In the computer world, the times they are a-changin’. Go ahead and watch this video of my favorite folk music group from my early years – Peter, Paul and Mary.

What’s Changing?

While it is true that things change in the computing world every day, this post is about a specific change. I believe it’s a change you’re going to appreciate. Even those of you who hate change!

Beginning in February, Google (Gmail) and Yahoo (Yahoo Mail) are putting very strict requirements in place for bulk email senders (like us here at 4KCC). But, wait, I hear what you’re thinking. “John, I’m not a bulk email sender.” While that might be true, you are going to benefit from these new rules. How? You’ll see fewer fake emails in particular and fewer spam/junk emails in general.

Let’s look at the changes that Google and Yahoo are making.

Bulk Email Senders Will Have To Authenticate Their Email

While I’m not going to explore the full process required for authentication, you need to know it’s going to happen. Bulk mail senders will have to do several things to prove that an email sent from them really is sent from them. This should cut down on those fake emails that look like they are from a company but aren’t real. (You know, Norton’s renewed your subscription for $350; PayPal charged your card for $1,020.00; stuff like that.)

Easy Unsubscription

Bulk email senders will have to give a one-button unsubscribe option. Plus, if and when you do unsubscribe, your email must be removed from their list within two (2) days. This should cut down on complaints I often hear from people – “I unsubscribed from this email list but I keep getting them!”

Ensure You’re Getting Wanted Email

Google and Yahoo are going to put into place a very tight “spam rate threshold.” What does that mean? If a bulk mailer gets too many people marking their emails “spam/junk” they will be shut down. This is important for you to understand. Let me give you an example of how this might negatively affect a valid bulk email sender like us here at 4kcc.com:

Let’s say we send a valid email out but for some reason, when you receive it, it goes to your spam/junk folder. If you don’t check that folder and mark it “Not spam,” many email providers will report back to the company used to send the emails that we are sending spam. That’s a strike against us. If we get too many strikes, our account is frozen and we can no longer send out emails.

Another scenario is if we send something that you aren’t interested in. When that happens, feel free to delete our email. But, please don’t mark it spam/junk. In the past, I have had a few people do that and I had to get them to rescind what they did so I could send emails again. It’s important you only mark emails spam/junk if they really are that. Just delete them if you know it’s coming from a legitimate source but you just aren’t interested in that particular email.

The Times They Are A-Changin’ – Conclusion

Once these changes go into effect, you should see a change in which emails make it to your Inbox. Hopefully, we’ll all receive fewer fake and junk emails! See? Not all change is bad!

For the record, I have other posts about spam/junk email that you might find helpful. Just click or tap HERE.