Disclaimer
Groove & Google users won’t be seen as a high volume sender to the 2000 daily email limit. We have set the daily email limit to 1800 for flows, so that you will still have access to send emails directly out of your inbox.
Groove & Microsoft users have a daily limit of 5000 emails. We have set the maximum amount of daily email limit to 4500 for flows, to prevent you from exceeding the maximum total.
We see this only impacting a small subset of users. If you have email aliases where you bulk send (+5000) emails, invitations, or product updates (e.g. marketing, events, etc.), there are steps you can take to ensure deliverability.
Starting February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo will require the following for senders who send 5,000 or more messages a day to Gmail accounts: Authenticate outgoing email, avoid sending unwanted or unsolicited email, and make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe. Learn more about requirements for sending 5,000 or more emails per day.
To adapt to these upcoming changes, it may be necessary for customers to modify their email procedures to ensure recognition as a legitimate sender by Google and Yahoo. We advise all GTM teams to review their policies and collaborate with their IT and Operations teams to ready themselves for these updates. We are committed to working closely with our customers and partners by providing support throughout the entire process. Please feel free to reach out to your account team.
Here are some steps you can take to ensure that you are being seen as a credible sender:
Make sure that your emails are authenticated. All email should be authenticated using DKIM, SPF, and DMARC. You can work with your IT team to ensure that this is set up properly.
Include the ability to unsubscribe to your emails. You are less likely to appear as illegitimate if you simply give the opportunity to opt-out of emails.
Ensure that your senders have a spam rate threshold that they can stay under to avoid service being impacted. Monitor your spam rate here.
Groove has several suggested steps that you can take to ensure that you won’t have your service interrupted and your emails will have reliable deliverability.
At a minimum, we are requesting customers to do the following:
Confirm DNS Health - https://mxtoolbox.com/
Set up Google Postmaster Tools - https://www.gmail.com/postmaster/
Set up Microsoft SNDS - https://sendersupport.olc.protection.outlook.com/snds
Authentication
DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail)
DKIM stands for DomainKeys Identified Mail. It is an email authentication method designed to detect email spoofing and phishing. DKIM allows the person receiving the email to check that it was actually sent by the domain it claims to be from and that it hasn't been modified during transit.
Here's a brief overview of how DKIM works:
Signing the Email: When an email is sent, the sending mail server adds a digital signature to the message header. This signature is generated using a private key associated with the sending domain.
Public Key Retrieval: The public key, which corresponds to the private key used to sign the message, is published in the DNS records of the sending domain. This key is used by the receiving mail server to verify the signature.
Verification: When the email reaches the recipient's mail server, it retrieves the public key from the DNS records of the sender's domain and uses it to verify the digital signature in the email header. If the signature is valid, it indicates that the email is authentic and hasn't been tampered with during transit.
DKIM is one of the techniques used to enhance email security and reduce the likelihood of email fraud. It helps in ensuring that the emails you receive are indeed from the claimed sender and have not been altered during their journey through the internet.
Getting Started Using DKIM
SPF
What is SPF?
Imagine you have a virtual mailbox for your emails, and you want to make sure that only trusted mail carriers can drop off your mail. SPF is like a special list you make and put on your mailbox. This list says, "These are the only mail carriers allowed to deliver mail for me."
When someone sends you an email, the system checks your list to see if the mail carrier (the server) is on it. If it is, great – the email is accepted. If it's not on the list, you can choose what to do, like being more cautious or even saying, "No, thanks."
So, SPF helps prevent sneaky people from pretending to send emails from you when they really aren't. It's like having a bouncer at the door of your email mailbox, making sure only the invited guests (trusted mail carriers) get in.
It is possible to send emails without setting up SPF, but having a SPF record improves trust signals to ISPs so you can increase the likelihood of email deliverability. Once you’ve defined your SPF record, add it at your domain provider.
DMARC
DMARC lets you tell receiving servers what to do with messages from your domain that don’t pass SPF or DKIM. Set up DMARC by publishing a DMARC record for your domain. To pass DMARC authentication, messages must be authenticated by SPF and/or DKIM. The authenticating domain must be the same domain that's in the message From: header. Learn how to add a DMARC record at your domain.
We recommend you set up DMARC reports so you can monitor email sent from your domain, or appears to have been sent from your domain. DMARC reports help you identify senders that may be impersonating your domain. Learn more about DMARC reports.
When you set up DMARC, you can then optionally set up BIMI to add your brand logo to messages sent from your domain. Learn how to add your brand logo with BIMI.
Great, So you have handled authentication. Now what?
