require assistance from your trusty Tech Virtual Assistant or Website Developer. DMARC stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance. In short, it is like the bodyguard of your email address and makes sure the emails sent from your address are genuinely yours.
You can set up your DMARC authentication in your DNS provider. If you do not already have a DMARC policy in place, configure a DMARC policy* on your root domain that contains the following:
*v=DMARC1
*p=none
*Recommended but not required: set an rua tag with a valid email address to receive DMARC reports. For example, "rua=mailto:dmarc-reports@mybrand.com"
If you already have a DMARC policy in place, you do not need to make any changes to your p tag value. Just make sure you have an rua tag set up with a valid email address included in your policy. You also only need to configure DMARC on your root domain, not on any additional policy to your subdomain used for sending.
You will then start receiving DMARC reports by email which will let you know if your emails are being sent legitimately or not. You don’t need to read them all, however, it is recommended to review the report at least monthly.
Make It Super Easy to Unsubscribe
Finally, your unsubscribe button must be very clear and quick to unsubscribe. Every email that you send must include a one-click unsubscribe link. This is being added to the header automatically for all Klaviyo users. You can still include an unsubscribe link in the body of your email that requires more than one click as long as you have both. They also must be very clearly written in your email.
Clare says it’s a good idea to check your email platforms have updated their process to abide by this. If not, it might be worth changing your provider.
It’s time to invest in your domain, authenticate with DMARC, and make unsubscribing a breeze for your audience.
