How to Check If Your DMARC Record Is Set Up Properly

DMARC misconfiguration can silently undermine your email deliverability. Here is how to verify your DMARC setup. Step 1: Check your DMARC record Use the free DMARC Checker at Warm Inboxes. Enter your domain and it will display your current DMARC record, policy, and any issues. Step 2: Verify the policy is appropriate If you are just starting out, your policy should be p=none (monitoring mode). If you have confirmed SPF and DKIM are passing consistently, p=quarantine or p=reject provides stronger protection. Step 3: Verify the reporting address Your DMARC record should include an rua (aggregate reporting) address: rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com("mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com"). This address receives regular reports about your email authentication results. Review these reports periodically to catch issues. Step 4: Verify alignment DMARC reports show whether your emails are passing alignment checks. If alignment is failing, it means the domain in SPF or DKIM does not match the From address of your emails. This is typically caused by sending through a third-party service that uses its own domain for SPF.

Common DMARC issues

No DMARC record: The most common issue. Many senders set up SPF and DKIM but forget DMARC entirely. Record on the wrong subdomain: DMARC must be a TXT record at _dmarc.yourdomain.com. A record at dmarc.yourdomain.com (missing the underscore) will not be found. Policy too aggressive too soon: Setting p=reject before confirming SPF and DKIM pass for all your legitimate email can block your own messages.

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