What Is BIMI and How It Benefits Your Email Marketing

BIMI

Many marketers strive to gain more visibility and security for their email campaigns. No solution can guarantee subscribers will open your message, but BIMI can help make your email stand out. So what exactly is BIMI?

 

What is BIMI

BIMI stands for Brand Indicators for Message Identification and has been around for a while, but the topic started just recently getting more attention. BIMI is an emerging standard that helps you to get your logo displayed easier alongside your authenticated email messages. It helps to gain the trust of your subscribers and potential customers.

It is a way to verify information about your brand and give subscribers a signal that it is really you who is sending the email. BIMI relies on DMARC authentication, and displaying your logo alongside the email, which provides more credibility and trust. BIMI’s primary focus is high-level security and can also prevent phishing and spoofing.

 

 

Requirements

 

1. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Implementing BIMI authentication might sound intimidating and complicated. However, it is easier than it sounds. Brand logos are displayed only for authenticated messages. Therefore, you need to set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC.

 

2. A DMARC policy of ‘quarantine’ or ‘reject’

DMARC policy of ‘quarantine’ and ‘reject’ is required by BIMI and needs to be applied to all the emails you send.

 

How to Implement BIMI

Once the requirements are met, proceed to implement BIMI authentication in the following steps:

 

1. Upload your brand logo

The first step is to upload your brand logo. The logo must be in SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics format) to be accessible to a server from anywhere. BIMI does not accept JPEG or PNG formats. Upload the SVG file to your public server.

 

• The format must be SVG Tiny Portable/Secure (SVG Tiny PS), a version of SVG.
• The baseProfile attribute must be tiny-ps.
• The version attribute must be 1.2.
• Include a <title> element that reflects your organization name. There are no strict requirements for the title value.
• Don’t include external links or references other than to the specified XML namespaces.
• Don’t include scripts, animations, or other interactive elements.
• Don’t include x= or y= attributes in the <svg> root element.

(Source – Google)

 

2. Create a BIMI record and add it in the DNS

First we have to understand what a BIMI record is. A BIMI record works on the same principle as a DMARC or DKIM record. You need to have an individual BIMI record for specific domains for them to have an attributable logo.

How to create a BIMI record: Create a TXT record and include it in the DNS for the sending domain.

There are two mandatory tags in a BIMI record: v and 1. The v tag specifies BIMI version; it must be BIMI1, and the one tag specifies the logo URL. It should look like this:

 

“default._bimi TXT “v=BIMI1; l=https://yourdomain.com/image.svg;”

 

3. Get a VMC Certificate for Gmail

Gmail has specific requirements, and it is necessary to have a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC). Before receiving VMC, you need to have a registered trademarked logo. The logo must exist on a domain with SSL Certificate.

 

Benefits of using BIMI

 

Build trust and stronger brand

Email marketers should consider using BIMI for several reasons.

Successful email marketing campaigns are built on trust. That is where BIMI comes to place. It helps your subscribers identify your brand, increase your authenticity and improve the deliverability of your emails. You can also enhance engagement rate, click-through rate and contribute to a better sender reputation overall.

 

Be in control of your logo

While several clients are trying to put a logo into the inbox, there was no option to control which image will be collected and displayed. However, with BIMI you are in full and direct control over your logo. That allows you to improve your subscriber’s experience and gain more trust.

 

Prevent Frauds

With a logo alongside your message, subscribers and easily recognize a trustworthy email from dangerous phishing. It helps you not only gain visibility but also prevent fraud.

Learn how Circulator can help its clients get started, set up BIMI and assist with all necessary steps to improve your email marketing campaigns. Contact us here.