BIMI

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Prerequisites

To get the most out of this guide, you will need to:

• Obtain a registered trademark for your logo
• Setup DMARC on your domain

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What is BIMI?

BIMI (or Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is a relatively new standard that allows you to specify a logo (and sometimes a checkmark) to be displayed next to your email in the inbox. This is a great way to increase brand recognition and trust as well as improve engagement.

Though this standard is a few years old, many major ISP’s have just recently started supporting it. This makes adoption of BIMI a competitive edge for your inbox presence.

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1. Configure DMARC

Just like SPF and DKIM are required for DMARC. DMARC is required for BIMI. This gives the assurance that your emails are properly authenticated and no one else could spoof your domain and send with your logo.

Your DMARC settings much meet a certain strictness to be ready for BIMI.

Here is an example of an adequate DMARC record:

"v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; pct=100; rua=mailto:dmarcreports@example.com"

Your emails must also be actively passing DMARC checks. You can check this by looking at the reports sent to you via the rua address. Most reports will be an XML format which can be uploaded to a DMARC XML converter like dmarcian.

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2. Obtain a VMC

VMC (or Verified Mark Certificate) is a certificate issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is used to verify that you are the owner of the logo you are trying to display. This is a similar process to obtaining an SSL certificate for your website.

There are multiple vendors that can issue a VMC. We recommend DigiCert.

A few things to know before starting the VMC process:

• The process could take weeks, so start early and respond to their requests quickly
• You will need to provide a SVG Tiny P/S formatted logo
• You will need to prove you own the domain by adding a DNS record
• You will need to prove you are the owner of the trademark by providing identification
• You will need publicly available proof that your business exists. For newer startups, we found that Yellow Pages or Google Business Profiles were the easiest ways to obtain this.

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3. Set your BIMI DNS Record

Once you have your VMC, you can set your BIMI DNS record. This is a TXT record that points to the location of your VMC and your logo.

Here is an example of a BIMI DNS record:

v=BIMI1; l=https://vmc.digicert.com/00-00.svg; a=https://vmc.digicert.com/00-00.pem;

It contains a publicly and programmatically accessible link to your verified logo (.svg) and a link to your VMC (.pem).

It often takes a few days after this record is propagated for your logo to start displaying in inboxes.

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Reference