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DMARC monitoring

DMARC monitoring shows you who is sending email claiming to be from your domain, how much of it authenticates correctly, and whether it is safe to tighten your DMARC policy. Unauthenticated mail gets junked by mailbox providers, so authentication is one of the biggest levers on inbox placement. You find it under Domains → DMARC in the top navigation.

One-time DNS setup​

Collecting reports requires a single TXT record on your domain:

  1. Open Domains → DMARC and pick your brand with the brand switcher.
  2. The setup card shows the exact record for your brand: a TXT record named _dmarc. followed by your sending domain, with a value starting v=DMARC1; p=none; that contains a unique reporting address at dmarc.smartmailing.io. Use the copy buttons to grab the Name and Value.
  3. Add (or update) the record at your DNS provider.

Mail providers such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft send daily aggregate reports to the address embedded in the record's rua= tag. That is how SmartMailing collects your data. Reports start arriving within 24 hours and the dashboard updates automatically, so check back the next day. Once data flows, the setup card changes to "DMARC is collecting reports".

The p=none policy is monitoring-only: it does not change how any of your mail is treated. It just asks providers to start reporting.

What the dashboard shows​

Use the window selector at the top to view the Last 7 days, Last 30 days, or Last 90 days.

Authentication totals​

Four cards summarize the window: total reported volume, the DKIM pass rate, the SPF pass rate, and the DMARC aligned rate (mail that passed both and aligned with your domain). High rates show green; rates low enough to be a problem show red.

Policy recommendation​

Based on your pass rates and how long you have been collecting data, the dashboard recommends a next step for your DMARC policy:

  • Stay at p=none (monitoring): not enough data yet. Keep collecting reports for at least 14 days first.
  • Stay at p=none, fix auth first: your pass rate is below 85 percent. Tightening the policy now would silently drop legitimate mail, so investigate the failing senders first.
  • Move to p=quarantine: 95 percent or better with at least 14 days of data. Quarantine routes authentication failures to spam, a safe middle ground.
  • Move to p=reject (strict): 99 percent or better with at least 30 days of data. Reject blocks unauthenticated mail entirely, the strongest protection against spoofing.

Top senders​

A table of every source sending mail on behalf of your domain, with its volume and DMARC, DKIM, and SPF pass rates. Recognized email service providers are marked as legitimate with a green check. Unknown senders are flagged with a warning icon: they may be a tool you forgot about, or they may indicate spoofing, so investigate them.

Recent reports​

The raw feed of the latest aggregate reports: which organization sent each report (Google, Microsoft, and so on), the period it covers, the volume, its DMARC pass rate, and when it was received.

tip

Your DMARC aligned rate also feeds your sender health score on the Reports page, so setting up monitoring improves visibility there too. See Sender health and reputation.