New year, new rules

Two of the biggest mailbox providers (Gmail and Yahoo) announced in 2023 they’ll be requiring new authentication standards for bulk senders. If you send more than 5,000 emails per day, you need to ensure you’re playing by their rules so you can reach important inboxes. We can help.

The latest resources

The 411 on New MBP Requirements

Things to Know About DMARC

Roundtable Events to Stay Current

What you need to know

Unfortunately, the list of new requirements isn’t exactly…short. But the good news is they’re relatively simple solutions! The most important part is their expectation of basic security protocols. That’s your typical SPF and DKIM, with the added complication of a lesser-known protocol: DMARC.

Otherwise, the more complex things they’re looking for should be handled by your ESP so you can focus on authentication, which is typically handled by the sender.

What you need to do

After you familiarize yourself with the list of requirements, it’s time to spring into action. Luckily, the most important things are things you can do on your own, like authentication and implementing a one-click unsubscribe.

You need to make sure you have SPF and DKIM alignment, and DMARC policy on your DNS record. Note it doesn’t have to be enforced, it just needs to be there. Since DMARC isn’t as known as the other standards, we put together a short crash-course for you.

What you need to watch

No one is perfect! Even if you’ve implemented your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, it’s always important to make sure you’re watching your email performance for indications something might be awry.

In the context of what Google and Yahoo are mandating, you’ll want to keep a very close eye on your delivery rates. Notice a drop in delivered mail? Did you clock a spike in soft bounces? This is a sign you need to investigate your compliance with their rules.

When you need help

It’s always ok to ask for help. Unfortunately, lots of ESPs don’t give you the visibility you need to watch for these performance indicators, and the longer you go without fixing whatever’s gone wrong, the worse your delivery problem becomes.

At SocketLabs, we have a really advanced reporting dashboard that surfaces performance anomalies and negative trends for you, eliminating your need to dig, scrounge, and agonize over incomplete or confusing data. We also make authentication super simple. Did we mention we have actual email experts available to assist you as well?

The SocketLabs Standard

We’re the kind of ESP who is not just a service, but a partner. We’re constantly improving our platform for our users, from creating predictive trend analysis and highly customizable reporting, to staying compliant with the highest security standards available, to making it simple to adhere to changes in MBP standards like the ones outlined here.