Why are legitimate GSuite emails going to spam after a domain impersonation attempt and DMARC policy change?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Email marketer from SendGrid suggests improving sender reputation by ensuring consistent sending patterns, authenticating your email with SPF and DKIM, and gradually increasing email volume. Also monitor your sending reputation with tools like Google Postmaster Tools to identify and resolve any issues that may be affecting deliverability.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests making one change at a time, waiting for it to propagate in DNS, then testing to see if it makes a difference, and repeating if necessary. He also recommends clearly describing the problem first, not just the backstory.
Email marketer from StackExchange suggests that the domain's reputation might have been negatively impacted due to the impersonation attempt. After implementing stricter DMARC policies, legitimate emails are now affected. They recommend closely monitoring feedback loops, checking blacklists, and ensuring consistent email authentication to rebuild the domain's reputation.
Email marketer from GlockApps mentions that DMARC reports are crucial to identifying authentication failures and potential deliverability issues. Post-impersonation, use DMARC reporting to monitor which email sources are failing authentication checks and adjust SPF/DKIM records accordingly.
Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog shares that after a domain impersonation attempt, it’s crucial to review and tighten email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). A sudden policy change (like moving to 'p=quarantine' or 'p=reject') can cause emails that previously landed in the inbox to be filtered as spam. It's essential to monitor deliverability rates and adjust DMARC policies gradually.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that emails may end up in spam due to a damaged sender reputation after a domain impersonation. Also, incorrect authentication settings (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) could flag legitimate emails as suspicious. They also suggest warming up your IP address and closely monitoring bounce rates and user engagement metrics.
Email marketer from EmailToolTester highlights that DNS propagation delays can cause intermittent email deliverability issues after making changes to SPF, DKIM, or DMARC records. Allow sufficient time (up to 48 hours) for DNS changes to fully propagate across the internet before troubleshooting deliverability problems.
Email marketer from Reddit mentions that a sudden change in DMARC policy (e.g., from 'none' to 'quarantine' or 'reject') can cause legitimate GSuite emails to be marked as spam, especially if DKIM is not properly configured for all sending sources. They suggest verifying DKIM setup for GSuite and ensuring consistent authentication across all sending servers.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that creating highly engaging content, avoiding spam trigger words, and providing clear opt-out options can help improve sender reputation and ensure that legitimate emails reach the inbox. Monitor user engagement metrics (opens, clicks, replies) to identify any issues affecting deliverability.
Email marketer from SparkPost suggests warming up IP addresses to improve sender reputation and avoid emails landing in the spam folder. Gradual IP warm-up helps build a positive sending history. This can be especially important if the domain has been used for impersonation or spamming activity.
What the experts say7Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that since all the forged mail came from Google, there might be a negative Google/domain reputation that needs time to be fixed now that DKIM is correctly signing emails.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that because a significant change was made to the domain's authentication records, the machines need time to process the changes.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that the user needs DKIM setup properly on the Google account.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that the filters need time to see that things have changed and for the DKIM signature to establish a reputation, especially after recent DNS changes.
Expert from Word to the Wise responds that rapidly changing authentication configurations can negatively impact delivery. After an impersonation attempt and a DMARC policy shift, give receivers time to adjust their filters. Suddenly blocking emails can lead to filtering problems. It also advises you check your allow lists.
Expert from Email Geeks says it will be hard to diagnose the problem without seeing the domain and headers. Recommends waiting a week or two and checking again to see if things improve.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that common DMARC deployment problems can arise from forgetting to authorize all legitimate mail streams. Post-impersonation, tightening DMARC without properly configuring SPF/DKIM for all legitimate sources (including GSuite) can lead to deliverability issues.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that implementing DMARC can initially cause some legitimate emails to be marked as spam, especially if the SPF and DKIM records are not correctly configured or if the policy is too strict (e.g., 'p=reject'). It also suggests checking DMARC reports to identify legitimate sources that are failing authentication.
Documentation from RFC covers the standards for DKIM, which provides an email authentication mechanism. Post-impersonation, GSuite emails failing authentication may indicate a DKIM misconfiguration or missing DKIM signature for those emails. Ensure that DKIM signing is properly configured for all GSuite outgoing emails.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) is essential to ensure that legitimate emails are not marked as spam. After a domain impersonation attempt and DMARC policy change, it's crucial to verify that all email sources are properly authenticated and that the DMARC policy is not overly strict, which can cause legitimate emails to be quarantined or rejected.
Documentation from RFC details that SPF is used to prevent sender address forgery. If legitimate emails are failing SPF checks after a DMARC policy change, it indicates that the SPF records are not properly configured to include all authorized sending sources. Review and update the SPF records to include all legitimate sending IP addresses and domains.
Documentation from dmarc.org explains that setting a DMARC policy to quarantine can cause legitimate emails to land in the spam folder if those emails fail DMARC checks (SPF and DKIM). This often happens when some email sources are not properly authenticated. Review your DMARC aggregate reports to see which sources are failing authentication and adjust your SPF and DKIM records accordingly.