E-Mail-Marketing New Gmail Sender Guidelines: What to do from February 2024

Anyone who regularly sends email newsletters via a mailing system such as Rapidmail, Hubspot or Mailchimp should check their server logs again in February of this year. This is because new email sender guidelines will come into force at Google and Yahoo. In this blog post, we show you exactly what will change from February and how you can ensure that email newsletters continue to reach their recipients.

At a glance - What's changing at Gmail from February?

Google and Yahoo have announced that they will be making changes to the Email Sender Guidelines from 1 February 2024. These three requirements will come into force from then on

1. Email authentication must be performed using DKIM, DMARC and SPF signature.
2. The complaint rate (percentage of Gmail users who mark received emails as spam) should be less than 0.10%, but never exceed 0.30%. With a higher complaint rate, it is very likely that emails will be intercepted by spam filters and not delivered to recipients.
3. A simple unsubscribe option via an unsubscribe link ("One Click Unsubscribe") and the option to unsubscribe from an email list in the header ("List-Unsubscribe") must be implemented in every email. Unsubscribes must also be processed within two days.

Senders who send more than 5,000 messages per day to Google Mail addresses will be blocked by Google and Yahoo if they do not fulfil these three requirements.

However, specific requirements also apply to senders with fewer than 5,000 messages per day, including the use of an SPF or DKIM signature, the existence of correct IP entries with the domain provider, a low spam rate and the use of standard formats and unsubscribe links in the mailings.

DKIM, SPF and DMARC - What do they actually mean?

DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail) entries serve as a digital seal to confirm the authenticity and integrity of messages. The SPF (Sender Policy Framework) reduces the likelihood of spam and phishing, improves email reliability and protects against forged sender addresses.

DMARC, or "Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance", is an authentication protocol that defines how email servers should handle messages from a specific domain. This makes it possible to deliver emails without existing DKIM and SPF authentication if recipients so wish.

These three authentication steps complement each other and ensure that as little spam as possible ends up with recipients.

But what's the point?

The main purpose of the new guidelines is to better prevent spam. It is therefore worthwhile for senders to prepare for the changes. By complying with the new guidelines, senders can not only achieve greater deliverability of their emails, but also build their reputation as a reputable newsletter sender. This means that senders also benefit from maximum newsletter deliverability in the long term and with other providers.

What exactly do you need to do now?

For senders with more than 5,000 emails per day to Gmail or Yahoo addresses, additional settings will therefore be required from February 2024. It is important to check whether ...

 ... SPF, DKIM and DMARC have been set up for the affected sending domain
 ... the complaint rate for emails sent to date is below 0.30%.
 ... a list unsubscribe link has been set up in the header of the mailings. If this is the case, Gmail displays a blue "Unsubscribe" link next to the sender's name. The unsubscribe link in the footer must of course still be integrated.

But don't worry, you don't need to understand how DMARC authentication works technically or how to set up a list unsubscribe link. Your web hosting or newsletter provider can help you with the implementation. If you are already one of our customers, your project manager will contact you about the implementation of the guidelines.