How to implement ARC (Authenticated Received Chain) and how does it affect DMARC failures from forwarding?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Mailjet responds that ARC improves deliverability by allowing forwarded emails to pass authentication checks, which helps maintain sender reputation and ensures emails reach the inbox.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that ARC implementation is mostly on the receiver/forwarder side. As a sender, ensuring proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configuration is crucial; ARC will then help preserve these authentication results during forwarding.
Email marketer from Validity explains that ARC helps improve email deliverability by allowing receiving mail servers to validate the authenticity of forwarded messages that might otherwise fail DMARC checks.
Email marketer from SparkPost shares that ARC is generally implemented by ESPs and forwarding services, and senders typically don't need to implement it directly unless they are running such a service.
Email marketer from EasyDMARC explains that ARC allows an intermediate mail server, such as a forwarding service or mailing list, to sign the email with its own DKIM signature, attesting to the fact that it received the message from a trusted source and forwarded it without modification.
Email marketer from SendGrid shares that if a message passes SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, then each subsequent server in the chain can sign the message with its own ARC signature, creating a chain of trust. Servers that receive the message later can then verify the ARC signatures to determine whether the message was tampered with during transit.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that if you are a forwarder or mailing list, you should implement ARC. However, if you are sending emails directly without any hops, there's nothing for you to seal.
Email marketer from Email Deliverability Forum emphasizes that ARC can help maintain sender reputation by ensuring that forwarded emails don't negatively impact your domain's DMARC record. This is particularly important for newsletters and automated forwards.
Email marketer from StackOverflow explains that ARC configuration primarily involves setting up ARC-sealing on mail servers. For most senders using ESPs, this is handled automatically by the provider.
Email marketer from Reddit notes that ARC allows forwarded emails to carry authentication information that can override DMARC failures. This means legitimate emails are more likely to be delivered even after being forwarded.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that ARC is implemented by the intermediary mail server and is not something that the sender sets up.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that even with DMARC failures with auto-forwarders, you may be receiving policy overrides in the reports. Senders do not need to take action regarding DMARC failures due to forwarding.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource explains that ARC is usually deployed by forwarding services to validate emails and mitigate DMARC failures. As a sender, ensuring proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is important and ARC is implemented on the receiver side.
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that ARC allows legitimate forwarded messages to maintain authentication information, which prevents DMARC failures and helps improve overall deliverability. This is particularly useful when subscribers forward emails.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that the forwarding system has to add ARC and DMARC is designed to break forwarding and is working as intended.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Authorea states that ARC works by having each participating mail server add an ARC-Authentication-Results header to the email, which includes the server's DKIM signature and the results of its authentication checks.
Documentation from DMARC.org explains that DMARC is designed to make forwarding difficult but ARC can mitigate DMARC failures from legitimate forwarding by preserving authentication results.
Documentation from IETF details the ARC protocol and explains the technical implementation of ARC headers and their validation process for email servers.
Documentation from RFC Editor provides an overview of ARC, explaining that it's a mechanism to preserve authentication results across email forwarding hops, enabling better DMARC evaluation.