Resolved: How to Fix Email Rejected per DMARC Policy

Email authentication helps organizations protect their domains, recipients, and brand reputation from fraudulent messages. However, configuration problems can sometimes cause legitimate emails to fail authentication and be rejected by receiving mail servers.

The “Email rejected per DMARC policy” error generally means that the message did not meet the recipient’s DMARC authentication requirements. This may happen because of a missing DKIM signature, an invalid SPF record, domain alignment problems, or incorrectly configured DNS records.

Key Takeaways

• The “Email rejected per DMARC policy” error means that a message failed the recipient’s DMARC requirements.
• Missing DKIM authentication and incorrect SPF records are among the most common causes.
• The domain in the visible “From” address must align with the domain authenticated through SPF or DKIM.
• Email aliases and third-party sending platforms must be properly included in your authentication setup.
• DMARKOFF can help you monitor DMARC authentication results and identify configuration problems that cause legitimate messages to be rejected.

Organizations have more assurance in the validity of email messages because of the introduction of the DMARC email authentication protocol, which reduces the danger of fraudulent or spoofed emails.

The error might arise for a variety of reasons, including:

• Invalid SPF records
• Missing DKIM authentication
• Incorrectly configured DNS records
• SPF or DKIM domain alignment failures

We are going to examine the causes of the error in the following sections, giving you a full understanding of the possible scenarios and how to fix them.

Email Rejected per DMARC Policy: Examining the Root Causes

 
If your email messages are rejected per DMARC policy, check the list of possible causes and solutions below.

Cause 1: DKIM Authentication Is Not Implemented.

 
The domain from which you are sending emails must have a functioning DKIM record in place for DMARC validation to be effective and for emails to be delivered to recipients.

DKIM acts as the email’s digital signature, helping confirm that the message is legitimate and has not been modified during transmission. A valid DKIM signature can also allow the message to pass DMARC when the DKIM signing domain aligns with the domain shown in the visible “From” address.

How to Fix It

Configure DKIM authentication as follows.

1. Create DKIM Keys.

Generate a public and private key pair. The private key will be used by your sending server to sign email messages, while the public key will be used by receiving servers to validate those signatures.

You can use a DKIM generator tool to create the keys quickly.

2. Publish the Public Key in DNS.

Add a TXT record to the DNS settings for your domain. The record will contain the public key generated in the previous step.

As a result, the recipient’s mail server can retrieve the public key and use it to authenticate your messages.

A DKIM record may look similar to this:

selector._domainkey.domain.com IN TXT "v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=[public key]"

The exact selector name and record value will depend on your email service provider.

3. Enable DKIM Signing.

Enable DKIM signing on your email server or through your email service provider. This ensures that every outgoing email contains a unique digital DKIM signature.

When in doubt, contact your email service provider or consult its documentation for the correct setup instructions.

Cause 2: Email Aliases Are Not Allowed by the SPF Policy.

 
Another possible cause of the “Email rejected per DMARC policy” error is that the domain’s SPF policy does not authorize the system used to send messages from an email alias.

An email alias is an additional email address linked to the sender’s primary email account. If an email is sent using an alias but the actual sending service is not included in the domain’s SPF record, the receiving server may reject the message.

It is important to note that SPF validates the sending server rather than the alias itself. Therefore, the SPF record must authorize every legitimate platform or server that sends email on behalf of the domain.

How to Fix It

You can add the required sending source to your domain’s SPF record. However, it is crucial to ensure that the record is configured correctly.

1. Obtain the Correct SPF Value.

First, obtain the proper SPF mechanism for the email service used to send messages from the alias.

This information can usually be found in the provider’s official documentation.

Below are recommendations for several well-known providers.

Email Rejected per DMARC Policy for Google.com

For Google Workspace or Gmail sending services, the SPF mechanism commonly provided by Google is:

include:_spf.google.com

A basic SPF record authorizing Google may look like this:

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

Do not publish this as a separate SPF record if your domain already has one. Instead, add the required include mechanism to the existing record.

Email Rejected per DMARC Policy for Yahoo.com

According to Yahoo’s general authentication requirements, you may see this notice for reasons such as:

• You are using an unauthenticated server to send emails.
• Your domain’s SPF record does not authorize the server or service used to send the message.
• Your DKIM or DMARC configuration is missing or invalid.
• The authenticated domain does not align with the address shown in the “From” field.

If Yahoo is being used as part of your sending setup, follow its official instructions for SMTP authentication and domain verification.

Email Rejected per DMARC Policy for AOL.com

The error may occur if the server used to send the message is not authorized by the SPF record for your domain.

Because AOL and Yahoo share parts of their email infrastructure, similar authentication and sender requirements may apply.

