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Google and Yahoo recently announced new email sender requirements that are going into effect in February 2024.

We understand that there’s a lot to digest when it comes to these changes - and we’re here to help. Many of these new requirements will automatically be taken care of for you.

However, there are 3 main requirements that Google/Yahoo are asking senders to meet:

  1. Set up DMARC authentication for your sending domain
  2. Align your “From:” header with your domain
  3. Make unsubscribing easier and clearer

You can learn more about each of these requirements and what they mean from our recent Google + Yahoo’s new sender requirements: how to prepare without interrupting your BFCM plans blog article. 

For instances where you - the sender, need to take direct action to meet these new requirements, we put together a list of steps you should take. You can find this checklist in our How to meet Google and Yahoo's email sender requirements in 2024 Action Plan.

And there’s more to come! Keep an eye out for new tutorials, resources, and guidance from Klaviyo on getting your account set up to meet these requirements. 

 

Happy sending!

 

Yahoogle raising the bar!

It’s going to be a lot of work but you gotta love it from an email security standpoint. No more sending marketing email out of your generic gmail address


Hey guys.. is there a discussion about keeping within the 5k sending limit for google or Yahoo contacts anywhere in the community?

Personally these steps with DMARC, from name and unsubscribes are the easy part to comply..

What about the accounts that have 50k+ google contacts… how are we supposed to space out a campaign over 10 days sending to 5k contacts each day?

Next BFCM should be fun with these limitations..


An amendment to my message above.. Klaviyo won’t allow me to edit it!

I realize now we can send to more than 5k gmails per day, but need to keep below the 0.3% (0.1% preferred by Google), and have the DMARC and SPF configured. 

that makes it a bit easier, to just send to engaged contacts only.. however are any of you worried we will lose contacts due to this? Will Apple’s IOS privacy rules that hide user identities be an issue here?


Another question directed at the klaviyo team:

Google mentions that everyone on a shared IP is held responsible by the entire group’s spam rate..

How will Klaviyo ensure us spam rates are low for the group IP we’re in? 

 


Hey @Travis,

Great questions!

To provide further clarification on the point you brought up regarding the Shared IP addresses found in Google’s Email sender guidelines - this does not mean everyone on a shared IP is held responsible for the entire group’s spam rate. 

In fact, Google’s new requirements of keeping spam complaint rates lower than 0.10% is on the domain level, not the IP level:

Spam rate

 

It’s also important to understand that inbox providers pays much closer attention to one’s domain reputation rather than IP reputation when determining one’s overall sender reputation. 

Keeping and maintaining a low percentage of spam complaint rate is on the onus of the sender rather than Klaviyo. Because of this, it’s important to practice positive list hygiene by ensuring you’re collecting proper consent from individuals and list cleaning frequently and routinely. 

If you haven’t heard already, we’ll also be hosting a live learning session this coming Tuesday - January 16 to discuss these new sender requirements. You can register for the live event below:

fAsk the Experts] Google and Yahoo's New Sender Requirements


Hey Guys,

 

If I already bought my domain via Shopify back then, how do I verify it? I can't add any NS entries in my domain settings in Shopify. Does anyone have any advice?


Hey Guys,

 

If I already bought my domain via Shopify back then, how do I verify it? I can't add any NS entries in my domain settings in Shopify. Does anyone have any advice?

Shopify is actually adding DMARC records for the domains that they host DNS settings for. So you should check to see if they have already added a DMARC record for your domain. You can use a third party tool such as EasyDMARC to check for this. Just replace where it says yourdomain.com in the URL below:

https://easydmarc.com/tools/dmarc-lookup?domain=yourdomain.com


I got a DMARC record automatically. Do I still need to take any action in Klaviyo?


@Patrik99 - If you’re unable to add NS records to your DNS - used for the dynamic routing option of the branded sending domain - I would recommend selecting the static option. Using the static option will allow you to use CNAME records for adding a branded sending domain. 

This is also called out in our How to set up a branded sending domain Help Center article:

Note

Klaviyo recommends selecting the Dynamic routing option to best optimize your sending performance. However, note that some DNS providers do not support NS records. If your DNS provider does not support NS records, you must use the Static routing option. 


Thank you David! I will try it. Do I have any disadvantages through the static option?


Thank you David! I will try it. Do I have any disadvantages through the static option?

