Tools & Processes

How to Prepare for the New Email Rules

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By: Amanda Losapio, Sr. RevOps Consultant, Go Nimbly

Chances are, you’ve heard about the looming changes to email being made by Google and Yahoo, but do you know how those changes will impact email deliverability for your organization? Are your internal processes already set up to handle these new requirements or will you need to make changes?

If you can’t answer these questions yet, you’re not alone. Still, the reality is that most organizations will likely need to update some internal processes to stay compliant. Don’t worry, though, I did the research and answered the important questions so you won’t have to.

Who does this impact?

This impacts any company that sends more than 5,000 emails a day to personal Gmail or Yahoo email addresses. This includes all sales, marketing and any emails sent from the same domain. Departments that need to take action are Sales, Marketing and IT.

What are the major components?

Authentication
Ensure you have the following set up:

  • SPF
  • DKIM
  • DMARC

These settings are usually set and controlled on the corporate domain level. If you are set up properly for your base domain (ex: gonimbly.com), then these settings will apply to all subdomains (ex: email.gonimbly.com). We recommend you work internally with your IT department to ensure you’re set up properly.

One-Click Unsubscribe
This means allowing email recipients to unsubscribe in ONE click and processing that request within 48 hours.This update will impact marketing and sales teams the most. Any bulk send will need to allow recipients to unsubscribe with a single click.

Currently, a lot of marketing emails take you to a landing page (preference center) where you need to fill out your email address or confirm your intention to unsubscribe. This will no longer fly under the new rules. 

Does your tech stack support one-click unsubscribe?

  • Eloqua already has the ‘List Unsubscribe” feature as an option. We recommend you turn it on for all your future email sends. 
  • Hubspot doesn’t explicitly have a list unsubscribe feature to turn on. However, it does have code that is automatically placed in email sends that meets the one-click unsubscribe requirements. We recommend you test this internally with your subscription to ensure it is working properly.
  • Marketo does not have a one-click unsubscribe option enabled in their platform. You will need to create a workaround program that automatically processes unsubscribes based on clicking the unsubscribe link.
  • Outreach has a one-click unsubscribe feature already available in the platform; we recommend turning this on for all emails. 
  • Salesloft has a global unsubscribe feature. However, it appears to not be a compliant one-click option.

Need help ensuring you’re compliant?
Let’s chat about how Go Nimbly can help.

Spam Complaint Rate
Your spam complaint rate must be kept under .3%, although best practice is below .1% (1 complaint for every 1,000 emails sent).

Like when GDPR went into effect, these changes will empower more people to report any email (even one-off emails) that seem like spam. Because of this, we recommend having easy unsubscribe options for every sales and marketing email you send out, regardless of whether it’s a bulk email or not.

If people are able to easily unsubscribe from an unwanted email, then they are less likely to report that email as spam.

Additional Best Practices to follow:

  • Ensure your messaging is reaching the right audience (make sure your content is relevant to your target audience)
  • There should be no broken or shortened links in your email
  • Check your HTML to text ratio (think less HTML)
  • Keep your bounce rates low (clean up any older send lists)

How do I know which steps I need to take?

There are several websites and tools out there that allow you to check where you currently stand. One I have found useful is mail-tester.com. This website allows you to send an email to their inbox and they analyze if you have the correct authentication, unsubscribe settings and if you are on any blocklists. They also offer some suggestions for how to improve your overall email to avoid having your emails reported as spam.

When are these changes happening?

These regulations are going into effect in February 2024, so you have a little time.

However, as of December, Google is beginning to delete inactive accounts (over 2 years without activity). Sending to a deleted email address will impact your hard bounce rates and put future emails at risk of going to spam. We recommend cleaning your email send lists using an email deliverability service such as NeverBounce or ZeroBounce.

Don’t get me wrong; on a personal level, I ‘m happy I can begin to expect less spam in my inbox. On a professional level, though, no one wants to be the person who lands their company on a blacklist.

If you’re unsure about how to make these changes or have questions about any of the points I mentioned here, let’s talk–our team would be happy to help.