CATEGORY: Deliverability

Gmail and Yahoo increase email protection

Gmail and Yahoo plan to apply changes in early 2024 that are designed to enhance the security of emails delivered to their platforms by focusing on stricter authentication and thresholds for spam complaints. 

The good news is that the e-shot platform has been adhering to these authentication rules for some time, so our customers can be assured that these changes will not affect your campaigns and may improve engagement by subscribers seeing less ‘competition’ in their inbox.  

Whilst we take care of the security elements and authentication, the spam complaints element is one that you are responsible for… 

New spam complaints threshold 

For the first time, Gmail has set a threshold for blocking emails based on a complaint rate. It is important to know that Gmail calculates complaints differently than other email providers. Both Gmail and Yahoo have set the complaint rate limit at 0.3% for consistency. Keep in mind that even lower complaint rates can cause issues with your email reputation, deliverability, and performance. 

If a contact marks your email as spam in Gmail, this triggers a notification to e-shot whereby we automatically process it as a complaint and unsubscribe the contact. You can access a report of who has complained about your campaigns in the Deliverability Dashboard. You should: 

• Regularly monitor your domain's performance in the Deliverability Dashboard  

• Aim to keep your spam complaints rate below 0.1%. 

• Take action if you see a higher rate than 0.3% 

 

If your emails exceed the 0.3% threshold with Gmail or Yahoo, you are likely to see all subsequent messages to their users will bounce. They won’t even be delivered to Junk. 

We are committed to keeping you informed about any relevant details we have regarding complaints and investigate it to prevent future complaints but remember that the content and quality of your subscriber list is always your responsibility.  

Maintaining a low spam rate makes senders more resilient to occasional spikes in user feedback. Similarly, maintaining a high spam rate will lead to increased spam classification. It can take time for improvements in spam rate to reflect positively on spam classification.  

 

Domain authentication changes 

Gmail and Yahoo are changing the requirement for some well-known email authentication and best practices that have been around for some time from best practice suggestion to a mandatory requirement. The results will be that unless your emails adhere to these strict authentication rules, they will not be delivered.  

The main points of the announcements are that Gmail and Yahoo will now insist that the DKIM and SPF protocols are set up correctly on your sending domain.  

For customers where e-shot fully manages your sending domains, we take care of this for you. 

For customers who manage their own DNS, we will proactively notify you if we detect any changes, but it remains your responsibility to ensure your domain is authenticated properly. 

 

Prevention is better than cure  

The Deliverability Dashboard will provide you with a complete view of your email authentication and reputation measures including complaints.  

The dashboard is like a traffic light for your email setup. A green light means everything is good to go, while a red light shows there's an issue that needs fixing. It's an easy way to spot and solve problems with your emails. More detail about the Deliverability Dashboard are available at https://www.e-shot.net/insights/help/deliverability-dashboard-engagement