Hey Patrik, there is no disadvantage to using the static option. The biggest difference is…

Static: The DNS provider for your domain will continue to be where you change your DNS settings for klaviyo.

Dynamic: Creating NS records through the dynamic option effectively makes Klaviyo your DNS provider for your branded sending domain (just the sub-domain). This is the biggest difference between static and dynamic


Hey there, I’m working with a brand who are nowhere near the bulk sender levels, just a few hundred messages per day at most.

We haven’t prioritised moving to a branded sending domain as I was under the impression it was only an essential for those bulk senders. However, all of our flows are now marked with a ! symbol and say emails will stop sending soon because our account is not compliant. 

Is that correct? Can we continue to use a shared domain and successfully email Gmail accounts if we are a smaller account, or is it a blanket ban on non-branded domains after all? 


Hey there, I’m working with a brand who are nowhere near the bulk sender levels, just a few hundred messages per day at most.

We haven’t prioritised moving to a branded sending domain as I was under the impression it was only an essential for those bulk senders. However, all of our flows are now marked with a ! symbol and say emails will stop sending soon because our account is not compliant. 

Is that correct? Can we continue to use a shared domain and successfully email Gmail accounts if we are a smaller account, or is it a blanket ban on non-branded domains after all? 


We strongly recommend everyone set up a branded sending domain, and DMARC if they haven't already. If you are a bulk sender this is a requirement. Even if you are not a bulk sender, then this is still considered the best practice to allow for growth and to enable brands to own their own sending reputation.

That said you will see the checklist in-app if you have more than 5000 profiles in the account. This is just an arbitrary estimate for us to define which accounts are bulk senders. We can’t know how many emails are sent from your domain (from all systems, not just Klaviyo). But whether or not the checklist shows is beside the point.

For the sake of being proactive, we should be advising everyone who cares about these new requirements to be setting up branded sending domains and DMARC now versus waiting until there is an issue. 


Klaviyo still saying we haven't set up branded sending domain but we have?

I’m an agency so my client is the one sorting it, but he said he had.

Any common pitfalls we could be doing wrong, or is this just a generic thing?

 

 


@Patrik99 - If you’re unable to add NS records to your DNS - used for the dynamic routing option of the branded sending domain - I would recommend selecting the static option. Using the static option will allow you to use CNAME records for adding a branded sending domain. 

This is also called out in our How to set up a branded sending domain Help Center article:

Note

Klaviyo recommends selecting the Dynamic routing option to best optimize your sending performance. However, note that some DNS providers do not support NS records. If your DNS provider does not support NS records, you must use the Static routing option. 

Hey David, I set everything up as you said, but sadly just the txt record is verified. The Cname records are still not verified. Is there a way you can have a look on this?


Klaviyo still saying we haven't set up branded sending domain but we have?

I’m an agency so my client is the one sorting it, but he said he had.

Any common pitfalls we could be doing wrong, or is this just a generic thing?

 

 

Without knowing the domain or the customer it’s hard to say. It could be that the branded sending domain isn’t being used in all active flows plus campaigns in draft. Also look at the default sender address for the account and make sure that is set correctly as well.

Try double checking each of the checklist items using this resource: https://academy.klaviyo.com/verify-that-your-account-meets-new-sender-requirements/1855459


 Can you tell me more about the new sender requirements, and how they might impact email marketing? I'd love to hear any suggestions you have for staying compliant with the new requirements


 Can you tell me more about the new sender requirements, and how they might impact email marketing? I'd love to hear any suggestions you have for staying compliant with the new requirements

Hi Cinderella,

Our blog post about the new sender requirements will be your best resource for this: https://www.klaviyo.com/blog/gmail-update
 

We also have a checklist resource offered by the Academy here: https://academy.klaviyo.com/2024-new-sender-requirements-checklist/1817230

And for Gmail’s own documentation on their sender requirements be sure to read their FAQ doc as well: https://support.google.com/a/answer/14229414?sjid=4430585605131882425-NA


Hi there,

Thank you so much for providing these resources! I'll make sure to check out the blog post, the checklist from the Academy, and Gmail's own documentation on sender requirements. These should be really helpful in understanding and implementing the new requirements.


Also, just to add few more resources, the FAQ from Klaviyo has been updated periodically if you haven’t seen it in a while:

Also, some of the online Live Klaviyo Office Hours sessions if you want to join are worthwhile too:


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