Email Rejected per DMARC Policy for Zoho

You must configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for Zoho by following the provider’s specific setup instructions.

To avoid email rejections, Zoho generally recommends sending emails through Zoho Mail, Zoho Webmail, or an authenticated SMTP server rather than through an unauthorized external system.

2. Open Your DNS Management Panel.

Visit the DNS management panel provided by your domain registrar or DNS hosting company.

Find the TXT record beginning with:

v=spf1

This is your domain’s SPF record.

There should generally be only one SPF TXT record for a domain. Publishing several separate SPF records may result in an SPF permanent error and cause authentication to fail.

3. Update the Existing SPF Record.

Add the required sending service to your existing SPF record.

For example:

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com include:example-provider.com ~all

Replace the example values with the mechanisms provided by the email platforms you actually use.

By making the necessary changes to your DNS records, you can troubleshoot this error and authorize legitimate sending services.

Cause 3: The Sender’s Email Domain Does Not Match the “From” Domain

 
Sometimes, the “Email rejected per DMARC policy” error may be caused by a discrepancy between the authenticated sender domain and the domain shown in the message’s visible “From” header field.

DMARC does not simply check whether SPF or DKIM passes. It also checks whether at least one authenticated domain aligns with the domain used in the visible “From” address.

For example, a message may be displayed as coming from:

yourusername@domain.com

However, if the message is actually authenticated through an unrelated Gmail address or another non-aligned domain, it may fail DMARC.

How to Fix It

Configure the “From” section to use an address associated with your company’s authenticated domain.

You should also verify that:

• The SPF-authenticated Return-Path domain aligns with the “From” domain, or
• The DKIM signing domain aligns with the “From” domain.

If you use Gmail or Google Workspace, make sure that the custom address has been properly added and verified in the account’s “Send mail as” settings. You should also ensure that messages are sent through an authorized SMTP server.

To inspect the authentication results of a message in Gmail:

1. Open the message in Gmail.
2. Click the three-dot “More” menu.
3. Select Show original.
4. Review the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC results.
5. Check whether the authenticated domains align with the domain in the “From” address.

After correcting the sending and alignment configuration, emails sent through Gmail should no longer be rejected because of the DMARC policy.

Example:

$headers = 'From: yourusername@domain.com' . "\r\n" .

       'Reply-To: yourusername@gmail.com' . "\r\n" .

       'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();

In this example, you must ensure that domain.com is properly authenticated and that the system sending the PHP message is authorized through SPF or signs the message with an aligned DKIM domain.

Additional Tips

 
Before an email reaches the recipient’s inbox, it travels through several servers and networks. During this process, the email may be examined for authentication failures, suspicious content, poor sender reputation, and other potential spam indicators.

A receiving server may flag an email as spam and send it to the recipient’s spam folder if it detects enough negative signals.

Spam filters evaluate emails to determine their likelihood of being unwanted or malicious by using complex algorithms and filtering rules. The sender’s reputation, email content, subject line, links, attachments, authentication results, and recipient engagement may all be examined.

The following essential actions can help prevent your emails from being classified as spam:

1. Create a High-Quality Email List.

Make sure recipients have voluntarily subscribed to receive your emails. Avoid purchased lists, scraped addresses, and contacts who have not provided permission.

A permission-based list helps preserve a positive relationship between the sender and recipients.

2. Control Email Sending.

Avoid sending an unusually large number of emails at once, particularly from a new domain or IP address.

Instead, gradually increase sending volume and distribute messages at a consistent rate so that recipients have an opportunity to interact with them.

3. Include a Prominent Unsubscribe Link.

Make it simple for recipients to opt out by including a visible unsubscribe link in every marketing message.

This can reduce spam complaints and help protect your sender reputation.

4. Monitor Authentication Results.

Review DMARC aggregate reports to identify unauthorized senders, SPF failures, DKIM problems, and domain alignment issues.

A DMARC monitoring platform such as DMARKOFF can make it easier to interpret authentication data and detect problems before they cause widespread delivery failures.
 
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Closing Thoughts

 
Implementing DMARC correctly is essential for ensuring that legitimate emails are authenticated and delivered successfully.

Resolving an “Email rejected per DMARC policy” error typically involves checking for a valid DKIM record, updating the SPF record when necessary, authorizing every legitimate sending platform, and making sure the visible “From” domain is properly aligned.

It is also important to remember that simply publishing a DMARC record is not enough. Organizations should regularly monitor authentication reports and update their configurations whenever they introduce a new email service, server, or third-party sender.

Take control of your email security and simplify SPF, DKIM, and DMARC management with DMARKOFF. It will help you reduce domain spoofing, prevent phishing abuse, and improve the reliability of legitimate email communications while giving you everything you need to get started with stronger email protection today.
 
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