Effective February 1st, 2024, Google and Yahoo are introducing new standards for all senders delivering mail to their customers’ inboxes. While this update originates from the email providers and not Dubsado, this blog post is written to inform you of these industry-wide adjustments. Ensuring your smooth communication, both within and outside of Dubsado, is important to us.
We understand that these latest updates from Google and Yahoo might seem a bit overwhelming. Rest assured, we're here to help make sense of it all. By adjusting your email settings as required, you'll ensure your messages land where they should – in your recipients' inboxes. Remember, meeting these requirements before the deadline is key to keeping your emails out of the spam folder. We hope this post can help shed some light to make this transition smooth and worry-free.
Below are the new rules being implemented by Google and Yahoo as an effort to fortify email security and reduce spam.
• Implement SPF and DKIM records to authenticate your emails
• Keep spam report rate below 0.1%, and avoid ever reaching a spam report rate of 0.3% or higher (no more than 3 spam reports per 1000 emails)
• Implement DMARC alongside SPF and DKIM
• Include one-click “Unsubscribe” link in all emails and honor unsubscribe requests within two days
We got you! SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) are important tools used to check that emails are genuine and reduce unwanted spam. Let’s get into how they function. Here’s an analogy:
Imagine you're mailing an important letter to your friend Nancy in New York.
You've already informed Nancy that any letters from you will bear the postmark of your local post office in Small Town, Indiana. This pre-arrangement ensures that Nancy can verify the authenticity of your letters.
Later, when Nancy receives an important letter from you, she checks for the Small Town, Indiana postmark. To her delight, she finds it as expected and happily accepts your letter.
Conversely, let’s say you did not make it known to Nancy that any letters from you should be postmarked by your post office in Small Town, Indiana. Since Nancy is cautions about the mail she receives, your important letter to her is rejected. Nancy saw that your letter was postmarked by your Small Town, Indiana post office, but she never recalls you informing her about this beforehand. Nancy throws the letter way to be safe.
In our story, think of the Small Town post office as your email sending server. This server might vary, especially if you use different services to send your emails. When you set up SPF and DKIM records in your domain's DNS (like the postmark agreement with Nancy), you're telling everyone receiving your emails that they are legitimately coming from your authorized server. This helps ensure your emails are accepted and not mistakenly thrown away, just like how Nancy confidently accepted the letter with the familiar Small Town postmark.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is like a watchdog for your emails. It keeps an eye on how your emails are handled, checks if they're seen as authentic, and reports back what happens to them; whether they're delivered, marked as spam, or rejected.
You usually don't need to set up DMARC unless you're sending more than 5,000 emails a day. But if you're interested in using DMARC or if you're sending lots of emails, reach out to your email provider. They can guide you on how to get DMARC up and running.
If your email address ends in @gmail.com, @outlook.com, @hotmail.com, etc… and is not a custom domain email, you do not need to do anything!
If you have a custom domain email (example@yourwebsite.com), you will need to set up SPF and DKIM for your domain by February 1st. This is crucial to prevent your emails from being rejected or marked as spam by these providers as part of their efforts to enhance email security and authenticity.
If your email provider is Google Workspace, you have likely connected your email to Dubsado using the "Connect with Google" option. This connection route uses Google's secure API to transmit email data to Google's servers every time an email sends from Dubsado. This means that your emails are sent from Google's servers, and not Dubsado's.
• Add Google's domain to your SPF record, or create one if you do not have one already. With Google’s domain added, your SPF record should look like the example below:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
• Configure and enable DKIM through your Google Workspace Admin console
If your email provider is Microsoft Office, you have likely connected your email to Dubsado using the "Connect with Microsoft" option. This connection route uses Microsoft's secure API to transmit email data to Microsoft's servers every time an email sends from Dubsado. This means that your emails are sent from Microsoft's servers, and not Dubsado's.
• Add Microsoft's domain to your SPF record, or create one if you do not have one already. With Microsoft’s domain added, your SPF record should look like the example below:
v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com ~all
• Configure and enable DKIM through your Office 365 account
If you have purchased your hosted email services through GoDaddy, it is likely that your email provider is Microsoft Office. Since GoDaddy uses Microsoft to support their email services, you will want to follow the steps above for Microsoft Office (Office 365).
For all other email providers, you have likely connected your email to Dubsado using SMTP. This connection route uses TLS to send emails on your behalf from Dubsado's servers whenever you send an email from within your Dubsado account. The information below is only covers how to set up SPF and DKIM for emails sent through Dubsado. Contact your email provider for instructions on adding SPF and DKIM for sending outbound mail outside of Dubsado.
• Add Dubsado's domain to your existing SPF record, or create one if you do not have one already. With Dubsado's domain added, your SPF record should look like the example below:
v=spf1 a:spf.dubsado.com ~all
• Head to Settings➔Emails in your Dubsado account and generate a key. Copy the provided values and paste them into a new TXT record in your domain's DNS settings
If you would like further guidance on how to setup SPF and DKIM, need us to verify your email provider, or have questions about the recent changes by Google and Yahoo, please reach out to us.
Send us an email and our Customer Care team will be happy to assist!
