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Hi friend,

I don't know what's been going on lately, but I’ve been getting inundated with spam. You know those dreaded emails that you didn’t opt into, but yet here they are appearing in my inbox. 

It’s seriously getting out of hand. I was always getting them, but they went to my junk folder and once in a blue moon one would get into the inbox. Now I must average like 10 a day.

“No, I don't want to extend my auto insurance.”

“No, I don’t want a car radar detector to beat speeding tickets.”

“No, I don’t want life insurance from Globe Life.” (if that’s even a real company)

How about this one - "My Amazon account has been put on hold, click here to get it out of a hold status." An obvious phishing attempt. 

Just check out my inbox from Sunday. Four of my first six messages were clearly unwanted emails appearing in my inbox.

Well last week the top two mailbox providers, Gmail and Yahoo Mail, announced that they are putting new protections in place to keep inboxes safer and less spammy.

That’s great news. But with these better safeguards they’re requiring email senders, like you, to adhere to specific requirements.

The main requirements are:

1. Your emails need to be authenticated by setting up SPF or DKIM
2. All emails need to have a one-click unsubscribe link
3. Spam complaints must be kept low

Here's what Marcel Becker, Senior Director Product Management at Yahoo Inc says about the importance of adhering to these requirements:

"A key mission of Yahoo is to deliver messages that consumers want to receive and filter out the messages they don’t. When you send properly authenticated messages via AWeber, it helps us to better identify and block billions of malicious messages and declutter our users’ inboxes. This ultimately clears the way for subscribers to view and engage with your content." 

These requirements will be enforced beginning in February 2024.

That’s only 3 months away. 

If you’re sending email with AWeber, we have your back and are going to take care of most of the heavy lifting for you. We already built many of these requirements into our processes.

But there are a few things that are required and some other best practices that will help your emails make it to their desired destination - your audience’s inbox.

1 - Keep those complaints low (required)

Google stated that spam complaint rates of 0.3% or higher “for any sustained period of time” may be banished from the inbox. This means your emails, going to subscribers with a Gmail address, will go directly to the spam or junk folder. 

For now Google’s being generous with their 0.3% complaint rate because this rate should really be below 0.1%. I do anticipate they will eventually inch towards a stricter threshold.

You can check your complaint rate in the messages section of your account.

If your complaint rate is consistently below 0.1% - you don’t need to do anything. 

If it’s above that, you have some work to do. Here are a few tips to get you there:

1. Are you setting proper expectations when someone signs up for your list? Double check all your sign up forms and landing pages to make sure you’re clearly highlighting how you will be communicating with your audience once they sign up. Let them know how often you will be emailing them and the type of communications.
2. Make it easier to unsubscribe. A complaint hurts your email reputation which can (and will) cause your emails to end up in the junk or spam folders. An unsubscribe safely removes them from your list. If a subscriber doesn't want to receive your emails, they will take one of these actions. Which would you rather they take? 

Here are some other ways you can lower your complaint rate.

2 - Stop sending to people who are no longer engaging (best practice)

Only send to people who have recently engaged with your emails. If they haven’t taken an action in a while, they’re not interested in your emails, so stop sending them. 

I recommend creating a segment of your audience who clicked a link or opened an email within the past 6 months.

By only sending to subscribers who have clicked or opened in the past 6 months, you are reducing your chances that someone will mark your emails as spam. 

3 - Use a professional email address (required)

If you’re sending from a free email address like Gmail or Outlook or Yahoo - stop doing so. These email addresses are meant to send emails back and forth to friends and family. Not for sending your newsletter or sales email. 

Check out what Brian Minich, the COO at ZeroBounce has to say about using a professional email address:

“You’ll enjoy better email deliverability and more engagement, which is crucial to boosting your conversions.”

It’s pretty easy to get set up your own professional email address, so if you’re not using one, I highly recommend you get one.

Here’s a blog which highlights the reasons you need a professional email address. And it gives you a simple step-by-step guide to setting one up.

4 - Authenticate your emails (required)

Once you have your professional email, you’ll need to set up DKIM and DMARC. 

You might be wondering “what is DKIM?"  It’s like a digital signature for emails. A way for the sender (you) to prove they really sent the email and that it hasn't been changed by anyone in between. It helps keep emails trustworthy and secure.

Here’s how to set up DKIM for your email in your account.

Not sure if DKIM is set up? Just go to your account settings (My Account) and select Domains and Addresses. If you see a green DKIM, then you’re all set.

DMARC authentication will be required if your daily send volume is over 5,000. “What is DMARC” you might ask.

Look at DMARC this way - it’s like a bouncer at a nightclub for your emails. It helps make sure that the emails you send are really from you and not impersonated. If someone tries to fake your email address, DMARC helps block those phony messages from reaching others, keeping your email reputation safe and sound.

Here are the step-by-step instructions for setting up DMARC to comply with Gmail and Yahoo Mail sender requirements.

5- One click unsubscribe (required)

All emails need to have a one-click unsubscribe link. People don’t want to jump through hoops to unsubscribe. The good news -  AWeber also makes sure this is done 100% of the time.

Here’s to safer emails

If you’re already adhering to all these best practices and requirements - well done. When Gmail and Yahoo start enforcing these policies, you can be confident knowing that your emails are safely making it into your audience’s inbox.

If you’re not, then you have some work to do. But don’t worry, you have 3 months to get everything in line. Plus you have us here to help you. If you need any help or have any questions you can always contact our customer service team.

Here’s a quick checklist of what needs to be done:

1. Keep complaint rates below 0.1%
2. Only email subscribers who have engaged in the past 6 months 
3. Use a professional email address
4. Set up DKIM
5. Set up DMARC
6. Make sure emails have a one-click unsubscribe

What did you think of this email?

❤️❤️❤️ Loved it. Can't wait to get the next one.

💔 I didn't really care for it.

[New] Holiday GIFs

I love this time of year - it’s when our super creative designers create some amazing holiday GIFs. This year we have 14 new GIFs that you can use in your next email, social post, or website to bring a little holiday joy to your marketing efforts.

Follow these steps to add these awesome GIFs to your emails:

Step 1: Find your favorite GIF

Step 2: Right click and select “Save Image”

Step 3: Upload the GIF into your image gallery inside your account

Step 4: Once in your email, under image size, choose “original.” That’s it!

Here’s one of my personal favorites.

Holiday Marketing Tip:

Create “bundled products”. Digital marketer and coach Melyssa Griffin helps bloggers and entrepreneurs grow their audiences and incomes. For Cyber Monday, Melyssa bundled all her online courses together for a fantastic deal.

Bundling or packaging certain products can make the promotion feel larger and more impactful than giving a discount for each separate item.

Get our latest expert advice and helpful tips 

As always, thanks for reading!

- Sean T. and the rest of the AWeber team
 

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