What is BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification)

What is BIMI?

Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) is an emerging protocol that works alongside DKIM, SPF, and DMARC to signal to email clients that the email is actually from you by displaying the brand's logo alongside the email in the inboxes of recipients. Although not a form of email authentication in itself, it gives recipients further confidence that an email is genuinely from the claimed brand.
In a world where email scams and phishing attacks are becoming more common, it's crucial to establish trust with subscribers, and BIMI was developed precisely for this purpose. By preventing fraudulent emails and displaying your brand's logo, BIMI can increase brand recognition, visibility, and trust.

How does BIMI work?

BIMI, similar to other email authentication standards, is essentially a text file that conforms to a specific format and is hosted on the sender's servers, allowing it to be accessed by email service providers to verify the authenticity of the sender. When mailbox providers receive an email, they must use DMARC to validate the message before it can be delivered. After authenticating the message, the mailbox provider searches the Domain Name System (DNS) for the domain's BIMI record. Brands with valid BIMI records will see their verified logo display alongside their email in recipient inboxes once verified.

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That’s not all, though. BIMI requires brand logos to have the SVG Tiny Portable/Secure format. It cannot display JPGs, PNGs, or GIFs. Some email service providers (ESPs), including Gmail, require an additional piece of validation called a Verified Mark Certificate for BIMI implementation (VMC). This is a digital certificate confirming that you have the legal right to use the brand logo for your BIMI record. That means your brand's logo must be a registered trademark.
You can seek the certificate and continue with the BIMI procedure once you have the documentation to confirm that your logo is, in fact, your official logo.
Because your customers are likely to use a variety of email clients, obtaining the VMC is the most secure option.

Know more about VMC

BIMI Compliant email can benefit the whole organization.

A win-win for both Marketing and IT teams.

Benefits for marketers
1. Enhance brand recognition by displaying a company's logo to customers in the email inbox even before the email is opened, replacing default initials.
2. Deliver a more unified, recognizable, and authentic customer experience.
3. Build trust and credibility with customers by displaying a verified logo and authenticating emails, indicating that the brand takes security seriously.
4. Stand out from competitors and differentiate by adopting advanced security measures and brand verification.
5. Increase email visibility, recall, and engagement, with studies showing that BIMI implementation results in up to a 10% increase in engagement rates.

Benefits for IT Team
1. Compliance with DMARC can showcase the highest level of email security practices.
2. DMARC can make it more difficult for bad actors to conduct identity-focused attacks such as phishing and spoofing on customers.
3. DMARC can provide improved visibility and control over messages sent and received by the domain.
4. Gain clear insights into the types and frequency of attacks targeting the domain.
5. Ensure the reliable delivery of legitimate emails without any slipping through the cracks.

Steps for implementing BIMI

1

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
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2

Create a SVG Tiny PS version of your official logo

Square aspect ratio
Solid background color
Center your image (it may appear in a rounded frame)
Keep it under 32 kilobytes

3

Acquire a VMC for your logo

This step is optional but recommended. It requires additional steps and resources in order to implement, but if you want your logo to show up
in Gmail, you’ll need to get your VMC setup

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