A lot of folks are talking about what Google is doing on February 1. Some are calling it spampocalypse. We’ve got an entire page of resources, but if you are just learning about it, here’s where anyone who owns an email system should start.

1. Figure out your current Domain Reputation and spam rate.  Run here automatically, or follow manual instructions from Google.  You need to be at beneath .3% user reported spam rate.
2. Monitor your status.

“But wait!,” you say. “There are so many other factors Google told me to care about!”  

Those factors AFFECT the reputation level and spam rate. Those are the first things to fix if you aren’t good. If you are good, you have time.  Start with understanding.

Or “I’m not even sending that many emails to gmail addresses, so it doesn’t affect us!”  Are you sure?  Is your company a bulk sender?  Your marketing team might not have a big database of gmails, but I bet your recruiting team does.  And your events team.  Start with understanding.

This whole spam policy update creates a cross functional trust fall. One or two missteps can impact everyone. One bad actor can take everyone down.

If your job is email, or email is a driver of your team’s success, and Google shuts off your company’s delivery to gmail inboxes, your job is going to be a massive PITA.

The worst part? There is very little upside to this work, but a terrible downside, a lot like the work Security does. The goal is to meet the requirements as quickly and efficiently as possible. The least efficient way to handle this is to let every team do it themselves.

So I recommend one team take point, communicate efficiently, and automate it.

If you are ready to take point, I’ve put together some content for you.