Cold email glossary

What is DMARC?

A DNS policy record that tells receivers what to do when SPF and DKIM fail or don't align with the From domain, and asks them to send you reports.

DMARC lives at _dmarc.yourdomain.com, for example v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com. It passes when SPF or DKIM passes and the passing domain matches the From domain (alignment). The policy — none, quarantine or reject — tells receivers how to treat failures. Start at none to collect reports, move up once all legitimate mail aligns.

Gmail requires DMARC from senders of 5,000+ messages a day; it is advisable at any volume because it also stops others spoofing your domain.

Related terms

GlossarySPFSender Policy Framework — a DNS TXT record listing which servers may send email for your domain.GlossaryDKIMDomainKeys Identified Mail — a cryptographic signature your mail provider adds to each message, verified against a public key published in your DNS.GlossaryEmail authenticationThe set of DNS-based checks — SPF, DKIM and DMARC — that let a receiving server verify an email really came from the domain it claims.

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