Changes Coming to Mass Email Distributions

January 12, 2024

The News: University departments sending bulk emails or newsletters using a third-party or cloud-based service (SalesForce, Constant Contact, etc.) will need to work with IT to comply with new anti-spam requirements by February 1, 2024.

  • Google is requiring the use of Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance, or DMARC for short. 
  • All services that send in excess of 5000 emails a day must be DMARC compliant by February 2024.  

Why it Matters: If your third-party or cloud-based service is not DMARC-compliant, emails you send with them from @alaska.edu email addresses won’t be delivered to recipients and could be flagged as spam.

  • For example, a mass recruitment email campaign sent using Salesforce from “noreply@alaska.edu” would be flagged and not delivered to recipients until your instance of Salesforce is made DMARC compliant.
  • This also applies to any @alaska.edu subdomains or any other UA-owned domain used for mass communication.

Take Action: If you are an account owner or administrator on one of these third-party or cloud-based services, it’s very important you work with IT to implement DMARC. Here’s how:

  • Check to see if your email message is compliant by following the directions below
    • If it is, you’re good to go!
  • If your message is not compliant, please submit a ticket with “DMARC” in the subject line to your Campus Service Desk so we can help onboard your service.
  • Examples of third-party or cloud-based services that need to be DMARC compliant include:
    • Salesforce (Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Salesforce.com)
    • Constant Contact
    • Mailchimp
    • Cision
    • Qualtrics

The Bottom Line: Communication with our audiences is important. We want the people who facilitate those engagements to be prepared and able to seamlessly transition even with these coming changes.

Go Deeper: FAQ - Google Bulk Mail Updates

 

How to check compliance:

  1. Send a test email from your service to your @alaska.edu address.  In Gmail, open the email and click the three dots in the top right:
    Step1
  2. Select Show Original:
    Step 2 screenshot
  3. Check the last box of the header. If this says FAIL, your emails are not properly authenticated.
    Step 1 screenshot

If your email message does not pass DMARC please work with your Campus Service Desk to onboard your messaging service.