Guide for Launching a Newsletter in 2025

In the digital age, crafting effective email newsletters is crucial for businesses and organisations alike. With major email providers like Gmail and Yahoo now enforcing stricter standards, it's essential to understand the best practices for creating engaging newsletters that not only reach the inbox but also foster genuine interaction.

Firstly, it's important to note that Gmail and Yahoo now expect a one-click unsubscribe option. Failing to provide this may lead to user frustration and potential deliverability issues.

Email authentication is another key aspect. SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) are essential for ensuring credibility. SPF verifies that the mail is coming from an allowed server for your domain, while DKIM stamps your emails with a cryptographic signature linked to your domain, allowing recipients to trust that the contents haven't been tampered with. DMARC ties it all together, telling receiving servers what to do when SPF or DKIM checks fail, and sending you valuable reports about messages that passed or failed.

The subject line and preheader text determine whether a newsletter earns attention or gets buried in the inbox. Inside the email, focus on readability with short paragraphs, headers, and occasional bullet points. Every newsletter needs a clear call-to-action (CTA) to encourage readers to take the next step.

Improvement often comes down to testing various aspects of the newsletter, such as subject lines, layouts, and sending times. Using your own authenticated domain for sending newsletters enhances professionalism and trust. Google Postmaster Tools provides a dashboard view of domain health, helping to catch any red flags early.

It's crucial to shift attention from open rates to actions that show true engagement, such as clicks, conversions, and unsubscribe rates. While open rates may look perfect due to Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, they're often misleading, with up to 75% of reported opens being artificial. Instead, it's better to measure clicks, click-throughs, conversions, and real engagement.

Mailbox providers expect spam complaints to stay extremely low, with the official threshold being 0.3% (three complaints for every 1,000 emails), but smart senders aim for around 0.1% to stay on the safe side. Sending too many emails at once with a brand new or rarely used domain can trigger spam filters; start with a small batch of engaged subscribers and gradually build up over several weeks.

Lastly, a mobile-friendly layout is crucial for newsletters, as most are opened on phones. Starting in 2025, major email providers like Gmail and Yahoo will enforce SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols strictly for email authentication. Many email service providers and organisations, especially in regulated sectors like healthcare and government, require the implementation of these standards to enhance email security and trustworthiness. These standards help prevent spoofing and improve deliverability, though no specific list of providers mandating this by 2025 is detailed in the search results. However, common practice and security guidelines strongly recommend all email providers implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC by this time to comply with tightened security regulations and avoid spam classification.