Can missing RUA records in DMARC cause email blocking by Microsoft domains?
Summary
What email marketers say7Marketer opinions
Email marketer from EasyDMARC mentions that although a missing RUA tag won't directly block your messages. It deprives the domain owner of essential insights into how their emails are being handled, potential abuses of their domain, and deliverability issues. Such insights are important for maintaining a healthy sending reputation and preventing future blocking issues.
Email marketer from EmailGeek Forum user SecureMyMail states that while not including an RUA tag won't immediately block messages, it will impact the visibility into your email authentication practices and whether emails are being treated properly. This visibility is essential in ensuring that deliverability is maintained and spoofing attempts are identified.
Email marketer from StackExchange user Jan responds that excluding RUA will mean you receive no reports, so you will not know if your messages have been blocked. They explain the use of RUA helps a sender understand the behaviour and reception of their emails.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that RUA records (aggregate reports) are critical for understanding DMARC performance. While missing RUA records won't directly cause blocking, they prevent you from identifying deliverability issues and authentication failures that could lead to blocking in the long run. Without these reports, it's harder to diagnose and fix problems affecting your email reputation.
Email marketer from URIports explains DMARC Aggregate reports inform senders of the sources sending email using their domain and the authentication results. The reports do not directly prevent blocks from happening. Without this feedback loop, fixing deliverability issues and domain spoofing becomes harder.
Email marketer from LinkedIn user EmailAuth explains that the RUA tag is crucial to receiving feedback on authentication issues and cannot block emails directly, but by giving essential feedback on how your domain's email is performing, you are better prepared to react to attacks or misconfigurations.
Email marketer from Reddit user u/DMARC_Help responds that a missing RUA record doesn't inherently cause blocking, but it blinds you to potential problems. They share you are missing critical insights into how your emails are performing, potential domain abuse, and deliverability issues.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise shares insights that while DMARC RUA reporting isn't mandatory, omitting it hinders your ability to get a hold of how receivers assess your email streams, manage third-party senders, and detect unapproved sending. She advises that deliverability issues may arise if the policy cannot be monitored.
Expert from Email Geeks responds that not having RUA is not likely to block emails but means they could be missing out on valuable data about why the mail is bouncing though.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that the issue is more likely related to the overall address acquisition process and how MS is perceiving the mail. Microsoft prefers alignment between the 5321.from, d= and 5322.from. She believes that once that’s done, the policy doesn't matter that much.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that not having the RUA tag can lead to undelivered reports, therefore not knowing if the messages have been delivered. This may indirectly impact deliverability, but the missing tag doesn't directly lead to blocking.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft Docs explains that while a DMARC failure (which could be due to missing RUA records hindering proper reporting and analysis) doesn't directly cause immediate blocking, it prevents legitimate email from being incorrectly identified as spam. The receiving mail server will act on the DMARC policy (reject, quarantine, none) published by the sending domain.
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that DMARC uses feedback loops (via RUA) to provide data about email authentication results. While the absence of RUA records doesn't directly block emails, it prevents the recipient server from sending reports back to the sender. This limits the sender's ability to monitor and improve their email authentication setup, and detect/prevent spoofing which could indirectly lead to deliverability issues.
Documentation from DMARC.org clarifies that the RUA tag in DMARC records specifies where aggregate reports should be sent. Omitting this tag doesn't directly cause blocking but it will stop valuable feedback loops. This feedback is important for identifying authentication issues and potential spoofing, thus impacting long-term deliverability.