Avoiding the Junk folder: Gmail’s new rules
Do you send newsletters or other mass emails via CiviCRM?
Do you want to avoid those emails landing in the Junk folder, or even bouncing altogether?
If you do, you'll want to be aware of some new requirements that Gmail and Yahoo are implementing very soon — and be sure you're ready to comply.
"What, more requirements," you ask?
Yep, more requirements.
I get it, it's a pain in the neck. Sometimes I feel like I’m chasing an ever-changing set of requirements to make sure my emails actually land in the recipient’s in-box.
That's because email providers like Gmail and Yahoo are constantly looking for ways to reject spam intelligently, without rejecting legitimate subscribed content. And that’s because they’re constantly slammed with spam; they have to deal with it somehow.
So, sometimes they make changes aiming to kick out the spammers and let the good emails through. And then it's up to us as senders to jump through their hoops, so we don't look like spammers and get blocked.
So here’s the thing:
As of February, Gmail and Yahoo will start gradually increasing the strictness of their anti-spam requirements. Legitimate senders (that's you and me) will need to ensure we’re doing everything right.
For example:
Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC email authentication for your sending domain.
Ensure that sending domains or IPs have valid forward and reverse-DNS ("PTR") records.
Keep spam rates below 0.3% (as reported in Google Postmaster Tools).
For direct mail, the domain in the sender's From: header must be aligned with either the SPF domain or the DKIM domain.
Use a TLS connection for transmitting email.
Lots more ...
SendGrid has a great article explaining these requirements and others.
Please take action on this.
If you have someone on your team who knows what all those things even mean, and can ensure those requirements are met, please discuss this with them.
And if you don't, please reach out to me (or a CiviCRM specialist you trust) about it.
Your email lists are a precious resource. Writing emails that motivate people is important.
But then, you also have to make sure those emails actually make it to the in-box.
All the best,
A.