Here are some other ways that you can use Groove to ensure that your emails aren’t subject to the bulk send limits that are being imposed.
Here are some simple tips on how to use Groove to ensure your messages are being delivered and not being seen as spam:
Make it easy to unsubscribe by including unsubscribe links
Throttle your flow limits
Stop or set limits to the auto-import of contacts into flows
Scheduled Send or Scatter your sends throughout the day
Create templates with real subjects and email bodies that do not resemble spam
Set up Unsubscribe Links
Setting Up Unsubscribe Links Across a Groove Team
If you want to insert an unsubscribe link into your individual template, you can by using the Merge Field below:
{!Unsubscribe.Click here to unsubscribe.}
Setting Up Unsubscribe Links Across a Groove Team
Groove Admins and Team Leads have the option to set up unsubscribe links for all emails sent from a specific Groove team by default. To do this, you'll first want to access the team via Manage My Teams (Admins can find Teams within "Manage My Org" here). Once you find the team in this page, you'll want to select "Team Settings" and enable "Include Unsubscribe Links in Emails"
Setting Up Unsubscribe Links Across the entire organization
Groove admins also have the option to enable unsubscribe links for all users across their organization! To do this, access your Manage My Org page here, then toggle the below option to enforce the Unsubscribe across all Flows:
Email Throttling
For Gmail users, there is a daily limit of 2,000 emails sent in a 24 hour period; and for Outlook users, the limit is 5,000 emails sent in a 24 hour period. Once you hit that limit, you are locked out of Gmail or Outlook until that email count resets. Additionally, all emails sent through Groove Flow also contribute to this number. Reps sending, scheduling, and auto-sending hundreds of emails per day will potentially block them from sending any emails at all. Without any kind of limits around how many flow emails a user can send each day, they can get into trouble when they hit these sending limits.
With Email Throttle, managers and admins can help their users avoid these issues, by limiting and staggering the volume of emails their users send out through flows!
We have already pre-set the limits for you so you will be prepared for the change.
For G-Suite customers, the Email Throttle Max is 1,800 flow emails per day.
For Microsoft 365 customers, the Email Throttle Max is 4,500 flow emails per day.
You can display the "Email Throttle" column by going to the Settings Cog at the top right and selecting that option.
How to Set an Email Sending Limit
Go to your Users Page in Manage My Org
Select the User/Users you want to set an Email Throttle to
Click on Actions and Scroll down to "Set Email Throttle Max"
Use the arrow keys or type in an Email Max you wish to set!
Flow Import Settings
Flow Import Rules can be used to set parameters around which records cannot be imported into a flow. These parameters can be set at the flow level or at the global level using Salesforce fields.
Enabling the activation queue on a flow can help manage the amount of work that becomes active in a flow in a given time period. This can either be set up to automatically activate on a specific time cadence, or you can have the user activate specific records manually.
Activation settings are only found at the flow level under the "Settings Tab". The queue will be off by default on any existing or new flows created, but can be turned on as needed. (Learn more)
Other Best Practices
Other best practices to work on are enabling and reinforcing these changes at the sales leadership and IC level:
Avoid spam-like email subject lines: keep shorter when possible, avoid misleading subjects, avoid anything in all capital letters, odd characters etc.
Avoid spam-like email bodies: be mindful of the number of links, images, bold type and the amount of formatting in general.
Don't blast many leads/contacts at the same company on the same day. Their server may quickly learn and detect this activity as spam. Groove's import rules functionality can help here as well.
We know that these upcoming changes may have an impact on some organizations. But Clari+Groove has a great plan in place to ensure that our customers will be ready for all the changes and experience little to no service interruptions. We will continue to send updates to help you prepare for February. Please reach out to your customer success team if you have any questions.
What is DMARC, DKIM & SPF - THE EASY DESCRIPTION
Imagine your email is like a VIP party, and you want to make sure only invited guests get in. DMARC is your security plan for the party.
Guest List (SPF and DKIM):
You have a list of approved guests (SPF) who can attend the party. They wear special badges (DKIM) to show they're legit.
Party Rules (DMARC Policies):
DMARC sets clear rules for the party. It says, "If someone isn't on the guest list or doesn't have the right badge, be cautious."
Party Security (Reports):
DMARC also has security guards (reports) keeping an eye on things. They tell you who's trying to crash the party and whether they're following the rules.
So, DMARC is like a party planner and security team for your email. It ensures only the trusted guests (authorized senders) get in, and it keeps you informed about what's happening at the party (your email). It's all about keeping your email world safe and sound.