Two major email platforms (Google and Yahoo!) introduced new requirements in 2024 to protect recipients from unwanted spam emails. If you want to ensure your Engage emails continue to be successfully delivered to your supporters, you’ll need to comply with the following best practices for email authentication and spam prevention. The good news? Most of these requirements are already taken care of by Givebutter.
DMARC (Action required) 📣
DMARC is an email security standard that allows domain owners to monitor who’s sending email using their domain and instructs email receivers to approve, quarantine, or reject emails that aren’t sent from an authenticated source.
Gmail and Yahoo will start requiring DMARC for all bulk senders who send more than 5,000 messages a day, but even if you aren’t sending at that volume, we encourage you to set up DMARC anyway. Givebutter recommends using Postmark's free DMARC tool, but users are welcome to use any available DMARC platform.
DKIM ✅
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an email authentication method that confirms your legitimacy as an email sender.
If you set up your domain in Givebutter, the mail you send is already DKIM-signed, and no action is required.
Custom SPF ✅
The Return Path (also known as the "envelope-from") is the address where bounces and other email feedback are sent. It's also the domain used for SPF authentication.
If you set up your domain in Givebutter, the default Return-Path domain has already been replaced with your own sending domain, and no action is required.
FAQ 🤔
Google and Yahoo! mention some additional requirements not covered here. What about those?
Our system automatically takes care of most of these requirements already. For example, we automatically handle FCrDNS (Forward-Confirmed Reverse DNS) for all our sending IPs.
What are the sending thresholds for Google and Yahoo?
Google will be requiring these rules for users who send over 5,000 messages a day. Users who send less than 5,000 messages per day are exempt (Givebutter already covers the DKIM and SPF requirements), but we recommend setting up DMARC regardless. Yahoo doesn't yet specify any particular volume, nor do they specify a spam complaint rate threshold.
What is the deadline for Google and Yahoo's new email sender requirements? When do I need to register or set up DMARC?
While deadlines have not been set, these requirements will be rolled out beginning in February 2024. We recommend getting DMARC set up as soon as possible!
Is this related to 10DLC compliance for SMS/text messages?
No – these requirements are specific to outbound emails and their deliverability. 10DLC compliance is a separate process dealing with compliant phone numbers for text message spam-reduction.