{"id":1988,"date":"2024-01-08T17:44:20","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T17:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kartra.com\/?p=1988"},"modified":"2024-11-20T19:04:40","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T19:04:40","slug":"email-deliverability-new-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kartra.com\/blog\/email-deliverability-new-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Email Deliverability: New Rules and Steps to Take"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Google<\/a> and Yahoo<\/a> introduced significant changes to email authentication practices by enforcing new guidelines for senders who deliver mail to their users. Their goal is to reduce the risk of phishing and spam by creating a safer, more enjoyable email experience. These new sender guidelines went into effect on February 1, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Kartra customers will be able to successfully meet the guidelines. As a matter of best practice, we always recommend that you aim for the highest level of compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kartra has developed new tools, so its customers can successfully meet Google and Yahoo authentication requirements. Kartra customers received an email and an in-app notification when these tools became available on January 15, 2024, providing enough time to take the required steps before February 1, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To read Google\u2019s detailed email sender guidelines, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use Kartra to improve deliverability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s get into how Kartra addresses each item.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Add DKIM email authentication for your domain.<\/strong>
    On January 15, Kartra released a new feature that lets you add a custom sender domain and generate DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) records. You will add those records to your domain\u2019s DNS settings to complete the authentication loop between Kartra and your domain.If you are a Kartra customer, you will need to add your sender domain to Kartra and create CNAME records in your domain\u2019s DNS (CNAME record details are generated by Kartra in the account).
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  2. Add SPF authentication for your domain.<\/strong>
    If you use KartraMail, SPF authentication is automatically provided with the DKIM records generated in your account. This is done for you, so there\u2019s no need to add a separate SPF record!

    However, if you use an integrated SMTP and don\u2019t already have an SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record, you will need to set one up. This requires you to add a record in the domain account. You can use a free tool like     EasyDMARC<\/a> to generate a record in the correct format if you need help.

    If you already have an SPF record, do not add another one!<\/strong> Having more than one SPF record invalidates them all.

    Check with your SMTP service to find out how to create the contents of the SPF record and add it to your DNS settings.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Ensure that sending domains or IPs have valid forward and reverse DNS records, also referred to as PTR records.<\/strong>
    If you are using KartraMail, you can skip this step. We have already taken care of this for you.
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  4. Use a TLS connection for transmitting email.<\/strong>
    Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a security protocol that encrypts email for privacy. If you are using KartraMail, this is already done! Your messages are transmitted using the required connection.
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  5. Keep spam rates reported in Google Postmaster Tools below 0.10% and avoid ever reaching a spam rate of 0.30% or higher.<\/strong>
    Kartra already enforces a spam complaint standard of 0.03% across our entire platform, which will keep you well within the new requirements. Emails sent with KartraMail are monitored by our team using Postmaster Tools and other processes. Our team maintains the baseline, but it\u2019s always a good idea to be aware of your own delivery performance. You can monitor your own delivery performance in Google Postmaster Tools (GPT) once your custom DKIM is properly configured. 
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  6. Format messages according to the Internet Message Format standard (RFC 5322).<\/strong>
    Don\u2019t sweat this one (I know, it sounds complicated). The Kartra email builder produces emails in the required format, so you don\u2019t have to worry about it.
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  7. Don\u2019t impersonate Gmail From: headers.<\/strong> 
    Gmail will begin using DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, & Conformance) quarantine enforcement policy, and impersonating Gmail From: headers might impact your email delivery.

    Impersonation is the practice of sending a message from an origin that does not match the send-from address specified for the email. With this change, if a Gmail address is used as the sender on a message that is not sent by the Gmail mail server, their new quarantine policy means that those messages will end up in the recipient\u2019s junk folder.

    The good news is that Kartra already prevents the use of free email addresses as a sender, because it\u2019s never been a good practice for sending marketing mail. If you are using Kartra, you should already have a custom domain sender address in place.
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  8. If you regularly forward email, including using mailing lists or inbound gateways, add ARC headers to outgoing email<\/strong>. 
    Authenticated Received Chain (ARC) headers allow each intermediary mail server to sign the header they add to an email, which helps improve how DKIM and SPF results are passed from one mail server to the next during forwarding. 

    ARC headers are automatically provided with KartraMail, so no action is required by Kartra customers. If you are using an integrated SMTP, check with the SMTP service to find out how to set this up.
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  9. Set up DMARC email authentication for your sending domain. Your DMARC enforcement policy can be set to none.<\/strong>
    DMARC policies tell recipient mail servers what to do with emails sent from your domain that fail the DKIM or SPF authentication, so it\u2019s an important part of keeping your domain safe from scammers.

    Once the DKIM and SPF updates for Kartra are complete, you\u2019ll be able to set up DMARC records for your domain in your DNS settings. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. For direct mail, the domain in the sender\u2019s From: header must be aligned with either the SPF domain or the DKIM domain. This is required to pass DMARC alignment.<\/strong>
    Simply put, the email address you use as the sender for your messages must have the same domain that you authenticated with DKIM or SPF. For example: