How to make your emails not go to spam
Google’s new rules for Email Delivery in 2024
Let’s not make this complicated.
>>> CLIFFS NOTES: Google, Yahoo!, and AOL are cracking down on spam and you have to follow their rules or your emails will be blocked.
Once upon a time (in the year of our Lord 2024), 3 email kings named Google, Yahoo!, and AOL banded together to fight spammers. They fortified their kingdoms with new rules, demanding proper identification from senders and erecting strong defenses against deceitful tactics. Now, only those with noble intentions and authentic messages can pass through their gates unscathed.
But fear not, for these valiant efforts bring peace and prosperity to the land of email, ensuring that only the most deserving messages reach the coveted inboxes of their loyal subjects.
First, let’s see where we’re starting—
⬜️ I already took care of this or hired someone to do it for me
⬜️ I know I need to make some changes, but I’m not entirely sure what
⬜️ I heard something about this, but pretty sure it doesn’t affect my small pond
⬜️ I don’t have an email list, but I want to and it needs to be set up right (freebie training right here)
⬜️ No clue what you’re talking about
No matter—> go ahead and bookmark this page. . If everything you’ve heard about SPF, DKIM and DMARC sounds confusing & only prompts you to slam your laptop closed— me too sis, me too. I’ve done all the digging so you don’t have to.
You may stop reading about here and think this isn’t for me because rumor has it this is just for lists over 5,000. The spotlight is definitely on those higher lists, but the requirements are for everyone.
The thing is, this matters on the RECEIVING end. The people you’re sending emails to have servers that want to make sure your emails are safe to be let through. So even if you don’t send bulk emails, you probably still have clients and leads that you’d like to NOT ghost.
Your thank you page might say “check your spam and add me as a safe sender”. But by following this, you will greatly reduce your chances of that actually happening.
I’m not willing to take chances in this arena and don’t recommend you do either. FWIW, the 5k number came from Google. Yahoo hasn’t given a number. 🤷🏼♀️
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of what you need to do, it’s helpful to have more background context to understand why this is happening and to untangle some of the complicated verbiage getting thrown around.
Verified sending domain. What is SPF, DKIM and DMARC and why do we care?
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are like three security guards working together to make sure your emails get delivered safely and securely. By setting them up correctly, you can improve your email deliverability and protect your domain from email spoofing and phishing attacks.
SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Think of SPF like a permission slip for your emails. When you send an email, SPF tells the recipient's email server that you're allowed to send emails on behalf of your domain. It's like saying, "Hey, I'm really from this domain, so please accept my email." To set up SPF, you need to create a special record in your domain's DNS settings that lists the servers authorized to send emails for your domain.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): DKIM is like putting a secret seal on your emails. When you send an email, DKIM adds a special signature to it. When the recipient's email server gets your email, it checks the signature to make sure it hasn't been tampered with during delivery. It's like putting a wax seal on a letter to make sure nobody opens it along the way. To set up DKIM, you need to generate a special key pair (public and private) and add the public key to your domain's DNS settings
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): DMARC is like having a bouncer at the door of your email club. It tells email servers what to do if they receive an email that doesn't pass SPF or DKIM checks. You can set DMARC to tell servers to either accept, quarantine, or reject emails that fail authentication. It's like saying, "If you're not on the guest list (SPF/DKIM), you can't come in." To set up DMARC, you need to create a special record in your domain's DNS settings that outlines your DMARC policy.
1. Authenticate your emails.
To authenticate your emails, you will have to have a domain and a professional email address. Then set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
purchase a domain and professional email address
There are many places you can purchase a domain from. Just do a google search. Most are about $20/year. I personally use Squarespace since that’s who I use for my website as well, but you don’t have to have a website to get a domain.
I set up my professional email address through Google Workspace for $6/month. That’s also purchased through Squarespace. There are other places to host emails with, but I highly recommend this one if you’re in the market.
Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC
You'll need to set up SPF with your email host and DKIM for each service that sends emails on your behalf. Your email host could be something like GoDaddy or Google Workspace. Anyone else that sends emails on your behalf needs a DKIM key generated— this would be through your email service provider like ConvertKit, MailerLite, Active Campaign, etc. You only need to set up DMARC once with your domain.
