Feature
The Gist
- New email rules arrive. New email regulations mean easier unsubscribe processes for consumers.
- Marketers adapt. Changes demand marketers optimize for engagement, not just volume.
- Privacy priority. The focus shifts to consent and data privacy in email marketing strategies.
As consumers, this may be a day we’ve all been waiting for. The new email rules have arrived.
We can say goodbye to the tedious process of scrolling to the end of an email, straining to locate the 0.5 font unsubscribe button, providing a reason for “breaking up,” or unsubscribing from the daily mail only to find we are still opted-in for the weekly, fortnightly and monthly publications.
As consumers.
As marketers, however, the new email rules from both Google and Yahoo, effective February 2024, mean something else altogether. Subscribers will be able to opt out of emails they no longer wish to receive, more easily than ever.
While the move will further reduce spam (Google’s AI defense systems already block nearly 15 billion unwanted emails every day!) and streamline and secure inboxes, marketers must respond in ways that mitigate the short-term impact and optimize long-term outcomes.
What Is the Impact of the New Email Rules on Marketers?
The new email rules mandate that bulk senders facilitate simple, one-click unsubscribes and maintain a spam complaint threshold of under 0.3%. While Google has specified the move will impact senders exceeding 5,000 messages daily, Yahoo has not specified volume qualifications. Either way, failure to comply could result in potential damage to the sender’s reputation, which impacts marketing and CX outcomes.
Getting Prepared
The 2003 CAN-SPAM Act and ISP anti-spam developments over the past several years have already prepared most credible marketers to include aspects such as honoring unsubscribes and authenticating mail. But marketers who don’t yet approach email from the perspective of customer engagement and value creation will start to see their number of emailable contacts dwindle faster than ever before, says Chip House, CMO of CRM platform Insightly.
A Positive Impact in the Long Run
The Mail Privacy Protection update from September 2021, which rendered “open rates” a vanity metric, was already a big change for marketers, adds Naomi West, senior email and lifecycle marketer at the messaging automation platform customer.io. While an uptick in unsubscribes may occur due to the new email rules in the short term, it doesn't have to mean you've lost the relationship. Email is one of many ways to reach and build a relationship with customers — it could just mean those customers prefer a different way to connect, West suggests. In the long run, however, the new email rules will have a positive impact since inbox providers can recognize legitimate (brand) senders and strengthen deliverability for them.
What to Prioritize
Even legitimate senders may be impacted in terms of reactivation or winback campaigns targeting lapsed or inactive subscribers, adds Colleen Groener, senior relationship marketing strategist at CX solutions provider Merkle. Since inactive subscribers are more likely to mark emails as spam, senders should prioritize campaigns to engaged subscribers in the short term, and refine reactivation journeys over time, she says.
Your Next-Best Steps: Minimize Impact, Optimize the Opportunity
Related Article: The 5 Biggest Changes From a Decade of Email Marketing Change
New Email Rules: Tactical steps
Take the Basic Steps for Sender Authentication Compliance
Minimize impact, optimize the opportunity, authenticate your email with DNS (Domain Name System), SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance), and DKIM (Domain Key Identified Mail) protocols. A reputable email provider will help you automate unsubscribes quickly, says Groener. When a DMARC is present in your DNS, it gives the authority to provide instruction on whether or not to quarantine or reject those that are spoofing you. You can also set this record to p=quarantine or p=reject, but you can also just monitor this bad practice with p=none, West proposes.
Related Article: 7 Irresistible Email Subject Lines
Revisit Email Templates
Every email sent must incorporate a user-friendly “unsubscribe” option in the header, which directs to a one-click unsubscribe URL. This feature is distinct from the standard unsubscribe link in the footer, which may redirect subscribers to a confirmation or preferences page within the brand's domain, Groener specifies. If your email service provider (ESP) does not include it by default, manually add it to all utilized email templates.
The update requires the implementation of RFC 8058 List-unsubscribe-post, which, says West, your ESP should support. This header creates an unsubscribe to individuals that may be surfaced at the provider's discretion. Setting up a Google Postmaster account will also help monitor your reputation with Google and optimize email tactics with a ton of great insight into your domain, IP health, and spam complaints that come from Gmail, she adds.
