Want to know if your emails are being received in the way they were intended? You can have tools in place to prevent address spoofing and domain abuse. Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is one such method for domain owners to claim responsibility for the messages sent on behalf of their organization, receive reports on email authentication activity, validate that their organization´s email policy is being implemented correctly, and request flagrant abuses of their organization´s domains. It is based on existing standards like SPF and DKIM, designed to be easily deployed and managed, and effortless to implement.
However, there are various myths revolving around the protocol that makes domain owners take a step back from adopting it. Today, we are here to debunk 4 of the most common DMARC myths that have been troubling users since the dawn of time. Let’s get started!
1. Implementing DMARC is an arduous task
If you were to ask 50 random people if DMARC is hard to implement, I can almost guarantee you will get about 47 saying it is. Online forums are chocked full of questions asking how to implement DMARC and whether DMARC is hard to configure. This, however, is simply a myth because configuring DMARC is as easy as creating a single TXT record in your DNS.
It’s probably one of the most common misconceptions surrounding the protocol as many don’t know how easy it is to publish a DMARC record. All you have to do is create a record using our free DMARC record generator, copy the values to the clipboard and ask your domain administrator to publish them on your public-facing DNS.
2. DMARC will affect the deliverability of marketing emails
A perfect implementation of DMARC will ensure your marketing mail isn’t accidentally quarantined or rejected, provided you set up authentication protocols for your third-party vendors as well. This is an important step towards ensuring your legitimate emails never get flagged as spam.
This is a very common DMARC myth, however, rest assured that if you configure the protocol correctly and authorize your email vendors, you have nothing to worry about!
3. DMARC at none will protect your domain against spoofing
Those who are thoroughly familiar with the concept of DMARC, simply configure the protocol with their policy at none, expecting it to adequately protect their domain against attacks. Unfortunately, this is a myth and that is not how DMARC works.
How can you ensure that your domain is sufficiently protected from spoofing? To do so, you need a DMARC policy mode or quarantine or higher. The safest way to shift to an enforced policy is to rely on our DMARC analyzer, allowing you to configure the protocol correctly while improving your deliverability rate under the supervision of a team of DMARC experts.
4. SPF record errors cannot be resolved easily
One of the hot topics that are often discussed on online IT forums and chat rooms is that an SPF record is very hard to maintain. The issue of exceeding 10 DNS lookups for SPF and exceeding the 255 character record length breaks the protocol and leads to authentication failure. This can be detrimental if ignored. However, bypassing these hindrances isn’t all that difficult. All you need to do is implement our dynamic SPF flattening tool that offers a one-click optimized record instantly for your domain! If you have an existing SPF record, check it now using our free SPF checker.
We hope we helped you confute 4 of the most recurrent DMARC myths that have left domain owners in the dark for years. Now you can go ahead and confidently deploy DMARC today!
