Gmail is shaking things up (here's what you need to know)

Have you heard about the upcoming Gmail update? 🤯 If you're sending emails for your business, you 100% should. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ No longer interested? You can remove yourself [here]( Have you heard about the upcoming Gmail update? 🤯 If you're sending emails for your business, you 100% should. It's a massive change that you'll need to take action on. As always, with change, there's opportunity, which is why I'm reaching out to you today. So, what's happening exactly? 🤔 From February onwards, Gmail has new requirements for every business sending emails (especially when you send over 5000 daily). When you ignore those new requirements, say bye-bye to landing in the inbox 👋 My prediction: many businesses will drop the ball here, which means it's an opportunity for everyone who takes action. Less competition in the inbox = more eyeballs on your emails. The three main requirements: - DKIM, SPF & DMARC Authentication - One-click unsubscribe - Send only to engaged readers (BTW - I've got various email engagement hacks - just hit reply if you want them, I read every reply) Let me break these down for you 👇 #A - DKIM, SPF & DMARC Authentication For most platforms that allow you to send emails, they'll send the emails for you. Even though you'd send the email from yourdomain dot com, the actual "sender domain" is often something else (e.g. ActiveCampaign's domain name). With the upcoming requirements, the "sender domain" should also be yourdomain dot com. To make this work properly, DKIM & SPF are required. In layman's terms, these are tools that work together to make sure emails are from who they say they are. Think of it like a secure postal system where DKIM is your letter's signed seal, SPF is the approved list of mail carriers who can deliver your letter, and DMARC is the vigilant supervisor ensuring everything is in order and reporting on any unusual activities. All three of these must be added to your domain name settings, typically on your domain provider. The SPF record is essentially a way to say, "Only these websites & IP addresses are allowed to send emails on my behalf," like a list of approved senders. You'll need to add all the services & tools that send emails from your domain. Example: v=spf1 mx include:google.com ~all Think of DKIM as a digital signature, proving the email was sent by you and not someone imitating you or your business. Tip: I find a platform like CloudFlare MUCH easier to implement these kinds of changes, as many platforms directly integrate with CloudFlare and do the setup for you. Tip: Use a tool like mail-tester.com to quickly analyze your current situation. What's important is that once you start sending emails from your domain name, you'll email reputation also starts with a fresh slate. This means the historical or current sending reputation will be wiped out. This means you'll need to "warm up" your email sending, so instead of just sending out a regular blast (after you set up the right authentications), start sending emails to your best leads first. Example email warmup schedule: - Day 1: Send to your 2000 most engaged subscribers - Day 2: Send to the 4000 next most engaged subscribers - Then, pause and check how the open rates for Gmail are compared to other inboxes. If they're similar, continue. - Day 3: Send to the 8000 next most engaged leads. - Day 4: Send to the 15,000 next most engaged leads. - Pause again to review. Etc, you get the drill. Tip: Again, don't simply send a massive broadcast out. You'd burn your domain reputation and can probably say goodbye to the inbox 😭 #B - One-Click In case you're using Gmail, you've probably seen the simple "unsubscribe" link at the top of each email (inside Gmail's interface)? They're requiring you to support that. (I expect all email tools to take care of this before the deadline automatically, so this one should be easy). What's new is that Gmail will actively check if you actually stop sending emails to those people. This means that in case you have multiple email lists (e.g., a customer and a leads list), you'll need to make sure that if someone unsubscribes from one, you unsubscribe them from all your lists. If you don't do this, you risk getting penalized by Google for ignoring the unsubscribe. #C - Send only to engaged readers This one has always been important, but this is even more important after the update. They're going to tap into various data sources to analyze whether your readers are actually engaged with your emails. If they're not, you could be penalized. The new rule is that you can have 0.3% of people mark your email as spam. When it's north of that, expect to be penalized. I predict they'll make that even stricter later (e.g., 0.1%). Tip: Sign up to Google Postmaster Tools to see your current complaint rate and more email stats. --- I know, I know, This can seem overwhelming at first 🙈 Trust me, it's not as complex as it seems - but it's hard enough to realize that many businesses won't do this properly - which means their email reputation will get burned... ... making it easier for people like you and me to stand out in the inbox. When should you start working on this? I'd start ASAP, as there's less than 2 months left until the change. (It's why I'm sending this email to you - to make sure you know about this). Of course, I wouldn't be "me" if I didn't have some tricks up my sleeve 🧙 You know, the type of stuff that increases engagement to make Gmail love your emails. The nitty gritty stuff. I'm happy to share that with the first 100 people who hit reply. No catch. I'm just trying to help. Have a great day! Thanks, Wilco P.S. While we're on the topic... IF you're on Gmail , I'd REALLY appreciate it if you could move this email to your "Primary" folder ❤️ [Wilco de Kreij] Thanks for reading ! 🙏 My mission is to give small businesses the marketing power of giants. Inside my emails, you’ll get proven best practices, innovative strategies and real-world tactics that I’ve learned in my businesses. Prefer not to receive these emails? No problem - you can [unsubscribe]( at any time. This email reached you at {EMAIL} because you signed up for my newsletter or purchased one of my products. You can always [unsubscribe]( or [change your details](. Emarky B.V., Gageldijk 21, 3602AG Maarssen, The Netherlands