What is BIMI and how will it improve your email marketing?

Email marketing continues to be a powerful way to connect with customers. However, with the growing threat of phishing scams, it’s essential to build trust with your audience. Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) is an email security standard that can enhance your email marketing efforts. In this blog post, we’ll discuss how BIMI works, its benefits for your campaigns, and the simple steps you can take to implement it effectively.

What is BIMI?

Brand Indicators for Message Identification, or BIMI (pronounced bih-mee), is an email specification that enables email inboxes to display a brand’s logo next to the brand’s authenticated email messages.

BIMI aims to give trusted senders control over how their brand is represented in messaging services. For participating mailbox providers like Yahoo or Gmail, BIMI adopters will have the logo they choose displayed in their recipients’ inboxes.

BIMI serves two important purposes:

• It gives brands control over their visual identity in email clients
• It helps recipients instantly verify legitimate emails from trusted senders

Major email providers including Gmail, Yahoo, and Apple Mail have adopted BIMI, representing a significant shift toward improved email security and brand recognition. Apple’s upcoming adoption is particularly noteworthy, as it signals BIMI’s growing importance in the email ecosystem.

To implement BIMI, email providers require several key elements:

• A brand logo in SVG Portable and Secure format (specific requirements apply)
• DMARC authentication policy set to enforcement level (“quarantine” or “reject”)
• A Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) for certain providers like Gmail and Apple
• Consistent sending reputation and authentication practices

How does BIMI improve my emails?

BIMI is all about improving the overall security of the email ecosystem, and therefore improving the overall customer experience. The regulation around BIMI, and the nature of brands working with MBPs means that this works as another security measure around email sends.

With customers understandably wary of scams, BIMI allows you to add a layer of brand identity and authenticity to your email sends. This means customers have a clear and simple way to identify and trust your communications, giving them more control and peace of mind.

BIMI also allows you to feel more confident, knowing you’ve added another element of protection against anyone trying to impersonate your brand by spoofing.

Another benefit is that inboxes are crowded, and BIMI allows you to showcase your brand identity before subscribers even open your email.

According to research by Red Sift and Entrust, BIMI implementation can lead to:

• 39% increase in email open rates
• 32% higher purchase likelihood
• 120% improvement in brand recall

These impressive statistics demonstrate the transformative power of BIMI for your email marketing strategy.

How can you implement BIMI?

To implement BIMI, you need to follow these key steps:

Set up DMARC authentication

Ensure your domain has a proper DMARC (domain-based message authentication, reporting, and conformance) policy in place. For BIMI to work, your DMARC policy should be set to either “quarantine” or “reject”. If you’re using a subdomain as your custom from address, your top-level organizational domain must also have DMARC implemented with an enforcement policy.

Create and publish your BIMI logo

Design your BIMI logo according to the guidelines provided by the BIMI group. You can use their BIMI SVG conversion tool to help create a compliant logo. Once created, publish the logo at an HTTPS location, either on your own infrastructure or in your Dotdigital account.

Maintain good sender reputation

Mailbox providers will only display your BIMI logo if you maintain a good sending reputation. Stick to deliverability best practices to establish and maintain this reputation.

Test your BIMI logo

After setting up BIMI and ensuring good deliverability practices, create a Yahoo email account and send test emails to it. If your logo appears, it indicates correct authentication and trusted sender status.

Obtain a verified mark certificate (VMC)

For some mailbox providers like Gmail and Apple, a VMC is required. Dotdigital has partnered with Red Sift and Entrust to guide customers through the VMC process. Note that there is a fee involved in obtaining a VMC.

Remember, implementing BIMI not only improves your brand visibility but also supports fraud prevention and email deliverability. If you need assistance with DMARC setup or obtaining a VMC, reach out to your Customer Success Manager or read our help center.

Implement BIMI today

BIMI offers a win-win situation for both you and your email recipients. By implementing BIMI, you can enhance brand recognition, boost email security, and ultimately drive better results for your email marketing campaigns. With the growing adoption of BIMI by major email providers, it’s time to consider this valuable tool and take your email marketing to the next level.