The correct setup of SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail) and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) have been very important over the last several years to ensure high levels of delivery of your emails into the inbox.

Google recently announced that as of February 1, 2024 it now requires these 3 configurations to be setup correctly, if your domain is sending to more than 5,000 Gmail email addresses per day. If not, the delivery of your emails to Gmail inboxes is likely to be blocked.

Yahoo! similarly has announced that it will require SPF, DKIM and DMARC to be configured for "bulk senders" to Yahoo! email accounts in the first quarter of 2024, with rollout of the mandate starting February 1, 2024 also. We expect that the actual number of email sends that constitutes bulk senders will be similar to the volume specified by Google.

Aside from SPF, DKIM & DMARC, Google & Yahoo! have additional requirements. Using Enudge will assist you with many of the requirements, including one-click unsubscribe and compliance with email standards. We are proud that Enudge achieves a 10/10 score when tested via the Independent Mail Testing body: mail-tester.com. You can read more about how we scored 10/10 in our article: How Enudge achieved 10/10 score for deliverability.

However, it is important to note that both Google and Yahoo! now also require that your spam reporting is kept below 0.3%. The number of people who report your emails as spam relates to how your emails are perceived by your recipients. I expect that in Australia we have less of a culture of people hitting the 'spam' button than in other countries, but there are still things that you can do to lessen the likelihood that people you have legitimately added the your emailing list, mark your email as spam. Consider:

• Relevance. Ensuring that your emails are sent to the appropriate cohort within your list, and that the content is highly relevant for the audience, will go a long way to reducing the likelihood that a person marks your email as spam.
• Easy to Unsubscribe. It's a requirement of the Spam Act that you make it easy for people to unsubscribe from receiving your emails. Enudge does that for you, via the automated unsubscribe link in the footer. However, including the unsubscribe link in the body of your email is also a good idea. You can easily do that using the #unsubscribe# personalisation field within the body of your Enudge email.
• Easy to Skim. Like it or not, people often skim read emails, at least the first time they read it. Using headings, images and other design elements to neatly layout your email, will greatly help the reader to find out what your key messages are, and decide whether they need to read it in detail later. It's no big deal if your recipients aren't reading every word of your emails ... if there is something super important for them in your email, they are likely to flag it and address it later. But regardless, the fact that they opened and skim read your email reminds them that you exist and reminds them about what you do.
• Uncontentious. Unfortunately, including contentious / inflammatory topics in your emails makes them more likely to be marked as spam. People might do this out of spite because they don't agree with your take on a particular topic. If you need to talk about a contentious issue, consider doing that on a web page which the reader gets to by clicking.
• Obviously from you. Humans do pattern matching all the time. They get used to the way your emails look - the sender name, your logo, the way your email is laid out, and more. If you suddenly send an email that is completely different, they may think it isn't really you, and therefore spam.
• Too Frequent. What is too frequent for one person may be considered infrequent for another, so this is quite subjective. From time to time, asking your audience about how often they would like to hear from you can provide insights. The Enudge survey tool, built into your Enudge account, might help you to ask the question. Also, you might consider setting up different categories for your contacts which specify the frequency of sends e.g. weekly updates, monthly newsletter. Enudge allows you to specify which categories can been by your contacts (public categories) when they are updating their preferences. For help with this feature: Self Service Management of Preferences.
• Mobile Responsive. Lots of email is read on mobile devices. If your email doesn't have a larger font, and narrower images on mobile, i.e. it isn't 'mobile responsive' you may be frustrating your audience such that they choose to unsubscribe. All the inbuilt email templates for Enudge are mobile responsive.

 

If you would like help with making your emails less likely to be marked as spam, or if you don't yet have a DKIM associated with your emails, don't hesitate to get in touch so we can assist.