How Google and Yahoo are Fighting Email Spam

DomainKeys Identified Mail

Every year we see changes in the online space. In February 2024, Google and Yahoo have both committed to the positive step of reducing email spam and phishing emails.

How?  Through something called DomainKeys Identified Mail (DIKM).

The two tech giants are implementing changes to improve email deliverability and filter out annoying spam.

While plans to vastly reduce spam and phishing emails are admirable, what do these changes mean for people running email marketing campaigns? Is there anything you need to do?

Read on to discover more about DKIM and the steps you need to take to ensure your emails get delivered without a hitch.

DomainKeys & Inbox Protection

DomainKeys Identified Mail detects forged sender addresses. It also prevents the sending of mass emails or automated email sequences without verification. Using a digital signature to authorise the email message, recipients know the email originates from the owner of the domain.

This tool confirms that emails signed with a valid DKIM signature are original and unmodified. These signatures are not usually visible to the end-user, as the actual validation procedure takes place on a server level.

Geek alert - here’s where it all gets a bit techie.  When using DKIM in conjunction with DMARC or SPF, you can protect your email list and your integrity. This is the ultimate combination which prevents anyone from sending emails that impersonate your brand. Your domain will only send authentic emails.

DKIM Configuration

While DKIM is great for preventing spam and reducing the incidence of phishing emails, you need to do some configuring on your end to guarantee your legitimate emails get sent to your list.

For example, if you’re using a CRM like MailerLite, Mailchimp, AWeber, GetResponse, Constant Contact, Klaviyo, ConvertKit, HubSpot, Brevo, Campaign Monitor, ActiveCampaign, Zoho, Keap, High Level, Mailerlite and others, until you configure DKIM, your emails probably won’t get delivered to Yahoo or Gmail email addresses from February 2024 onwards.

We urge everyone to check that their email platform is configured properly so you’re ready for the changes. If you don’t know how to check or configure your email client, the team at Commonsense Marketing can do it for you.

This is commencing in February 2024 and is targeting bulk email senders. Anyone with an email list needs to authenticate their emails, allow for easy unsubscription and be sure they’re sending only ‘wanted’ emails.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is nothing new, but it is more popular than ever. It has remained relevant as a marketing tool for so long because it gets results. To give you a snapshot of the benefits of cultivating an email list and using it regularly:

  • Still the best way to keep in touch with prospects long after they’ve left your website
  • Allows you to send out personalised emails to a lot of people at once
  • You can easily send unique emails to people based on their interests and differences
  • It’s a highly affordable and efficient way to automatically communicate with people who complete a form or purchase online
  • It’s fantastic for building a long-term relationship so you stay top of mind
  • The best way to encourage purchasers to buy more
  • The best way to encourage customers to give you a review
  • The most efficient way to keep prospects and customers informed of changes, new products and services, and to deliver valuable tips and education
  • Almost everyone uses email, but not all use social media

In short, email marketing is quite easy to do and is a very effective marketing tool that won’t be disappearing anytime soon.

Email List Hygiene

It’s important to maintain the hygiene of your email list. While growing your subscriber list is crucial, so too is tidying up your email list periodically. Cleaning up your list will boost your sender reputation, increase open and engagement rates and reduce your chances of landing in the spam folder. Here are some quick tips to get you started:

  • Clean your list at least every 6 months (more often for bigger lists)
  • Don’t purchase lists from third-party vendors
  • Remove role accounts (@support, @info etc.)
  • Remove invalid and bounced email addresses
  • Delete unengaged recipients
  • Always confirm email subscriptions

Keeping your email list clean and fresh will result in an improved response rate to your email marketing campaigns.

Get Your Email System Checked and Updated

Make sure your future emails get delivered. The Tech Team at Commonsense Marketing can check your CRM configuration to ensure it is correct and ready for the major February update, and do the technical updates if they haven’t yet been done.

While we’re in the backend of your CRM, we’ll also review the “health of your list, and see if there are any quick wins and opportunities we can recommend to improve your email marketing results.

Click the button below for full details of our Email Tech Update and List Review service here

YES, PLEASE HELP ME COMPLY SO I CAN KEEP MY EMAIL MARKETING ACTIVE
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About Annette Welsford

Hi there. My passion is to inspire and help business owners to create the type of marketing and customer service that makes their business irresistible. I'm privileged to have a talented team at Commonsense Marketing who create and execute beautiful websites, engaging social media campaigns, and fantastic email campaigns that deliver results for our clients. And it's wonderful that many of them have said lots of nice things about the work we’ve done (see our case studies). We love to work with the owners and teams of small to medium sized business who are motivated to become the best in their niche and achieve more than they ever thought possible.