New Google and Yahoo! Email Authentication Requirements Starting February 2024

Beginning in February 2024, Google and Yahoo! will begin enforcing new email authentication requirements for businesses designed to better protect email inboxes against security threats and spam.

Any businesses that email their customers should be aware of and prepared for these new regulations. Since many Apptoto customers send booking confirmations, appointment reminders, and other messages via email, we want to ensure you are informed of what Apptoto is doing to prepare for this change and what steps you need to take.

What’s Changing: New Email Authentication Requirements

Email senders must meet three primary requirements by February 1, 2024, that help “verify email senders are who they claim to be.” If a business fails to meet these requirements, Google and Yahoo! may filter your emails, preventing them from being received by their intended recipients.

This change primarily affects bulk senders, meaning businesses send more than 5000 emails to Gmail or Yahoo! inboxes daily. However, both Google and Yahoo! recommend that all companies meet the following three requirements:

• Authenticate Your Email: Set up Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and/or DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) to verify services such as Apptoto are authorized to send emails from your domain.
• Make it Easy to Unsubscribe: Anyone should be able to unsubscribe from your email list with one click.
• Keep Spam Complaints Low: Keep spam rates under 0.1% (optimally). Never exceed 0.3%.

What Apptoto Customers Need to Do

Authenticate: If you’ve set Apptoto to send emails from one of your business’s domains (e.g., yourname@yourbusiness.com), you must authenticate your email to allow the platform to continue delivering messages uninterrupted. No action is needed if you’ve chosen to send emails from Apptoto’s email address or Gmail instead.

Step-by-step instructions on updating your domain’s SPF records and DKIM settings can be found in our Knowledge Base.

Easy Unsubscribe: Nothing to do here! Apptoto added a “one-click unsubscribe” button to all emails sent on behalf of your business by our platform. This includes all individual emails, bulk campaign emails, and appointment reminder emails (including booking confirmations, follow-ups, etc.).

Spam Rates: Follow email best practices to ensure your clients and prospects find your emails valuable. For example, require people to opt-in to receive emails, don’t use spammy design or content, and regularly prune inactive subscribers.

Stay Ahead of New Email Authentication Requirements

As we approach the February 2024 deadline, one of our top priorities is ensuring that you will be able to deliver your email messages and reminders uninterrupted. Our team is committed to guiding you through these updates! Please reach out to support@apptoto.com with any questions or to schedule a meeting to walk through email authentication.