How to Prepare for Google Shielded Email

Email marketers, it's time to mark your calendars. On February 1st, 2024, Google and Yahoo will require bulk senders to authenticate their emails, make unsubscribing easy, and stay under a spam rate limit. Let's walk through the new standards: ✅ Email Authentication: Senders need DMARC, SPF, and DKIM verification. 🚫 Easy Unsubscription: One-click unsubscribe with a two-day honor period. 🙅 Low User-Reported Spam: Under 0.3% spam rate threshold. These new requirements are a good thing! Less spam in inboxes means your legitimate emails are more likely to be seen. Authenticated emails are also essential for security reasons, making phishing attempts easier to squash. Emails also look more reputable and on-brand from your organization's domain than your technology provider's. (The same guidance applies to URLs.) For nonprofits, these rules take effect after the EOY fundraising season. That said, February 1st will be here before you know it. Here are some steps to take: EMAIL AUTHENTICATION There are two ways to verify if you have DMARC, SPF, and DKIM records in place. 1. Find an email from your organization sent to your personal Gmail address. Click the three dots and select "Show Original." Each record should be marked as "PASS." 2. Use a web tool such as EasyDMARC's domain scanner. Enter each domain you use to send bulk emails, and it will show you whether DMARC, SPF, and DKIM records are in place. If you don't have all three in place, check with your tech provider for a how-to guide. EASY UNSUBSCRIPTION To meet the new "one-click" unsubscribe requirements, emails must include a List-Unsubscribe header. Email services use this to add unsubscribe links directly to their interfaces, so readers don't need to dig through the fine print to find the link. Look for an underlined "Unsubscribe" link in Gmail next to the email sender. In Yahoo's interface, click the three dots next to the spam button and look for an "Unsubscribe" option. Most modern email platforms have this covered, but contact yours if it is not in place. Honoring unsubscribes within two days means ensuring you have your email tool(s) set up correctly to exempt opt-outs. This should be instant, but watch out if you send from multiple platforms. When someone asks to unsubscribe from one tool, make sure their choice is respected in all the others. This is all the more reason to integrate your tech stack and have a centralized system for collecting consent, sending emails, and managing opt-outs. LOW USER-REPORTED SPAM With the right tools, the 0.3% threshold is easy to manage. First off, enable Google's Postmaster Tools to see where you stand. Secondly, make sure you only send to engaged contacts. This will reduce your spam rate and increase your engagement rates. Email deliverability doesn't need to be a mysterious process! Familiarize yourself with the terminology, get your house in order, and commit to better email practices.

I haven't seen any posts about this in the vacation/short-term rental space but feel compelled to make a post. Google has announced that starting February 1, 2024, if your company's email domain receives 0.3% spam reports, your entire organization will be shut down. That's only 3 spam reports for every 1,000 emails sent. They're not talking about just sending all emails to spam (which is probably happening to a lot of companies already) but shutting down the domain/org all together. This means, that all your transactional emails such as Booking Confirmations, Payment Reminders, Payment Receipts, Guest Arrival Emails, Cancellation Emails, Owner Emails, Calendar Invites, etc. will no longer work. Think about that for a second. Is your company prepared to set up an entire new domain email structure and reconfigure all systems currently tied to your email domain if you get more than a 0.3% spam report? I'm going to go out on a limb and say probably not. This isn't just for short-term rental managers either, this is all companies that use Google Workspace for their email, whether transactional, marketing, sales, or all. If you're an STR tech company, this may apply even more to you since most companies I see, are still using their main domain to send out sales/marketing emails. So, what should you do? 1. At the least, make sure you have SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up for authenticating your email domain; it's also a security risk if you don't. 2. Stop using your main domain for any type of sales or marketing outreach, it's way too risky. 3. Buy a handful of new domains, for example, let's say your company domain is "luxuryrentals(.)com" - you should purchase domains like stayatluxuryrentals(.)com, bookwithluxuryrentals(.)com, useluxuryrentals(.)com, and then forward those domains to your main website domain so when people type them in or click them in an email, they go to your main website. 4. You'll also want to split up your Google organizations, do not have all your domains part of the same Google org structure, create separate accounts. This way, if one of them gets shutdown, you still have your others to work with, your transactional emails will be safe, and you won't be stuck. May want to explore Microsoft emails too...Diversify your email infrastructure. Should you still do email? There is a way to send excellent unsolicited and relevant emails legally & successfully. If you need assistance making these technical changes or want to use an outreach system that utilizes multiple domains, spintax, and AI to ensure your sales/marketing emails land in the primary inbox instead of spam, then let's talk. #vacationrentals #marketing #sales #email #247365ai