Each platform you use for sending emails will provide you with the necessary records to add to your DNS settings. Follow the instructions provided by each service to ensure proper configuration.
**Note, since I can’t possibly leave instructions for every email provider and domain host (especially in the world of changing technology), you may have to search for some of this on your own. But don’t worry— I’ll make it make sense and tell you exactly what to do!
*If you’re using Dubsado as your CRM, you only have to do this if you have a custom email address. If your email host is Google, GoDaddy or Microsoft, then you will set up your SPF and DKIM through them, and only need to connect Dubsado to your domain with a CNAME (that allows you to white label your Dubs forms and has nothing to do with email deliverability)
Setting up SPF and DKIM with your domain host.
Your SPF record typically comes from your email service provider. Your DKIM is the seal that tells the recipient servers that your email is legit. This is done similarly to the SPF record, and also needs to be done for every place that sends emails on your behalf.
Your DNS Records are managed through your domain. GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Squarespace etc. This is where you will input the records.
Identify every platform that sends emails on your behalf. MailerLite, ConvertKit, Keap, etc. Search online for ‘(your platform) email authentication setup’ if you need more help.
Generate a SPF record with your email host. This is only created in once place— with your email host. Google Workspace instructions HERE.
Generate a DKIM (txt or cname) record everywhere that sends emails on your behalf. Do this through your email service provider AND your email host.
Log in to your domain's and go to DNS settings to add your new records. For me, I go to Squarespace > Domains > Edit DNS > Add DNS Record" or "Add Record."
Create a new TXT record and enter your SPF record. In the "Value" or "Data" field, enter your SPF record. This typically looks like "v=spf1 include:_spf.yourdomain.com ~all". I
Create a new TXT record for each the DKIM key you’ve generated.
Save your changes. Give it up to 48 hours for the changes to show.
Setting up DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance):
Setting up DMARC is typically done once for your domain. Once you've created a DMARC record and published it in your domain's DNS settings, it applies to all emails sent from your domain, regardless of the organization or service sending the emails on your behalf.
However, it's important to note that DMARC is most effective when implemented in conjunction with SPF and DKIM authentication for each organization or service that sends emails for you. While you only need to set up DMARC once for your domain, you should ensure that SPF and DKIM are properly configured for each sender to maximize the effectiveness of DMARC.
Here’s how to do this:
Determine your DMARC policy. Decide whether you want to monitor, quarantine, or reject emails that fail SPF or DKIM authentication.
None: "p=none" Monitor only, no action is taken on failing emails.
Quarantine: "p=quarantine" Emails that fail authentication are quarantined or marked as spam.
Reject: "p=reject" Emails that fail authentication are rejected outright.
Here is an example DMARC policy: v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@example.com;
In this example, "p=quarantine" specifies the DMARC policy of quarantining emails that fail authentication. The "rua" and "ruf" tags specify email addresses where you want to receive aggregate and forensic DMARC reports, respectively.
Create a DMARC record. Log in to your domain's DNS settings and create a new TXT record. Enter your DMARC policy along with any reporting email addresses.
Publish your DMARC record. Once you've entered your DMARC policy, save your changes to publish the record.
Monitor DMARC reports. Regularly check DMARC reports to monitor the effectiveness of your authentication setup and identify any issues.
Adjust your DMARC policy if necessary. Based on the reports, adjust your DMARC policy as needed to improve email deliverability and security.
Monitoring DMARC Reports:
DMARC reports are typically sent to the email address specified in your DMARC record. These reports provide information about emails that pass, fail, or are sent using your domain.
You can use DMARC report analysis tools or services to interpret and monitor these reports. Some email service providers offer built-in DMARC reporting tools, or you can use third-party services for more detailed analysis.
Homework: If you have not purchased a domain and have a professional email address, do that today.
Define your SPF record and add it to your domain
Create a DKIM key with your email host and email service provider and connect each one to your domain.
Set up DMARC with your domain. This tells servers what to do with emails that don’t pass SPF or DKIM.
