How do DMARC quarantine and reject policies affect sender reputation and email delivery?
Summary
What email marketers say13Marketer opinions
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests that a policy of quarantine has the potential to break email less than reject. Recommends a cautious journey from none to quarantine to reject, but skipping quarantine is acceptable in some cases. Quarantine provides security and buys time to resolve authentication issues.
Email marketer from StackOverflow explains that a 'quarantine' policy in DMARC means emails that fail authentication checks are typically sent to the spam folder. This still allows recipients to access the email, but marks it as potentially suspicious.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that DMARC policies, particularly reject, can negatively impact email delivery if legitimate emails are incorrectly identified as fraudulent. Implementing DMARC correctly is crucial to avoid blocking wanted emails.
Email marketer from dmarcian responds that incorrect implementation of a DMARC reject policy can lead to legitimate emails being blocked, which can damage sender reputation. Monitoring DMARC reports is essential to identify and correct any issues.
Email marketer from SparkPost responds that monitoring DMARC reports is essential. Analyzing these reports helps identify and resolve authentication issues that could negatively affect delivery when a quarantine or reject policy is enforced. Continuous monitoring is key.
Email marketer from Quora explains that a reject policy can help enhance a sender's reputation by signaling to mail providers that the sender is serious about security and has measures in place to prevent spoofing. This can improve deliverability over time.
Email marketer from Postmark shares that DMARC's quarantine and reject policies directly influence deliverability. A reject policy ensures that unauthenticated emails are blocked, protecting recipients but potentially losing legitimate emails if misconfigured. A quarantine policy provides a softer approach, allowing scrutiny before delivery.
Email marketer from Email on Acid shares that implementing a DMARC reject policy helps protect a sender's domain from spoofing. A strong policy can improve deliverability by signaling to ISPs that the sender takes security seriously. However, care must be taken to avoid false positives.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that setting a DMARC policy to reject without properly configuring SPF and DKIM can lead to all your emails being blocked. It is important to first monitor reports with a 'none' policy, then quarantine, and finally reject.
Email marketer from EasyDMARC emphasizes the impact of a DMARC reject policy in protecting a sender's brand and reputation. It prevents malicious actors from spoofing the domain. Recommends to implement this policy to block fraudulent email activity.
Marketer from Email Geeks warns that with a quarantine policy, bounces won't occur if legitimate mail fails DMARC, so DMARC reports should be monitored. Reject policies will cause bounces, making failures more noticeable.
Email marketer from EmailGeeks Forum recommends a gradual rollout of DMARC policies, starting with 'none', then 'quarantine', and finally 'reject'. Monitoring reports at each stage is vital to minimize disruption and ensure legitimate emails aren't blocked.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that sender reputation and DMARC should be considered separately, and DMARC is a policy mechanism, not a spam filter. One should proceed with quarantine, noting that the DMARC policy is only a suggestion to receivers.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks shares that receivers may decide to accept messages that fail and have a reject policy. Also notes that valid mail can be lost due to DMARC failures, even from paying customers.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that a message placed in the junk folder as a result of DMARC policy is not the same as a spam report harming reputation. DMARC policy impacts non-authenticated or failed-to-authenticate emails. Legitimate emails in spam due to DMARC means authentication needs fixing before enforcement.
Expert from Word to the Wise, in a panel discussion, advises starting with a 'none' policy to monitor DMARC reports, then gradually move to 'quarantine' and 'reject' policies. Monitoring is key to avoiding the unintended blocking of legitimate emails.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that misconfigured DMARC policies, particularly 'reject', can cause deliverability problems. She recommends careful planning and testing to avoid blocking legitimate email, also emphasises that DMARC is only one piece of the deliverability puzzle.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that with a DMARC policy of quarantine, messages that fail DMARC checks are marked as spam. With a policy of reject, messages that fail DMARC checks are rejected by the receiving mail server, preventing them from reaching the recipient's inbox or spam folder.
Documentation from AuthSMTP describes that if your email is DMARC 'rejected' then it should not reach the recipient, it is either dropped or bounced. If it is 'quarantined' it is treated as suspicious and often sent to the recipient's junk folder.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that DMARC helps receiving mail systems decide what to do with messages from your domain that fail SPF or DKIM checks. A 'reject' policy instructs the receiver to refuse the message, while 'quarantine' usually means placing the message in the recipient's junk folder.
Documentation from RFC 7489 specifies that the 'quarantine' policy asks the receiver to treat messages that fail DMARC checks as suspicious. The 'reject' policy tells the receiver to refuse the message. The chosen policy affects how mail is handled and the likelihood of delivery.