Compliance of the Emails Sent from Marketing Cloud Engagement related to Gmail's Email Sender Guidelines

In summary, when using Sender Authentication Package (SAP) or a Private Domain (PD) as the From domain, Salesforce ensures compliance with Gmail's guidelines for technical configurations within its control. However, certain requirements, such as maintaining a low spam rate, are inherently dependent on the content of the emails being sent. Therefore, it is important for customers to also actively utilize tools like Google's Postmaster Tools to continuously monitor their content quality, sending cadence, and recipient list hygiene, and to adhere to general email deliverability best practices. 

When a Sender Authentication Package (SAP) or a Private Domain (PD) is used as the From domain, it is generally considered that these requirements will be met.

In the event that sender domain authentication does not pass, or if bounces are observed due to violations of the guidelines, please obtain one or two samples of the received email source (obtained from the "Show original" menu or equivalent) and contact support with these samples along with details of the confirmed situation.

Alternatively, if reception is denied and you are unable to obtain the received email, please provide the confirmed bounce message (specifically, the SMTPBounceReason from the _bounce data view), as well as samples of the JobID and Subscriber Key, when you contact support.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Are sender domain authentications such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC satisfied?
A: Yes, if your Sender Authentication Package (SAP) or Private Domain (PD) setup is complete, these authentications will typically pass as long as the SAP/PD domain is used as the From address. For self-hosted domains (where you manage your own DNS), this is contingent upon the TXT records provided by Salesforce being correctly implemented in your DNS.

Q: Are the reverse DNS records (PTR records) for the sending IP addresses used by Marketing Cloud Engagement emails configured appropriately?
A: Yes, they are configured.

Q: Do emails sent from Marketing Cloud Engagement to Gmail support TLS encryption?
A: Yes, they do.

Q: Is it possible to add a TXT record for utilizing Google Postmaster Tools (when the domain is delegated to Salesforce)?
A: Yes, it is possible. Please contact support with the specific TXT record that needs to be configured.

Q: Does email content created in Marketing Cloud Engagement comply with the RFC 5322 format?
A: While Marketing Cloud Engagement aims to ensure compliance, there might be instances where HTML content created by users may not strictly adhere to RFC 5322.

Q: Is it acceptable to consider compliance measures unnecessary if the email sending volume to Google is less than 5,000 messages per day?
A: Regardless of sending volume, these are important practices for email delivery. Therefore, adherence is recommended.

Q: Can DMARC policies be changed, or can rua/ruf tags be added (when the domain is delegated to Salesforce)?
A: Yes, if you are using a domain for which you have selected the delegation option, changes to the DMARC record are possible. Please contact the support team with the desired DMARC record value. Note that consultations regarding DMARC record syntax or optimal configuration settings may be outside the scope of Marketing Cloud Engagement support.

Q: How is the List-Unsubscribe header implemented in Marketing Cloud Engagement?
A: When "Commercial" is selected in the Send Classification, the List-Unsubscribe header is automatically included. This header cannot be intentionally removed for Commercial sends.

Q: Can the List-Unsubscribe header be added if the Send Classification is "Transactional"?
A: For emails classified as Transactional, the inclusion of a List-Unsubscribe header (for one-click unsubscribe) is not considered mandatory by Gmail's guidelines. Therefore, if this send classification is genuinely used for transactional purposes (e.g., purchase confirmations, password resets), the absence of this header typically does not cause issues. However, intentionally using the Transactional send classification for commercial emails (promotional or marketing messages) may violate Gmail's sender guidelines. It is important to use send classifications correctly according to the email's purpose.

Q: Gmail's guidelines recommend maintaining a spam complaint rate below 0.10%. What specific measures should Marketing Cloud Engagement users take?
A: To maintain a low spam complaint rate, continuous adherence to general email deliverability best practices is essential. Specific measures include, but are not limited to, the following. Please note that these are examples and are not unique to emails sent from Marketing Cloud; detailed consulting on these general practices may be outside the scope of a standard support case.

• List Hygiene:
  • Regularly remove or manage invalid email addresses (hard bounces) from your lists.
  • Consider and implement strategies for inactive subscribers (those who have not engaged for a long period), such as re-engagement campaigns, re-confirming consent, or unsubscribing them.
  • Ensure a clear opt-in process and send only to subscribers who have given consent.
• Content Quality:
  • Provide relevant content that subscribers find valuable.
  • Avoid misleading subject lines or overly sensational language.
  • Avoid elements that are often flagged by spam filters, such as excessive use of URL shorteners or image-only emails.
• Subscription Management:
  • Make the unsubscribe process easy and clear.
  • Manage and respect subscriber preferences (e.g., receiving frequency, topics of interest).
• Sending Frequency and Volume Optimization:
  • Send emails at a frequency that subscribers expect and find appropriate.

Q: Regarding questions about Google Postmaster Tools itself.
A: Questions related to the setup, troubleshooting, or interpretation of metrics in Google Postmaster Tools pertain to the use of a tool developed and operated by a third party (Google). Please note that we are unable to provide answers to such inquiries through Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement support. For assistance, please refer to the Google Help Center or other available web resources, or contact Google directly.

Q: Does Marketing Cloud Engagement support ARC headers?
A: ARC (Authenticated Received Chain) headers are primarily used to communicate the original authentication status of an email when it is forwarded (e.g., via a mailing list). For emails sent directly from Marketing Cloud Engagement, which are not forwarded in this manner at the point of sending, ARC headers are not added.

Q: Can I check within Marketing Cloud Engagement if a sent email was delivered to the recipient's spam/junk folder?
A: No, Marketing Cloud Engagement does not have a feature to directly confirm if a sent email was routed to a recipient's spam or junk folder. The recipient's email server or email client needs to be checked, and the sender generally cannot ascertain this. We recommend utilizing tools like Google Postmaster Tools to monitor your sending domain's reputation and spam rates.

Q: Can the "Spam Complaints Report" in Marketing Cloud Engagement be used to check the spam complaint rate recommended by Gmail's guidelines?
A: No, the "Spam Complaints Report" in Marketing Cloud Engagement aggregates complaints received through Feedback Loops (FBLs) from various ISPs (users reporting emails as spam). However, Gmail is not part of the standard FBLs that Marketing Cloud Engagement utilizes. Therefore, this report cannot accurately reflect your spam complaint rate with Gmail. For Gmail-specific spam rates, please use Google Postmaster Tools.

Q: Can the "Unsubscribe from mailing list" link, which sometimes appears in the Gmail interface, be controlled from the Marketing Cloud Engagement side?
A: No, the display of this link is a feature of the Gmail client and cannot be directly controlled by Marketing Cloud Engagement. This link is displayed based on the List-Unsubscribe information contained in the email header, but the specific display conditions and logic are determined by Gmail.

Q: Can unsubscribes via the List-Unsubscribe header (e.g., "one-click unsubscribe" in mailers) be clearly distinguished within Marketing Cloud Engagement?
A: Unsubscribe requests via a mailto: protocol in the List-Unsubscribe header are typically processed by Reply Mail Management (RMM), while those using an HTTP POST protocol are processed via a subscription center or a specified URL. While these processing paths differ, standard data views or reports do not provide a dedicated field that directly indicates whether an unsubscribe originated from a mailer's one-click functionality (utilizing the List-Unsubscribe header) Therefore, it can be difficult to distinguish the origin of these unsubscribe actions using standard platform data alone. For further information on this header, please also refer to the following resource:

Tracking Marketing Cloud 'List-Unsubscribe' opt-outs

https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=000386352&type=1