2. Make it easy to unsubscribe with one click
One-click and process within 2 days
Google is not a fan of walking through hoops to get off someone’s email list. If it takes more than one click for someone to unsubscribe, it’s time to fix that. No longer is it ok for someone to click the unsubscribe button, then be asked for preferences, then go to a survey, then be asked for their mothers maiden name (kidding).
Oh and the unsubscribe has to take less than 2 days from now on, k?
Homework: Change your settings if you don’t already have one click unsubscribed enabled.
While you’re in there making changes, make sure you have that pesky 2-step opt-in checked. This used to be optional, and while it technically still is, it’s def best practice these days to require it.
*Side note— Be a good friend & person- unsubscribe from what you don’t love so we don’t hurt each other’s rates..
3. What is spam email?
The big 3 are changing they way they measure and react to spam complaints
🤔 What is spam anyway? SPAM is simply unwanted and unsolicited emails. Obvs we only want to send emails to people who want them, but that doesn’t always happen. Here are a few ways that your email can be marked as spam.
A recipient physically marks it as spam
A recipient’s inbox assumes anything from you is spam because this person hasn’t added you as a safe sender, they don’t open your emails, and they don’t click on any of the links inside of them. So your emails will eventually bypass the inbox and land in the junk folder automatically.
Your domain gets a bad reputation from not following the best practices outlined here in this post.
The spam complaint limit used to be 0.1%, and was measured by the number of complaints over the number of emails sent. Now? It’s 0.3%, and measured by the number of complaints over the number of engaged contacts. If your emails are marked as spam more than that, your emails will be blocked by the recipient’s sender.
Homework: Scrub your list. Manually go through your subscribers and remove people who haven’t engaged. You could also send out an email to clean up your list. If you’re using ConvertKit, click HERE for how to do this.
Write emails packed so full of value that people would be dumb to not open and engage with.
Make sure your opt-in’s are in alignment with the content in your newsletters, your offers, and your brand. You don’t want someone signing up for a really good opt-in, when they’re not someone who would be interested in your expertise, products or services.
4. Follow these best practices for email deliverability
Here are a few more things that King Google is asking for, that we all need to pay attention to:
No sending email blasts from anything that ends in gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc. Get a domain and then a professional email address.
Send email only to people who have asked for them.
Make sure they really want emails from you with a double opt-in form
Web links should be obvious and clear on what they link to
Do your best to send emails from the same IP address
Don’t mark internal messages as spam
Don’t do spammy things- like, impersonating other domains, using HTML or CSS to hide content, language that’s very ‘salesy’. Write like you’re talking to a friend.
Slowly grow your email subscriber list.
Don’t shorten links.
Send emails AT LEAST once a month. If servers don’t see your emails regularly, this will hurt your sender reputation.
If you switch email providers, or move domains, you will need to set this up again.
5. Verify and monitor your emails moving forward
Don’t let all this effort go to waste— make sure you have everything set up correctly and keep tabs on the health and reputation of your domain by keeping close tabs on this and tracking data.
Verify you have everything set up correctly:
Send yourself an email from your email service provider.
Where it says “signed by”, it should have your domain. If it shows your service provider, you’re not authenticated.
On the “show original page”, DKIM should say PASS with your domain.
Run an SPF check with PowerDMarc
Sign up for a free account with Email Smart and they will run a health check for you. (no aff)
Go to MXToolbox, enter your domain and let it run a check. Correct anything that doesn’t come up with a green check.
Monitor your complaints and analyze your email spam rate received through Google and Yahoo.
Sign up for Google Postmaster Tools
Sign up for Yahoo’s Complaint Feedback Loop
Track data from your own email service provider’s analytics.
Update for September 2024:
Email delivery issues are STILL an ongoing problem for many subscribers. I’ve noticed a huge increase in my own inbox of emails landing in spam land that shouldn’t be— just in the past month.
Once you’ve completed the domain authentication steps, work on building a good reputation by growing your email list through a consistent marketing strategy— slow & steady wins the race here for sure. Analyze your open rates, engagement rates and content. Test your emails to your own inbox to monitor the placement.
Make sure that you leave a success not to check the spam folder AND move your email to the inbox if that’s where it landed. And check your own spam folder regularly— help a friend out my moving anything that doesn’t belong there to the right place.
If you need any more help with this, I’m just a click away!
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