Beginning in February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo will begin implementing new requirements of large senders to combat spam and abuse through email. We recommend that Action Network partners with over 5,000 people on their lists meet these requirements.
Below is a chart of the new requirements and what actions you need to take to be in alignment:
| Policy | Actions to take |
| Send from a domain you own (not @gmail or @yahoo) | Buy your own domain |
| DKIM and SPF must be in place | Install DKIM and SPF records. Click here to learn how to do this. |
| DMARC policy in place | Set up your DMARC records (read below to learn how to do this) |
| Stay under a .3% spam complaint rate | Brush up on good deliverability practices and set up Google PostMaster |
| One click unsubscribe, valid IP pointer record, TLS connection for transmitting email, format messages correctly, include unsubscribe link | Nothing! Action Network has implemented this for you |
DKIM and SPF
Click here to learn how to install DKIM and SPF records. If you've already installed DKIM and SPF records, continue below to setting up your DMARC. All three are required.
DMARC
DMARC stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance. This tells email providers what to do if an email fails DKIM or SPF authentication. It's an important tool in your deliverability toolbox that can protect your program from being spoofed by bad actors. While you have several options for how to set up your DMARC (read more below) Gmail and Yahoo are only requiring that you have a basic set up that tells them to do nothing if an email fails DKIM/SPF authentication.
To set up your DMARC records, reach out to support@actionnetwork.org with your reply-to email address. We'll send you what you need to install in your DNS record. If you don't know how to do this, reach out to your domain provider for further assistance installing this. After you've installed this, reach out again to us and we'll confirm that it's all set up.
The records Action Network sends you to be compliant with email providers' requirements simply tell them to do nothing if an email fails DKIM/SPF authentication. However, you can make this more strict by quarantining mail or completely blocking unauthenticated mail. This can be useful to prevent others from spoofing your domain, and sending as you, and can solve some deliverability problems that arise because of this. However, this must be done very carefully, as you can very easily block mail you want to send rather than just blocking mail that you don’t, and we only recommend it for very large email programs that have a high technical capacity. You can sign up for other services that will provide you with reports on which emails failed, why, and more. We'd recommend Valimail.
Google Postmaster
Google Postmaster is a free tool provided by Google that allows you to see key stats on how your email program is doing within Gmail. You'll be able to track spam rates, domain reputation, authentications, and delivery errors. You can learn how to set this up here. Postmaster gives you a huge insight into how Gmail is treating your emails and can allow you to gauge if you're program is doing well, or if thing's need to be switched up.