As we have shared on social media, Google is rolling out stringent guidelines for bulk email senders that will begin to apply in February. Aimed at reducing spam and enhancing security, these rules are supposed to impact only businesses and groups that dispatch large volumes of emails to Gmail accounts.
However, our suspicion is that ordinary senders may sometimes get caught up in the new filtering rules, as well.
Why? We’ve received calls recently from prospective client companies which have found their emails already are not reaching Yahoo and AOL inboxes, two large service providers that are already applying the rule Gmail is about to enforce. These are individual emails that aren’t getting through to their clients, not bulk emails as the rules suggest.
Key Changes and Compliance:
To avoid getting caught up in email delivery purgatory, all organizations should follow the rules that will supposedly only apply to entities sending over 5,000 emails daily. Authentication is crucial, with senders required to validate messages through SPF, DKIM and DMARC protocols. This not only confirms the sender’s legitimacy but also establishes trust.
SPF, DMARC and DKIM are 3 of 11 vital email security settings we optimize for all new clients here at KaufmanIT, a topic we covered in more detail recently.
Starting in February, the lack of proper email settings will not only create a security risk, the shortcoming will create deliverability issues, too.
Unfortunately, based on experience we would estimate that 80% of small businesses have improper email settings of the kind that will put their deliveries to the big email providers in jeopardy.
Recent research from Redshift Ltd. highlights the risk; even among publicly-traded companies, only 1/3 of them employ proper email settings!
Fortunately, we can help.
With publicly available domain information, in minutes we can assess whether your email settings have been properly established or whether you may have a problem to solve. Whether or not you choose KaufmanIT to help resolve any issues that might be discovered, at least you’ll have a sense of where things stand.
To learn whether your domain’s settings have been thoughtfully constructed, contact us. We will be glad to provide you with clarity on your email settings posture.
