Beginning February 2024, Gmail & Yahoo have implemented a series of new sender requirements in which you MUST satisfy if you plan on sending marketing emails at scale.

What are the changes?

If you satisfy these 6 steps (which we will break down), for the most part you'll be okay.

But factors like sender reputation, authentication, and content play a significant role.

It's important to monitor delivery rates, open rates, and click-through rates to gauge the effectiveness of your email campaigns and identify potential deliverability issues.

A custom email domain, such as yourname@yourcompany.com, has historically been used to build trust and legitimacy with those who receive your emails.

But now this is a requirement.

Even if you want to, you can no longer use @gmail, @yahoo or anything like that to send your marketing emails.

You must have a custom business email address, that you can usually either setup in Google Workspace or with your domain provider.

SO many brands are using a shared sending domain with their email platform.

Hence when you open one of your emails on desktop, you'll see something like this:

"via.klaviyo.xrwaz"

or

"via.mcsv.csasc"

This means your DNS settings are not set up correctly.

This includes DMARC, which you can generate on a website like this and install into your DNS settings: https://easydmarc.com/tools/dmarc-record-generator

If you use Klaviyo, simply go:

→ Settings

→ Email Tab, then Domain section

→ Follow instructions

Then use the DMARC generator I linked above to generate yourself a DMARC record and add to your DNS settings manually.

Your "From" address and the sending domain you set-up in steps 2/3 need to be matching.

You can't setup a branded domain in step 2/3 using @monetiseme.com.au , and then send your marketing emails from @contactmonetiseme.com.au

So if you don't want to be sending from your main domain, ensure you set-up your branded domain and authentication in steps 2/3 with the domain you want to use for marketing.

Remember, you don't need a whole seperate domain to seperate out your marketing emails.

You need to have one-click unsubscribe.

Gone are the days of long winded unsubscribe funnels designed to get people to stick around. Good.

Klaviyo will automatically do this for you, so you don't need to do anything different if you're using Klaviyo!

If you're sending engaging content, keeping spam complaints low will be relatively easy.

But, if you're sending spammy content, annoying your subscribers, using deceiving subject lines, or even buying/downloading email lists… then you're gonna have some issues.

The good thing is that this is pretty easily monitored on most big email platforms, especially Klaviyo.

Nearly.

Even if you're satisfying all 6 of these things, other factors can cause you to get your domain blacklisted by certain servers, or even just sent straight to spam.

Things like bounce rates, spam complaints (even if under the threshold) and engagement rates will matter.

Regularly monitor your email deliverability metrics. A software like Klaviyo will easily be able to let you know if there are any issues. Address any issues promptly and adjust your strategies to maintain high delivery rates and ensure your emails consistently reach the recipients' inboxes.