From February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo will require all senders to have DKIM and DMARC authentication in their emails. It is our recommnendation that all senders of email in Concours Pro, no matter if it is bulk marketing email or one-on-one, set up DKIM and DMARC.
Contents
- What is DMARC?
- What are SPF and DKIM?
- What is a DMARC Record?
- How Does DMARC Work?
- Resolving DMARC Email Failures for Shared Domains
- Setting Up A Dedicated Email Sending Domain
What is DMARC?
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is a protocol that helps protect email domains from unauthorized use. It uses SPF and DKIM to verify email authenticity and allows domain owners to specify how to handle emails that fail verification.
- p=none: Monitor email traffic without taking action.
- p=quarantine: Send unauthenticated emails to spam.
- p=reject: Block unauthenticated emails entirely.
What are SPF and DKIM?
SPF (Sender Policy Framework) helps ensure that an email is sent from an authorised server. It checks if the IP address sending the email is allowed to send emails on behalf of the domain.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature to an email, which verifies that it was not altered during transmission and confirms the sender’s identity.
What is a DMARC Record?
A DMARC record is a TXT entry in DNS, detailing how email servers should handle unauthenticated emails. Key components include:
- v (DMARC Version): Specifies the DMARC version.
- p (Policy): Indicates actions for unauthenticated emails.
- adkim (DKIM Alignment): Defines DKIM alignment mode.
- aspf (SPF Alignment): Specifies SPF alignment mode.
- sp (Sub-domain Policy): Sets policy for sub-domains.
- fo (Forensic Options): Triggers forensic reports.
- ruf (Forensic Reports): Designates where to send reports.
- rua (Aggregate Reports): Sets destination for aggregate reports.
- rf (Report Format): Defines format for reports.
- pct (Percentage): Applies policy to a percentage of emails.
- ri (Reporting Interval): Sets how often reports are sent.
How Does DMARC Work?
DMARC works by verifying SPF or DKIM records and ensuring domain alignment between the “From” domain and these records. Policies are applied based on these checks:
- Relaxed Mode: Allows for subdomains.
- Strict Mode: Requires exact domain match.
- Aggregate and Forensic Reports: Reports sent to specified addresses, detailing pass/fail status and issues.
Resolving DMARC Email Failures for Shared Domains
If you haven’t set up a dedicated email sending domain, then you will be using the Concours Pro default shared sending domain. Emails sent from Concours Pro’s shared domains may encounter DMARC failures if a strict policy like p=reject is set.
To mitigate this, temporarily change your DMARC policy to p=none in your DNS settings. This allows email delivery while troubleshooting.
Setting Up A Dedicated Email Sending Domain
For users of Concours Pro’s LeadConnector email system, we strongly recommend setting up your dedicated email domain. During the setup you will create DNS records for DMARC and SPF authentication, and the public key to use Mailgun’s DKIM records.
