DMARC quarantine
Your DMARC policy is `p=quarantine`. Unaligned mail is being sent to Junk/Spam folders.
Users don't see your mail in their inbox. They see it in Junk, if they look. Your delivery metrics look fine (no bounces) but open rates will plummet.
What causes it
- Same as DMARC reject: SPF or DKIM alignment is failing somewhere.
- p=quarantine was set as a soft rollout before p=reject, and never got cleaned up.
- A specific sender (one of several) isn't aligned, so some mail quarantines and some doesn't.
How to fix it
Step 1: Use DMARC reports to find the misaligned senders
Add rua=mailto:you@yourdomain.com to your DMARC record. Within 24-48 hours you'll start receiving daily XML reports showing which IPs sent mail that failed alignment.
Step 2: Fix each sender's DKIM alignment
For each misaligned sender, configure DKIM signing on YOUR domain (not the vendor's). Even if SPF alignment is impossible (common for forwarders), DKIM alignment is almost always achievable.
Step 3: Validate
Once reports show consistent alignment, you can either stay at p=quarantine (safer) or escalate to p=reject (stricter). Both are valid final states — quarantine gives users a chance to find false positives in Junk.
Fixed it? Run a fresh test to confirm.
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