Should ESPs force DKIM and DMARC on paid customers, and what are the implications and downsides?

The consensus is mixed on whether ESPs should mandate DKIM and DMARC for paid customers. While email authentication protocols like DKIM, DMARC, and SPF enhance deliverability and security by preventing spoofing and phishing, forcing their implementation presents challenges. Increased onboarding friction and technical complexity are significant concerns, particularly for small businesses and less technical users. DMARC's impact on mailing lists is another key consideration, potentially disrupting functionality. Furthermore, it's also important to acknowledge the costs of the implementation, as well as the businesses that monetise from DMARC.

The question of whether ESPs should force DKIM and DMARC on paid customers elicits varied opinions. While mandating these protocols is generally seen as beneficial for improving email deliverability, enhancing sender reputation, and reducing the risk of spoofing and phishing, it's also recognized that this approach presents potential challenges. These challenges include increasing onboarding friction, particularly for smaller businesses or clients with limited technical expertise. Some suggest offering tiered support, simplified implementation tools, and comprehensive educational resources to mitigate these difficulties. There are also technical challenges involved that could cause delivery problems for transactional and marketing emails if implemented incorrectly. Furthermore, the cost of implementation is increased for users.

Forcing DKIM and DMARC on paid ESP customers presents a complex scenario. While it aligns with current trends and improves an ESP's setup, there are significant implications and downsides to consider. Increased onboarding overhead arises from requiring customers to authenticate their domains. Furthermore, DMARC can negatively impact mailing lists, causing delivery problems, breaking functionality, and creating complexity. DMARC's complexity is a downside, particularly for end-users and those with less technical experience and it also relies on companies who are making money directly off the complexity of it.

DMARC, DKIM, and SPF are key email authentication methods. DMARC uses DKIM and SPF to authenticate, allowing domain owners to specify how recipient servers should handle unauthenticated emails, thus preventing spoofing. DKIM adds digital signatures for verifying sender authenticity and message integrity, while SPF specifies authorized mail servers for a domain. Enforcing these protocols provides comprehensive authentication, but requires careful setup, monitoring, and key management and for high volume sends, DMARC is a necessity.