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Revisit List Hygiene
To maintain a complaint rate of under 0.3%, which is mandatory for bulk senders, list hygiene is crucial from here on, says Groener. A damaged sender reputation can be more harmful than an unsubscribe, so put in place a tactical plan of action to avoid the spam folder.
Related Article: Contributor Q&A With Chad S. White: Automated Marketing Email Best Practices
Revisit Audience Segments
Ultra-segmentation will pay off quickly, says House, so consider further slicing and dicing your lists to ensure your messages can be as targeted and relevant as possible.
Related Article: 5 Ways to Make Your Marketing Emails More Personal — Without Personalization
Strategic changes
Reevaluate Your Email Strategy
Start now, says Tim Braz, CRO at first-party data provider Publishers Clearing House (PCH) Media, by critically assessing your email strategy, including success criteria. Make engagement the criteria to keep audience segments and email lists clean and fresh. Review your current CRM strategy and email campaign planning with the marketing, product, customer success, and sales teams, adds Tara Pawlak, SVP marketing of B2B revenue intelligence platform Revenue Grid. This is crucial — especially in cross-functional teams.
Related Article: Using Data, AI to Maximize Email Engagement and Personalization
Start Optimizing for Engaged, Addressable Audiences
The latest email changes dovetail with cookie deprecation in 2024, which will further shrink the addressable audience base. Phasing out third-party data means your team must find organic ways to capture audience attention. Define a user engagement strategy that builds a data-rich, opt-in email list and first-party data that honors customer preferences, House recommends. AI is emerging as a valuable tool for marketers seeking to implement effective personalization and segmentation strategies, adds Pawlak. It promises interesting use cases for sales and GTM teams — from content development to predictive analytics and automated high-precision segmentation based on behaviors, engagement and activities.
Empower Customers With a Transparent, Intuitive Opt-in (or out) Experience
Investing in a consent and preferences management platform will enable ongoing and anytime engagement with audiences who wish to know or change their preferences at their own pace. It also helps customers "opt down" instead of having to choose a universal opt-out.
Review the expectations you set when you collect opt-ins from your customers, suggests West. Consent-powered communication built on strong zero-party data is key to driving engagement and trust, she adds. Email marketers should focus on collecting data they can use and when they can best collect it in the journey. Instead of making inferences, create a relationship where you can ask customers for the right data at the right time, and eliminate steps that make users jump through hoops, she finishes.
Realign Communication Strategies With Data Privacy and Security Policies
Marketing strategies should be designed to respond to evolving privacy standards set by companies like Google, Apple, and Yahoo, including updates such as iOS 15 and iOS 17, the depreciation of cookies, and the authentication changes in Gmail and Yahoo, says Groener. In 2024, data security and privacy can no longer be silos but must be baked into the marketing strategy.
Mindset shifts
Making strategic shifts with confidence needs a mindset shift that recognizes the new reality of the new email rules and prioritizes what matters. Consider these:
An Unsubscribe Is better Than Being Marked Spam
Google (and other inbox providers) reward you for recipient engagement (opens, clicks, replies), says House. Once you are marked as spam, your credibility is dented in the eyes of the email provider. Become comfortable with the idea of a healthy number of unsubscribes. Instead, create experiences that inspire opt-ins.
Prioritize Value vs. Volume
Create valuable content to stay relevant vs. sending large volumes of emails to stay top-of-mind, suggests Braz. Become comfortable with the idea of value over volume. Go for quality and depth of engagement rather than a wide recipient base. Big numbers and vanity metrics have no place in modern marketing.
Reframe the Problem Into an Opportunity
Focus on building a trust and value-led relationship rather than playing defensive in the face of shrinking email volumes. In addition to all the best practices outlined above, think omni-channel. Not every customer prefers email: build a multi-channel outreach strategy, giving customers options for email, mobile, social media and other channels. This not only reduces dependence on any one channel but also empowers customers to choose their most preferred means of communication for various kinds of interactions.
