Gmail's sender rules are documented, not rumored: Google publishes them on its own help pages, and they apply to every sender that mails Gmail accounts. What they don't tell you is which email marketing software lets you meet them. A feature grid lists templates, automations, sign-up forms and integrations. It says far less about the controls that decide whether your mail reaches the inbox and whether your list stays legal, and it may not say which plan tier carries those controls.
The takeaway up front: before you commit to an email platform, check five controls on the exact plan tier you would buy, in the vendor's own documentation rather than on its sales page:
- Sending from your own authenticated domain.
- A spam-complaint report for each campaign.
- Unsubscribe links and sender details that the platform adds and honors.
- Consent records stored per contact.
- A full exit: contacts, consent fields and the suppression list.
For the shortlist that comes before those checks, this guide points to Eric Salo Reviews, which publishes short, first-person reviews of online tools, software, courses and services, email marketing software among them.
Sponsored: Eric Salo Reviews sponsored this guide. It names no email platform, and every sender rule below is attributed to the mailbox provider or the law that sets it.
What Gmail sender requirements and spam laws expect of you
The rules your mail is judged by are set by mailbox providers and by law, not by the software. Confirmed, and in Google's own words: its Email sender guidelines for Gmail state, in their requirements for all senders, "Starting February 1, 2024, all email senders who send email to Gmail accounts must meet the requirements in this section." Put plainly: every sender needs SPF or DKIM and a reported spam rate under 0.3%, and bulk senders (over 5,000 messages a day) need DMARC as well.
The law adds its own layer, and which law applies depends on where your subscribers are. Australia's Spam Act 2003 is a clear example, because it spells out three things a platform can help with or get in the way of: it requires consent, accurate sender details and a working unsubscribe facility in commercial emails. If you mail people in the US, Australia or anywhere else, ask counsel which laws apply to your list. This is general information, not legal advice.
Mailbox-provider rules are platform policy like any other: they live on the provider's own pages, and the provider can revise them. Read them there, not in a recap of a recap; our guide to staying current in digital marketing sets out the source hierarchy and how to tell a confirmed change from a reported one.
None of this is a template or an automation: each requirement leans on a control your plan either includes or doesn't, and if it's missing, the fix is an upgrade or another move.
Five sender-rule checks for any email platform
Each check: what to look for, the tier to check, the trade-off.
1. Sending from your own authenticated domain
Look for: the plan lets you send from an address on your business's own domain, with SPF and DKIM set up for that domain. Gmail asks every sender for one of the two, and for both plus DMARC above 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts. For those bulk senders, Google also asks that the domain in your From line be aligned with the SPF or DKIM domain, which needs authentication set up for your own domain.
So ask one question: does the plan I would buy support authenticating my own domain, or only the platform's shared sending domain?
The DNS setup itself follows the platform's own guide; this check is only whether the plan allows it.
Tier to check: the plan you would pay for, not the trial and not the top tier the feature page describes.
Trade-off: an entry or free tier is cheaper, and it may send only from a shared domain. Don't assume either way; find the line in the plan comparison, or ask support and get the answer in writing.
2. A spam-complaint report for each campaign
Look for: the number of people who marked a campaign as spam, shown per campaign rather than only as an account total.
Gmail's 0.3% line refers to spam rates reported in Postmaster Tools, Google's own reporting, not to your platform's figures. So ask two things: does the plan show complaints per campaign, and does the platform's help explain where its complaint numbers come from? A per-campaign view tells you which send to stop repeating. An account-wide total only tells you something went wrong.
Tier to check: reporting can differ between tiers, so confirm that per-campaign complaint figures are on yours.
Trade-off: a simpler plan may report opens and clicks only. That is enough to judge content, not to know where you stand with Gmail.
3. Unsubscribe and sender details the platform handles
Email unsubscribe rules come from two directions. For bulk senders, Google's guidelines add: "Marketing messages and subscribed messages must support one-click unsubscribe, and include a clearly visible unsubscribe link in the message body." And the Spam Act example above requires a working unsubscribe facility and accurate sender details in commercial emails.
Look for:
- An unsubscribe link the platform adds to every marketing email, which a template edit can't remove.
- Support for one-click unsubscribe, as Google asks of bulk senders.
- Unsubscribes processed by the platform, with no export-and-delete step for you.
- An unsubscribe that stops every list and automation, not only the list the email came from. Ask about this one directly.
- A required sender-details field that puts your business name and contact details in the footer of each campaign.
Tier to check: confirm that the footer and one-click support on the cheapest tier match what the feature page shows for the top one.
Trade-off: a locked footer limits your design. That limit is the point.
4. Email consent records stored per contact
Look for: each contact record shows when and where the person opted in, such as the form, the page and the date, and those fields come out in an export.
