So, you’ve spent hours writing the perfect email, hit send, and then... crickets. No replies, no engagement—just silence. You check your deliverability score and see that most of your emails landed in the spam folder. Nothing is more frustrating than that.
This is a headache for many senders, especially if you’re dealing with Gmail and Yahoo. We come with good news though. There is a tool that can help—DMARC.
As long as you follow the guidelines we’re going to mention in this article, it can dramatically improve your chances of getting those emails into the inbox.
These guidelines only apply to anyone sending 5,000 or more emails a day, which means if you’re sending smaller volumes, you’re off the hook—at least for now. But it’s still smart to follow them to improve your deliverability.
Also, if you hit those numbers during peak times, like holidays, Gmail and Yahoo will still consider you a bulk sender, and you’ll need to follow the rules. What’s surprising is how many senders aren’t keeping up with these best practices, even though they’ve been in place for a while.
So, how can DMARC help you break through the filters and get your emails seen? Let’s dig into what you need to know to make sure your messages land where they belong—in the inbox.
What Are The New Guidelines for Senders?
So, what do you need to do to make sure your emails keep hitting the inbox? And how do you put these changes into action?
Authenticate Your Emails
Email authentication means securing and verifying your sender identity using encryption and certificates.
The goal? To protect your identity from being spoofed and keep your recipients safe from phishing attacks. That’s why Gmail and Yahoo are focused on making sure senders are properly authenticated.
In fact, back in 2022, Gmail saw a 75% drop in unauthenticated emails just by requiring senders to use some form of authentication. But with the rise of spammers, phishers, and malware, the solutions need to be equally strong.
If you’re a bulk sender, Gmail’s first ask is to make sure your emails are authenticated with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols for your domain. This wasn’t always a strict requirement, but both Gmail and Yahoo are now moving toward making DMARC a must-have.
Our advice? Get all three authentication methods set up—SPF, DKIM, and DMARC—to protect your sender identity and improve your deliverability.
Make it easy for people to unsubscribe
It’s always been a good practice to include a clear unsubscribe option in your emails, and most of us already have that link in the footer. But, this new requirement is about more than just sticking an unsubscribe link at the bottom of your emails.
Sending emails to people who don’t want them isn’t just annoying—it can seriously hurt your engagement metrics, increase spam reports, and damage your reputation.
Here’s something worth noting: Users are much more likely to unsubscribe if they can easily spot the option in the mailbox interface itself. If they can’t, they often find it easier to hit that spam button instead of scrolling down to the bottom of the email and dealing with a multi-step unsubscribe process.
Starting in 2024, both Gmail and Yahoo are making it mandatory to offer a single-click unsubscribe option. No more asking users to confirm their email, update their preferences, or provide feedback. You’ll need to act on unsubscribe requests within two days.
Basically, just make sure your email headers include the list-unsubscribe post, as outlined by RFC 8058, and you’ll be good to go!
Keep an Eye on Your Spam Rates
So, how do you keep spam out of people’s inboxes? Simple—set a low spam rate limit and make sure senders stay under it.
Both Yahoo and Gmail are sticking to the same strategy, with a spam complaint rate threshold of 0.3%. It might seem like a super low number, but it’s actually pretty standard. Many Email Service Providers (ESPs) already aim for rates below 0.1%—that’s just one spam report for every 1,000 emails sent.
Your spam rate is basically the percentage of people who mark your email as spam compared to how many actually received it. To keep that number down, regularly clean your list, remove inactive subscribers before they get tempted to hit that spam button, and stay on top of any spikes in complaints by adjusting your sending practices.
According to Marcel Becker, Sr. Director of Product Management at Yahoo:
"We chose the 0.3% threshold because many companies and programs already use it as a standard. If your spam rate is consistently above 0.3%, you're likely already facing serious issues. While we generally aim for much lower numbers, 0.3% is an industry-recognized figure, so we decided to make it official."
How Are These Updates Beneficial?
Making these changes is really important because they impact two big things: whether your emails actually make it to inboxes and how much your audience trusts you.
When you use tools like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to authenticate your emails, you’re doing more than just checking a box—you’re stopping scammers from pretending to be your brand and sending fake emails.
That extra layer of security reassures your subscribers that your emails are genuine and not coming from someone pretending to be you.
Plus, Gmail and Yahoo are getting stricter about filtering out spam. If your emails don’t meet their security standards, it doesn’t matter how great your message is—your emails might not even make it to your audience. Too many spam reports or failing to authenticate could send your emails straight to the spam folder, or worse, get you blacklisted.
You’re not just following rules here—you’re ensuring your emails get seen, your brand stays credible, and your subscribers remain engaged. Skipping these steps could mean losing touch with your customers, which nobody wants.
SO, WHERE DO YOU FIND THIS PARTNER?
Well, aren’t we glad you asked! We at DigiCom are obsessive data-driven marketers pulling from multi-disciplinary strategies to unlock scale. We buy media across all platforms and placements and provide creative solutions alongside content creation, and conversion rate optimizations. We pride ourselves on your successes and will stop at nothing to help you grow.
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