New DMARC rules could see retailer emails not being delivered

New research from email security provider EasyDMARC finds that 25 percent of e-commerce retailers expect to see a notable drop in email deliverability following Yahoo and Google's email authentication policy changes.

Both Google's sender guidelines and Yahoo's sender requirements and recommendations have stated that failure to comply with the new sending standards could negatively impact email delivery. For e-commerce providers that rely on email as a marketing and customer communications channel, these measures could negatively impact customer engagement and sales.

Of those retailers that do have DMARC, 39 percent have DMARC without any active policy, meaning they can receive reports about their email traffic without any impact on the delivery of messages. 25 percent have a policy where if an email fails checks, instead of delivering it to the recipient's inbox, the email is quarantined in a separate area (i.e. spam or junk folder). This policy allows for extra protection while limiting the risk of false positives.

Only 35 percent have the strongest form of DMARC protection. This policy refuses to accept emails that don't pass verification checks and blocks unauthorized emails so they can't reach recipients, ensuring maximum enforcement.

Gerasim Hovhannisyan, EasyDMARC CEO and co-founder says:

Many people view DMARC and email authentication measures through the lens of security, seeing them primarily as tools to guard against malicious actors. However, while it is an effective way of fending off phishing and spoofing, the stakes extend far beyond security alone for retailers.

Adopting these measures is crucial for staying competitive, safeguarding revenue, and maintaining vital customer connections. It's not just about protection; it's about ensuring uninterrupted engagement and preserving the trust that fuels relationships and revenue.

Email remains one of the most popular and successful marketing strategies for retail organizations, with four billion daily email users and an ROI of up to $42 for every $1 spent. To discover how retailers are protecting this valuable revenue driver in light of the new guidelines, EasyDMARC reviewed the DMARC policies of the top 1,000 global online stores.

You can find out more about the changes on the EasyDMARC blog.

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