Consent is a legal requirement in the Spam Act example, and the record is what you show if someone asks how you got their address. A platform that keeps a sign-up date but not a source leaves half the answer missing.
Tier to check: the plan you would buy, and how imported contacts are marked. Ask whether an imported contact keeps a field for its original opt-in date and source.
Trade-off: a confirmation step (double opt-in) gives a cleaner record, but some people never click the confirmation link, so the list grows more slowly.
5. A full exit, suppression list included
Look for: an export of contacts with their custom fields, the consent fields from check 4, and the suppression list (everyone who unsubscribed, bounced or complained).
If you move without the suppression list, the new platform has no record that those people left, and your first campaign mails them again. The migration then undoes the unsubscribes that check 3 was meant to honor.
Tier to check: an export may be limited on a free tier. Run a real export during the trial, before your list is large.
Trade-off: none worth accepting; insist on a readable export with named columns.
The checklist: copy it once per platform
Fill one copy per shortlisted platform, from the vendor's documentation for the plan you would buy. A "no" or a blank is the answer to chase before you sign.
| Check | What the plan must show | Where to confirm it | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Own authenticated domain | SPF and DKIM for your domain on this tier; DMARC above 5,000 a day to Gmail | Plan comparison, domain setup guide | Shared sending domain only, on the tier you priced |
| 2. Spam-complaint report | Complaints per campaign | Reporting help page, a trial campaign | Account-wide total only |
| 3. Unsubscribe and sender details | Platform-added unsubscribe link, one-click support, all-lists unsubscribe, required sender-details field | Compliance or footer help page | An unsubscribe block a template can remove |
| 4. Consent records | Opt-in date and source per contact, exportable | Contact record, import guide | No source on imported contacts |
| 5. Full exit | Contacts, consent fields and suppression list in a readable export | Export help page, a trial export | Suppression list not exportable |
Illustrative example: a four-person online shop compares two platforms whose feature grids look the same. On the plan it priced, the first platform sends only from a shared domain. The second allows the shop's own domain, but its export help page doesn't mention the suppression list. The shop asks the second platform's support about it, gets the answer in writing and decides on that, not on templates.
The checklist is the email-specific version of the martech evaluation method we recommend for any tool: write the criteria before the demo, pilot against them, and price the tier that passes all five checks, not the entry tier.
Building the shortlist: where email marketing software reviews fit
The checks take time, so run them on two or three platforms, not ten.
Eric Salo Reviews publishes short, first-person reviews that say what a product is, what stands out and who it suits, with a link to the product. Its founder and primary author is Eric Salo. Its email coverage takes in email marketing software, one platform with a free plan among them, all-in-one funnel builders that include email, and email marketing courses; an overview sits on its email marketing software reviews page.
The reason to use it here is the part of an email platform review that says who the product suits. Hold that line against the way you send, and drop any platform whose stated fit is a different kind of sender, such as a course seller's funnel when you run a weekly shop newsletter. Its reviews are aimed at people building an online business, such as bloggers, creators, affiliate marketers and small online sellers; if you run a local service business or an in-house marketing team, read each fit line with that difference in mind. Then take the two or three left to their own documentation and run the five checks. If a platform you're weighing isn't covered, readers can suggest tools for future coverage through its contact form.
The trade-off is that some of its links are affiliate links: it may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. A review is a guide to fit. Plan tiers, sending rules and export options are the vendor's to state, so confirm them on the vendor's pages, the same source-first habit you would apply to any platform claim.
If nobody on your team owns email and the domain setup behind check 1, assign that job before the move, not after it.
FAQ
Can I import an old list into a new email platform?
Under the Spam Act example, only the contacts whose consent you can show: commercial emails need consent there, and moving a list to a new platform doesn't create consent that wasn't there. Read the new platform's own import terms before you upload, because they set what it accepts. General information, not legal advice.
What do I need to export before I leave a platform?
Three things: the contacts with their custom fields, the consent records (when and where each person opted in), and the suppression list of everyone who unsubscribed, bounced or complained. Import the suppression list into the new platform before the first send, so nobody who left is mailed again.
Does Eric Salo Reviews benefit if I buy an email platform through its links?
It can, because some of its links are affiliate links: it may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That is why the plan-tier and export answers in the checklist come from the vendor, not from the review.
What is the risk of choosing on the feature grid alone?
The missing control shows up after the move: mail that can only go out from a shared domain, unsubscribes you process by hand, or an export without the suppression list. Each can be fixed by upgrading or moving again, at a higher cost than a check before the move.
What to do next
Shortlist two or three platforms from the first-person reviews of email software on EricSaloReviews.click, dropping any whose stated fit is a different kind of sender. Then copy the checklist once per platform and fill it from each vendor's documentation for the plan tier you would buy.