Google's New Email Requirements

Late last year, Google announced that as of February 1, 2024 they will begin enforcing new requirements on large email senders, which they define as those who send more than 5,000 emails per day to Google email addresses. These changes are intended to reduce the amount of spam messaging that hits email inboxes.

The new requirements are:

1. Easy Unsubscription
2. DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance)

Easy Unsubscription

Easy Unsubscription is the simple part! When it comes to churches using Rock for their communications, Spark Development Network has it covered. This feature will be built into Rock starting with v16.3. See this Spark blog post for further details.

DMARC

However, there is more that you'll need to do to be in compliance with the new regulation. DMARC is a bit more complicated, and certainly more technical.

In a nutshell, DMARC is a way for the receiving email system to determine whether the sender is who they claim to be. It has options to send 'bogus' emails to spam, reject them completely, or do nothing. Of note, it can send you (the sender) an email notification letting you know that an email has been processed, and the result. The ultimate goal is to cut down on spam and make sure your emails are delivered. It requires that you:

1. Already have both Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) and Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records configured for your sending domain. The good news is that you most likely have this covered, since major email providers like Mailgun and SendGrid require it.
2. Configure a new 'DMARC' record on your sending domain. Google has a very detailed explanation of DMARC in this article.

If you're curious, in its simplest form a DMARC record could look like this (these are the only required parameters):

        v=DMARC1; p=none
    

What Now?

If you're concerned about your compliance with Gmail's new requirements and don't have time to dive into it yourself, don't worry. Our team at Triumph can provide peace of mind by reviewing your current configuration and setting up your DMARC record.