How do I comply with Gmail and Yahoo DMARC Requirements?

What is DMARC and why are Gmail and Yahoo implementing strict DMARC requirements?

DMARC (Domain- based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance-whew!) is an email security measure that protects your domain from being abused by phishing attempts and scammers and also aims to give you better insight into your email deliverability. DMARC gives the recipient the confidence needed to determine yes, this email was indeed sent by the actual sender, not someone pretending to be the sender. 

All emails sent to a Gmail or Yahoo email address by a bulk sender (that's you if you are using our Numero Comms Center Add-On) will need to establish a DMARC policy. Gmail and Yahoo want to protect their users by making their emails more safe and secure. They required all bulk senders to be fully compliant with their DMARC policies ( Gmail Requirements, Yahoo Requirements) in February 2024. 

What is Numero doing to be compliant with DMARC? 

We're taking care of most of the DMARC compliance needs for you, including enabling one-click unsubscribe, making sure your sending server IP addresses have valid reverse DNS records, using a TLS connection for transmitting email, and RFC 5322 compliance, PTR records, rDNS. Check mark- done- that feels good! 

What do I need to do to be compliant with DMARC? 

As a Numero Comms Center client, we'll provide you with a unique DMARC DNS record that contains a DMARC policy within it. You'll need to set up your DMARC record and policy along with your DKIM and Bounce records in your domain's DNS settings. 

Aside from that, you'll need to focus on maintaining a spam complaint rate of under .3%. Recommended actions to do so from Gmail and Yahoo include only sending messages to those recipients who have opted in, honoring the stated frequency (monthly, weekly, daily, etc) at which that user opted in (be clear when you ask for an email address how frequently you are going to email them), and not buying email lists. If you need help with tracking your email reputation Gmail even offers a free postmater tool to help evaluate your performance.