Do This By Feb 1st 🚨 Email Authentication

You need another thing on your to do list, right? 😅 

Unfortunately, we don't get to pick on this one. If you send emails to your list (which you should), you need to read this.

In short, Yahoo and Gmail are changing up how they protect inboxes. Since those two tools probably make up at least 30% of your email subscribers...you need to pay attention if you want your emails to keep arriving in inboxes as of Feb 1st. 

It's not going to be fun, but yes, this does impact you. If you've already authenticated your domain, then skip on down to step two in this article.

BY FEB 1ST, YOU NEED TO....

STEP ONE: Deal with the authentication 💩. 

This is going to feel overwhelming, and sucky but I have recommendations on three people you can hire to handle it for you (or go with our special offer for annual upgrades before Feb 1st). I also have links to several blog posts that break it all down for you if you want to try doing it yourself, and a link to a workshop you can get access to inside Kronda's $7/mth membership. Scroll down for those.

So authentication is step one. You need to authenticate the domain you're sending emails from. And I'm not the person to guide you on that, because I'm ALSO having someone handle it for our email list. Because DNS records make me 🤮.

But I can absolutely help you with the second piece of these changes, and I'm going to.

STEP TWO: Make sure people don't mark your emails as spam moving forward.

As part of the new Yahoo and Gmail rules, they're getting A LOT more picky about spam complaint %s. 

So in addition to getting people on your list, and reading your emails...you need to make sure you hit on the below three things to reduce spam complaints when you send emails.

1. Sending emails that people signed up for - i.e. not changing your send frequency dramatically, making it clear who you are and why they should care, not changing your topics dramatically, etc.

2. Making it very obvious how people can unsubscribe - your email tool will make the link clear at the footer of your emails, but you can take that a step further in certain instances, like when you want to change your frequency or topic.

3. Sending emails to people who WANT to receive your emails - there are a lot of opinions on list cleaning, and how to manage your list to ensure this...I have my own opinions, and my recommendation is always that you go with what feels right to YOU. But you need to know your choices first.

I LOVE email, and teaching people how to send better emails. So I'm committed to supporting MemberVault account owners feel more clear, and confident, about sending high engagement emails that don't get marked as spam. 💪 Here's what that support will look like.

OPTION #1 - I'll be creating a new Up Your Email Game Action Lab and inside, I'll walk you thru a checklist so that you can make sure you're confidently sending the best possible emails. I'll also include how to check your emails to see if they are being marked as spam.

All paid MemberVault account owners, as of Feb 12th, will get this for free when it unlocks on Feb 12th (I'm working on the content now). After that, the Up Your Email Game Action Lab will be $9, or you can get it for free inside our All Access membership. So if you're not on a paid plan, now is a great time to upgrade to get those extra insights, for free.

OPTION #2 - Join us in the All Access membership, where for the months of Feb and March, I'll be helping people get crystal clear on their email strategy, and actually sending (and improving) those emails. You can get your specific questions answered via our private podcast, and I'll be providing email specific audits (to get feedback from me, and others in the community) and focused "try this" sprints (to actually ensure you do the thing).

The All Access membership is included with our Unlimited plan, which you can get for $99/mth or $990/year. Cancel or downgrade at any time. Learn more here.

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Why should you trust me about emails? 🤷‍♀️ For one, I send A LOT of them, that people routinely reply to with a "I LOVE YOUR EMAILS!", and have an average open rate of 71% with click rates on average hovering at 7%. Both are way above industry average. Now, true email geeks will snub their noses at me that I'm mentioning open and click rates. I'll share why inside the Up Your Email Game Action Lab, and inside the All Access membership.

Here's what people have to say about my emails:

OK, so now you know how to get MY support with your emails to help you avoid Yahoo/Gmail spam jail. Either thru upgrading to a paid MemberVault plan before Feb 12th and getting the Up Your Email Game Action Lab for free, coming on Feb 12th, ORRRR if you want my eyes and personalized support for your business and emails, you can get that thru the All Access membership.

I'll also continue to keep up to date on all of these email changes, and I'll share what I learn inside the Action Lab, our membership and our Collaborative community. Basically everywhere I can share, I'll do it.

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NOW. Let's talk about Step #1 again, because that needs to happen first. The authentication 💩. 

1️⃣ If you want to hire someone to do it for you? Here are 3 people you can hire. 

Airial Re'nal - use code MVEMAIL to take $100 off. 

Corrine Towett Laight

Jessica Dornieden

2️⃣ If you want to watch a low cost workshop. I recommend Kronda's $7/mth membership where she has a workshop replay on how to deal with authenticating your domain. You can cancel anytime, so you're getting the workshop for $7. Join the membership here, and you can also check out Kronda's non-techie-friendly skit about what's happening here.

3️⃣ If you want to read a free blog post and try to do it yourself.

What the Email Authentication is Going On?

The steps I have taken for the email authentication changes in February 2024

What You Need to Know About Gmail and Yahoo’s Big Changes for Newsletters

Whew. That's A LOT. I know. But we'll get thru it together. 💪

And if you need to test your authentication, this site has been recommended - 

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Get your domain authenticated first by either hiring someone (see our special offer below), watching Kronda's workshop or going thru those blog posts BEFORE Feb 1st, and then after that...we get to do the FUN part. Sending high engagement emails that convert, and don't get you sent to spam jail.

Bare minimum - make sure you're inside our Collaborative community, and sign up for a free trial if you don't have a MemberVault account yet. I'll be sending emails reminding you about your options. 🙂

Here's to staying up on business changes together!