Take a look at the screenshot of my email inbox below. Is there an email that stands out?

Example of a brand logo in Gmail inbox

The Spotify email stands out because it’s the only one that displays an image of its logo.

This is made possible by BIMI – so In this article, I’ll explain you everything you need to know about BIMI and provide a step-by-step guide on how to implement it for your emails.

What is BIMI?

Brand Indicators for Message Identification, or BIMI, is an email standard introduced in 2019 that enables the use of brand logos within supported email clients. Simply put, it’s the little image that appears alongside the email. Some email providers also add a famous blue checkmark next to your sender name.

BIMI Benefits

We all know that having a brand logo show up looks nice and enhances brand recognition, but there are two additional reasons why you might want to consider implementing BIMI:

  • Increased Visibility: BIMI is not widely utilized yet, which enhances its standout effect in your customer’s inbox.

  • Ensured Trust and Authenticity: For a logo and a blue checkmark to be displayed, the email must pass DMARC authentication, reducing the risk of spammers impersonating your brand.

What about data? I don’t have any from personal experience, but research from Entrust claims:

  • +21% increase in open rates
  • +18% increase in brand recall
  • +34% increase in average purchase

BIMI Support in Email Clients

BIMI is currently supported by these major email clients:

These three clients already cover more than 50% of the email market share, making a strong case for adopting BIMI. There are also some lesser-known or country-specific email clients that support BIMI, including Cloudmark, Fastmail, La Poste, Onet, and Zone.

However, Outlook and other email clients by Microsoft do not support BIMI yet.

How is BIMI Displayed Across Different Email Providers

There are two places where the brand logo can be displayed

  1. By the subject line in the inbox
  2. By the sender name when the email is opened
Logo in inbox view vs. Logo in open message view

Image: Logo in inbox view vs. Logo in open message view

Views also differ in webmail and mobile apps, so we ended up with different support across email providers. Simply put, the logo is always displayed when the message is opened, but not all email providers display it in the inbox view.

LocationEmail ProviderWebmailMobile App
InboxGmail
Apple Mail
Yahoo
Open
Message
Gmail
Apple Mail
Yahoo

How to Set up BIMI

If you think BIMI is something you’d like to have, here’s a step-by-step implementation guide. The required time is around 1-2 hours, excluding the optional step 3.

Step 1: Authenticate Your Emails

Authenticate all of your organization’s emails with SPF, DKIM and DMARC – ensure all are aligned.

  • DMARC policy must be at enforcement:
    • Reject on the organizational domain and subdomain policy (i.e. p=reject; sp=reject)
    • or Quarantine at 100 percent (i.e. p=quarantine; pct=100)
  • Note: “None” policies or ‘pct’ less than 100 percent are not accepted

Common pitfall: most brands will have SPF, DKIM and DMARC set already, but almost no brands will have DMARC enforced to a needed level. It is not recommended to change quarantine to 100 percent at once. Please read this DMARC rollout guide before making changes to your DMARC policy.

Step 2: Produce SVG of Your Logo

BIMI requires a specific SVG profile, and its creation process is quite unique. I recommend following this step-by-step guide on how to create a BIMI SVG file.

A few general design tips to follow:

  • Images will be displayed in a circle, square, or “squircle,” so account for the appropriate amount of space around your logo.
  • Horizontal graphics, like words, may appear smaller than a simple logo or avatar of your brand.
  • Use a solid color background (rather than transparent) to ensure the logo displays as expected in both light and dark modes.
  • The image needs to be hosted on a server with a secure (HTTPS) connection.
Spotify BIMI Logo

Image: Spotify BIMI logo in circle, square and squircle

Step 3: Acquire a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC)

Acquire a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) for your logo. VMCs exist to validate ownership of an organisation’s logo; the certificates are based on registered trademarks of the logo/image.

This step is not mandatory as Yahoo and AOL will display the logo without the certificate, but Gmail and Apple mail won’t. If you own a VMC Gmail will also display a blue checkmark alongside your sender name.

Blue checkmark in Gmail

Image: Blue checkmark in Gmail

Unfortunately, VMCs are not free and are being issued by only two accepted authorities at this time:

Step 4: Publish a DNS BIMI Record

Publish a BIMI record for your domain in DNS

.default._bimi.[domain] IN TXT “v=BIMI1; l=[SVG URL]; a=[PEM URL];

[domain] and [SVG URL] are mandatory, while [PEM URL] can be left blank if you’re not crazy enough to pay for a VMC.

Step 5: Validate Your BIMI Record

Validate your BIMI record with the BIMI Inspector by typing in your domain.

The Conclusion

BIMI sucks – at least in the way it’s currently adopted and implemented. Free implementation works only for Yahoo and AOL which don’t have a big market share. Big players like Google and Apple require a VMC which will cost you at least $1,300 a year, making it unaffordable for smaller businesses. To prove that, I did research among top brands in the world and not a single one owns a VMC.

In the end, we can all agree that having a brand logo be displayed with your emails is a great thing, but BIMI as it currently works is not the way to do it. I recommend implementing a free version to set your logo for Yahoo, and come back for next week’s article where I’m going to share a few hacks on how to set a sender image in Gmail and other providers for free.

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