Gmail and Yahoo have set new requirements to protect against spam, reinforce the long-standing industry best practices, and improve the email experience for recipients.

If you are an XMPie Email Service (XES) customer who sends thousands of emails to Gmail/Yahoo recipients, pay attention to these new Gmail & Yahoo deliverability requirements and what actions you need to take.

In short, they require bulk senders to authenticate their emails, allow for easy one-click unsubscribes, and stay under a reported spam threshold. A domain is considered a bulk sender if there are about 5,000 emails sent to Gmail/Yahoo recipients within a 24-hour period regardless of the email provider. Also, emails sent from different subdomains belonging to the primary domain also count toward the 5,000 limit.

Here’s what you need to know:

#1 Fully Authenticate

Starting February 1, 2024, brands that send thousands of emails every day will be required to authenticate their sender IP addresses and domains using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.

What you need to do:

Most bulk senders are already using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. You should check and make sure that you are too. If not, contact us and get it done as soon as possible.

The Advanced Sender Package is an additional set of options that can be added to an XES account. The package includes:

• In addition to the standard DKIM authentication, we also supply SPF and DMARC Authentication to improve deliverability further.
• Additional branding options for branding embedded links that are the same as your domain.
• Domain setup services, including the registration and handling of DNS entries.

#2 One-Click Unsubscribe Feature

Gmail and Yahoo have a one-click unsubscribe feature that allows recipients to unsubscribe easily without the need to search the email body for the unsubscribe link.

Starting June 1, 2024, brands are required to facilitate the one-click unsubscribe feature.

What you need to do:

By June 1, 2024, XMPie will implement the one-click unsubscribe feature.

• For Triggered Email: You must upgrade to the relevant uProduce version.
• For Batch Email: You need to ensure the email body includes the unsubscribe link populated using the built-in Email Unsubscribe URL ADOR. Any email with such a link in the body will automatically support the one-click unsubscribe feature (using the same ADOR value).

#3 Keep Spam Complaint Rates Low

Gmail and Yahoo require that senders aim to keep spam rates below 0.1% and avoid a spam rate of 0.3% or higher, especially for a sustained period.

What you need to do:

Currently XMPie monitors the reputation on behalf of our XMPie Email Service customers. When necessary, we’ll send an email notification to the customer who should take the relevant actions. We will continue to do this for our customers.

Starting February 1, 2024, Gmail and Yahoo will gradually begin enforcing these new deliverability requirements to protect against spam and improve the email experience for recipients. If you send thousands of emails every day, you’ll need to ensure that your business is compliant. Don’t let these new requirements catch you off guard!