Why are ESPs enforcing DMARC policies and what are the implications?
Summary
What email marketers say11Marketer opinions
Email marketer from StackExchange explains that one of the key implications of ESPs enforcing DMARC is enhanced brand protection. By preventing unauthorized use of your domain, DMARC helps maintain customer trust and prevents your brand from being associated with spam or phishing activities.
Email marketer from EmailGeek Forum explains enforcing DMARC is becoming a compliance requirement for many organizations, especially those handling sensitive data. ESPs often push for DMARC adoption to ensure their clients meet industry standards and avoid potential legal issues related to email security.
Email marketer from SendGrid shares that ESPs enforce DMARC policies to provide increased security for their customers. By mandating DMARC, they are helping to protect domains from being spoofed, which in turn maintains the integrity of their email sending platform and the overall email ecosystem.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that DMARC enforcement is important because it directly impacts whether your emails land in the inbox or spam folder. A strong DMARC policy signals to mailbox providers that you are serious about security, leading to better deliverability rates.
Email marketer from TechTarget shares the global push for increased DMARC adoption leads to more secure and trustworthy email communication. Enforcing DMARC helps to reduce phishing attacks and improve overall email security, benefitting both senders and recipients.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that they had only one client in the last 6 months with this sort of set up and it was a source of confusion and annoyance. They can definitely see the justification from the ESP’s point of view, though.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that enforcing DMARC helps improve email deliverability and protects your brand reputation. By implementing a strict DMARC policy, ESPs are essentially ensuring that only legitimate emails from your domain reach the inbox, leading to better engagement and customer trust.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that one implication of DMARC enforcement is the often complex setup required. It involves understanding and configuring SPF and DKIM, as well as interpreting DMARC reports. This complexity can be a barrier for smaller organizations with limited technical expertise.
Marketer from Email Geeks has seen it a few times too and it makes them nervous, though they guess since the ESP is the only service using the subdomain in question, the risks are relatively low, they also mention it drives them crazy to not have the reporting or the control.
Email marketer from LinkedIn shares that one of the challenges with DMARC enforcement is the need for careful configuration and monitoring. If DMARC is not set up correctly, legitimate emails can be blocked, leading to potential loss of revenue or customer communication.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that Subdomains with DMARC enforcement won't really help with BIMI specifically, since it requires enforcement on the TLD, which can often be a little harder to authenticate and get to enforcement if there are multiple services sending from it.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that doing this without client knowledge could lead to a lot of frustration on their end. Also they have seen weird things over the years like trying to use the same subdomain on multiple platforms.
Expert from Spamresource explains that ESPs are increasingly enforcing DMARC policies to protect their sending infrastructure and improve overall deliverability for their clients. DMARC enforcement helps prevent spoofing and phishing attacks, which can damage an ESP's reputation and lead to blacklisting. Additionally, it encourages better email authentication practices among senders.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains implementing DMARC provides long-term advantages, enhancing brand reputation, which increases consumer trust and email marketing effectiveness. This happens by reducing instances of unauthorized use of a domain.
Expert from Email Geeks mentions they've seen a few ESPs doing this and have worked with clients to get records properly setup to send reporting (RUA) to their systems in the past. However, they feel the default of reject without reporting seems reckless.
Expert from Spamresource shares that one implication of DMARC enforcement is that senders must ensure their email authentication (SPF and DKIM) is properly configured. Failure to do so can result in legitimate emails being blocked, leading to deliverability issues and potential business disruptions. Senders need to monitor DMARC reports to identify and address any authentication problems.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that a properly configured DMARC policy gives domain owners control over what happens to unauthenticated email. Enforcing DMARC allows admins to select the actions taken on messages such as quarantine or reject, thereby influencing the email ecosystem's behavior towards unauthorized use of their domain.
Documentation from dmarc.org explains that DMARC allows domain owners to instruct recipient mail servers on how to handle emails that fail authentication checks (SPF and DKIM). Enforcing DMARC policies, particularly setting the policy to 'reject', ensures that unauthorized emails using a domain are blocked, thus preventing phishing and spoofing attacks.
Documentation from RFC7489 (the DMARC standard) details that DMARC provides reporting mechanisms that allow domain owners to gain visibility into who is sending email on their behalf. These reports help identify legitimate sending sources and detect potential abuse, enabling better management of email authentication policies.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that using DMARC helps to prevent spoofing and phishing attacks by allowing domain owners to specify how email recipients should handle messages that fail SPF or DKIM checks. Enforcing this policy helps protect both the sender's reputation and the recipient's security.