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Google is implementing new email sender guidelines as of February 1, 2024

Exploring the latest updates in Gmail and Email deliverability

MIND before you hit ‘Send Email’! Harish Published onMay 6, 2024 Facebook Linkedin X-twitter Whatsapp Table of content 1. CAN-SPAM Compliance 2. Don’t Buy and Sell Email Lists 3. Say No to False Headers 4. Misleading Subject Lines 5. Honor Opt-Outs Immediately 6. Don’t Mix Marketing Lists CAN-SPAM compliance The undesired or sometimes illegal email messages that frame up email spam, account for 60 percent of all emails sent across globally, which adds up to about 20 billion spam messages sent daily. CAN-SPAM spells out specific rules to stall companies from malicious email marketing or risk disciplinary action that might place the business at threat. Despite its name, CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t apply only to commercial messages, but also includes email that endorses content on commercial websites. Surprisingly enough, the law makes no exception for business-to- business email either. Bad Law is No Law; agreed. Jotting down few check lists to bear in mind to shun away CAN-SPAM violations and hefty penalties. Don’t buy and Sell email lists CAN-SPAM explicitly prohibits the buying and selling of email lists. Sending emails to people who did not specifically sign up to receive them, guarantees a huge unsubscribe rate. Even worse, it sets businesses up for a large number of spam complaints.  Say no to false headers All marketing emails must provide accurate routing information – the originating domain name and email address – and authentic identities in the “From,” “To” and “Reply-To” fields. Misleading subject lines No attempt should be made to mislead recipients to open emails or tempt customers with “free” or similar tag in the subject line unless there is really an offer in the basket. To be more precise, “Season Sale” might get past spam blockers, “Season Sale for Members only” is more accurate. Sender’s postal address Email must include a valid physical postal address. This can be sender’s current street address, registered post office box, or a private mailbox registered with a commercial mail receiving agency. Honor opt-outs immediately At most, 10 days what is allowed to pull out subscribers once an opt-out request is received. Strictly, this must be free of charge and without asking for any personal information or selling a person’s information. Don’t mix marketing lists Well, it is a good practice to send emails to customers who have explicitly opted-in to specific marketing lists, rather than mixing blog emails of commercial content with non blog marketing emails. You are remembered for the rules you break; if a business domain is identified as violating CAN-SPAM Laws, ISP will block emails regardless of content and sure to cease all online services. Keep reading Even more stories from kasplo SPAM is not a Bad Guy after all! Power of Annotations, AI, and Account Updates in Gmail Adhere to Google’s Email Sender Guidelines for 2024

Spam complaints: cause, effect and cure Harish Published onMay 6, 2024 Facebook Linkedin X-twitter Whatsapp Table of content 1. Spam Complaints generally take two different forms: 2. Manual complaint to an abuse desk 3. How do they happen? Why do recipients mark a message as a spam complaint? 4. Take these actions to reduce spam complaints, Spam complaints are negative responses to an email. They are specific actions taken by the receiver of the email to let the ISP, ESP or sender know he’s not happy about the email and wants to report it as spam. Spam complaints are a key driver of email deliverability, so it’s important to understand them. Spam complaints generally take two different forms: 1. “This is Spam” report – The most common type of complaint is when the email recipient reports a message as spam by clicking on the “This is Spam” or “Report as Spam” button (or equivalent) from within their web-based email application, such as those provided by Hotmail (now Outlook), Gmail and Yahoo.  When this button is clicked, most ISPs or email providers will report that action, along with a copy of the email message, back to the sender via what’s known as a feedback loop. This feedback loop process allows the sender to unsubscribe that address.  Gmail has a spam button, but does not provide a feedback loop. They instead utilize an unsubscribe header that will give a subscriber that clicks on the complaint button the option of unsubscribing or actually reporting the message as spam. If the subscriber chooses to unsubscribe, this information is passed back to the sender. 2. Manual complaint to an abuse desk A more serious form of complaint is when the email recipient forwards the email to the abuse desk at the ISP, ESP or sender along with a personal note saying they consider the email to be spam. This is considered a more significant form of a complaint since it takes more work by the recipient to report this type of abuse—more than just the click of a button. When the subscriber takes this action to report an email, the email addresses for these types of complaints are generally not automatically unsubscribed when they’re received. Additional action by the sender is required to manually unsubscribe or remove that email address from future sends. How do they happen? Why do recipients mark a message as a spam complaint? Not requested – Perhaps the most common reason for a complaint is that the email was not requested in the first place. Not recognise – The recipient doesn’t recognise the email as something they subscribed to. Too frequent – Mail that is sent too frequently will likely annoy subscribers and cause them to click on the spam button.  Not frequent enough – The recipient may not remember signing up for your emails if the mail is sent infrequently or sporadically.  Not relevant – Sending email that is not relevant to the subscriber or content that is different than what the subscriber agreed to receive when they signed up. Recipients that are interested in what you send will complain far less often.  Received after unsubscribing – CAN-SPAM laws allow for up to 10 days to remove a subscriber after an unsubscribe request is made, but if recipients continue to get emails after unsubscribing, they are likely to mark the message as spam. Remove these unsubscribed addresses ASAP. Just not wanted anymore – Some recipients may just click “This is Spam” as a way to unsubscribe. You can limit this by making your unsubscribe link obvious and making sure the process to unsubscribe is easy.  Or, a recipient may just highlight several messages in the inbox all at once and click on the spam button to remove them. Your message may be unintentionally highlighted in this process. By prominently branding your “From name,” you can help prevent this from happening. Take these actions to reduce spam complaints, but remember that consistently following best practices is the best way to prevent the causes (and effects) of high complaint rates. 1. Make sure your mail was really requested — Start by reviewing your address collection process. Receiving clear permission to send emails is critical. 2. Get the frequency right by setting proper expectations upfront — Be clear on what you will be sending and how often you will be sending it.  3. Be familiar and recognizable — Send an automated welcome letter within 24 hours to acknowledge the subscription and help to establish a relationship with your new subscriber.  4. And use consistent branding – Use the same “From name” and “From email address” on each mailing. If possible, your campaigns should use the same look and feel as the website where the permission was granted.  5. Prominently display your unsubscribe link at the top of your message or in the pre-header — This may seem counter-intuitive, but if a subscriber is looking for a way out of receiving your messages, they will use the easiest way to do it.  6. Keep your ongoing emails relevant and engaging — Offer incentives to click on your links, even if that click would not directly lead to a sale.  7. List Maintenance — Implement an automated, ongoing process to remove or suppress old and inactive subscribers. Keep reading Even more stories from kasplo SPAM is not a Bad Guy after all! April 17, 2024 Power of Annotations, AI, and Account Updates in Gmail May 6, 2024 Adhere to Google’s Email Sender Guidelines for 2024 May 6, 2024