BIMI: Brand Indicators for Message Identification

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BIMI - Brand Indicators for Message Identification - is an email standard that lets your company logo appear next to the messages you send, right in the recipient's inbox list. It's an emerging standard with heavyweight backing (Google, Yahoo, Apple) and it rewards senders who already authenticate their mail properly.

Who does this: Marketing and Brand own the logo and the decision. IT publishes the DNS record. Security/IT typically coordinates the Verified Mark Certificate purchase with the vendor
Time needed: A few weeks overall. DMARC must already be at p=quarantine or p=reject, the logo needs to be prepared in SVG Tiny 1.2, and a Verified Mark Certificate (for Gmail and Apple) takes days to issue
Why this matters: Brand recognition is the number one reason someone opens an email. Early studies show BIMI can lift open rates by around 10%. Beyond the bump, BIMI is a trust signal: only senders who pass DMARC and have a clean reputation get their logo displayed, so every time your logo appears, your brand is being vouched for by the inbox provider.
In plain English: You've spent years getting people to recognise your logo. BIMI puts that logo next to every email you send, which makes recipients more likely to open you and less likely to confuse you with a phishing message.
Quick Reference (Advanced Users) - Click to Expand
  • Prerequisite: DMARC at p=quarantine or p=reject, plus a healthy sending reputation.
  • Logo: SVG Tiny 1.2, exact square, centred, no tagline, hosted on HTTPS.
  • Record: TXT on each sending domain. Value v=BIMI1; l=https://images.example.com/logo.svg; a=cert.
  • For Gmail and Apple: a Verified Mark Certificate from Digicert or Entrust is required for the a= value.

How does BIMI help?

More brand awareness

With BIMI implemented, your logo is broadcast to subscribers every time your messages arrive in their inboxes. That creates deeper connections with recipients, improves brand awareness, and keeps your company top of mind.

More trust

Because the logo is published through your own domain's DNS, only your sending domain can display it. Add in the DMARC requirement and the reputation requirement, and BIMI helps recipients distinguish real brand messages from phishing, spoofing, and fraudulent emails.

More email engagement

Brand recognition and trust together drive higher open rates, click rates, and conversions. Early studies suggest BIMI can lift open rates by around 10%. See the BIMI Group's year-in-review analysis for data.

How does BIMI work?

When a message arrives at a recipient's mail provider, that provider checks the sender's domain for a BIMI DNS record. If it finds one, the record points to a URL where the sender's logo is hosted, and the provider displays that logo next to the message in the inbox. For the logo to show, the sender must also pass DMARC authentication and have a good reputation with the recipient ISP.

Who supports BIMI?

Google, Yahoo, and Apple are the most prominent supporters. The full list of participating providers grows regularly - see the current list from BIMI Group.

What you need to deploy BIMI with Act-On

  • Your logo must be in SVG format, specifically the SVG Tiny 1.2 profile.
  • It must be an exact square.
  • It should be centred and legible without any tagline text.
  • The SVG file must be hosted on an SSL-secured (HTTPS) site. You'll reference this URL in the BIMI DNS record.

BIMI DNS record

  • Record type: TXT.
  • You publish a separate BIMI record for each From domain where you want your logo to display.
  • Value format: v=BIMI1; l=https://images.example.com/image/logo.svg; a=cert.
    • v - Version. Always BIMI1. Required.
    • l - Location. The HTTPS URL of your hosted logo. Required.
    • a - Authority. The certificate that validates your logo ownership. Currently optional, but required if you want your logo to appear in Gmail or Apple Mail.

Domain authentication (required)

  • Your sending domain must have a DMARC policy that passes, set to p=quarantine or p=reject.
Important: Moving to a strict DMARC policy can cause legitimate messages to bounce if your authentication isn't fully in order. Evaluate carefully and test before flipping the policy. Start at p=none with reporting, read the reports, fix sources, then tighten.

Good sending reputation

  • The reputation bar for BIMI isn't precisely defined, but the practical meaning is: if your mail is already landing in Spam, your logo won't display even with a valid BIMI record. Fix deliverability first, add BIMI second.

Verified Mark Certificate - required for Gmail and Apple

  • A VMC is a certificate that proves the logo in your DNS record is actually owned by your domain. It protects against copycats publishing your logo on a look-alike domain.
  • There are currently two vendors selling VMCs:
  • The vendor provides the value that goes in the a= portion of the BIMI record.
  • While a= can technically remain blank today, expect this to become a universal requirement so that copycat logos can't be used to trick recipients.

Should you implement BIMI?

Serious consideration is worth it for most brand-conscious senders:

  • Brand recognition is the top driver of email opens. BIMI puts your logo in front of every recipient, on every send.
  • BIMI has the backing of the largest inbox providers, so it's on track to become a widely used standard.
  • The DMARC prerequisite (quarantine or reject) is itself a meaningful hygiene win, and it's usually the longest lead time. If BIMI is on the roadmap, start the DMARC tightening work now.

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