If you don't understand DKIM, SPF, or DMARC, email will get a lot harder. New email requirements from Google and Yahoo, kicking off next month, are not just updates but will significantly impact your email programs. Outbound or Inbound. As a HubSpot customer, you'll get an email in the next few days that recap this news. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄: 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 • DKIM, SPF, and DMARC: These aren't just fancy acronyms; they're your new best friends in email marketing. They will become mandatory to combat spam and ensure your emails don't bounce back.    𝗢𝗻𝗲-𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗨𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 • The power shifts to the receiver. Ensuring your recipients can opt out easily is more than a courtesy; it's a requirement. 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 • Keeping your spam rate below 0.1% isn't just good practice; it's essential. High spam rates can lead to severe email deliverability issues.    𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲? These changes aren't just about following rules; they're about enhancing email deliverability and building trust with your audience. It's about sending emails that your audience wants and values, not just what you want to send. How Does This Affect You? If you think, "I'll deal with it later," think again! These changes call for a proactive approach. They require a deep dive into your current email strategies and a significant overhaul to align with these new requirements. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗗𝗼? 1. Start by reviewing your email authentication methods and technical setup. 2. Make sure your unsubscribe process is thought out. 3. Proactively monitor your email engagement and spam rates 4. Run re-engagement campaigns to confirm opt-in 5. Use email verification 6. Monitor sequence sender scores if you're running your Outbound through HubSpot.     I've included a cheat sheet below that explains these technical terms in-depth and provides suggestions for addressing them. Reach out with questions! #hubspot #email #marketing #spam  

Updated bulk email requirements by Google and Yahoo. I would imagine Microsoft won’t be far behind. Yahoogle will begin enforcing these requirements beginning in Feb. So only 26 days left to get this done or risk your emails being blocked/denied by Yahoo, AOL, and Google. I’ve color coded the screenshot to make it super easy to know what *you* are responsible for. ‣ RED: Set up your SPF and DKIM Records ‣ ORANGE: Install Google Postmaster Tools and monitor your spam rate. It should be kept under 0.1%. Spam complaints are calculated on a daily basis. If your complaint rate gets close to or over 0.3% - you’re at risk of burning your sending domain/email. ‣ BLUE: Use your own domain - you’ll no longer be able to send from email addresses like tyler@gmail(.)com from your ESP. This is because Google themselves are implementing their own DMARC policy and if you’re sending from a gmail(.)com email address, that will fail Google’s DMARC and none of your emails will be delivered. ‣ PINK: Set up a DMARC policy. Here’s a copy/paste example DMARC Record for you ----- Record Type: TXT Name: _dmarc Value: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:email+dmarc@yourdomain(.)com; sp=none; adkim=r; aspf=r ----- ***update that RUA tag to *your* email. I recommend putting the “+dmarc” to make these reports easy to filter since dmarc reports are generated daily. So my email tyler@hypermediamarketing(.)net would look like this tyler+dmarc@hypermediamarketing(.)net. Then in gmail I would create a filter for any emails to the email address “tyler+dmarc@hypermediamarketing(.)net” to go into a dmarc folder. Or there are DMARC monitoring services you can have those reports sent too. Which I would also recommend so you're actively monitoring your DMARC reports. ----- Last, this is something that needs to be done for every software you're using for emailing. If you're using Google Workspace for 1:1 emails - ensure all authentication measures have been set up. If you're using ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, Keap, MailChimp, etc - SPF and DKIM records need to be set up for those *as well as* Google Workspace. If you're using a help desk - SPF and DKIM records need to be set up. Hit me up with questions if you have them! #emailmarketing #emailmarketingtips

If you’re sending emails in bulk (>5000 emails/day), you need to know this. In a recent update, Google laid down a threshold of spam rate for bulk senders, which is less than 0.3%. This means two things: [1] You need to monitor the no. of spam complaints regularly - Spam complaints are NOT emails landing in your spam folder [2] You need to keep your spam complaints below 0.3% - Many of the companies I know have higher spam complaints First, start monitoring spam complaints by setting up Gmail Postmaster Tools for your domain. It’s a free tool by Google to check delivery errors, spam reports, domain reputation, and IP reputation. The more important question though is how to maintain spam complaint rates below 0.3%. The answer is simple - Be more relevant and valuable to users. For that, make sure to: [a] Segment your users (Use their activity, intent, and need to segment) [b] Understand what each of these segments want (Ask them questions) Send emails that are relevant to their needs. Don’t just sell but educate, entertain, and engage them [c] Bring novelty in each email. Don’t just keep sending the same sales-oriented email every day. If you don’t have any value to add, don’t send the email. There are other requirements for senders, too, like: [1] Authenticate outgoing emails by setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. DMARC may be set to p=none. [2] Enable one-click unsubscribe. And process unsubscription requests within two days. The deadline to set these up is February 1, 2024 - but they’re nudging senders to set them up already. In fact, setting these up earlier “may improve your email delivery”, the update said. For more details - read their email sender guidelines [link in comments]