Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) has emerged as the most anticipated technology in the near future of email marketing. This article gives you an introduction with a summary to the Brand Indicators for Message Identification and instructions for its implementation.
At this stage of development Brand Indicators for Message Identification has no one-fits-all standard. The implementation requirements may differ for each email provider.
What is Brand Indicators for Message Identification?
BIMI provides you a simple way to display your brand. BIMI allows email users to see logos associated with specific brands sending authenticated email.
With BIMI you can:
- Display your logos on your emails.
- Control the logos displayed in your email messages.
- Improve immediate brand recognition and enhanced user experience.
BIMI increases the consumer trust you have built and ensures brand recognition by linking your logo to your emails. BIMI provides an additional incentive for brands to adopt proper email authentication.
BIMI also removes the substantial burden of assigning, managing and maintaining a brand indicator and allows you to manage it on your own.
Whereas BIMI does not seem to provide any direct impact on email deliverability, our data suggests that it does increase recipient engagement with a better recognizable brand in a form of increased Click-Through Rate (CTR).
For more information, see: https://bimigroup.org/
Supported email accounts
Currently BIMI works with Yahoo mailboxes, only. BIMI is going to be implemented for the following providers:
Important requirements for proper operation
There are a few prerequisites that you should fulfill before implementing BIMI in your email campaign.
Secure website: SSL/TLS certificate
The SSL/TLS certification (https://) is necessary on the organizational domain or sending sub-domain where you intend to upload your logo image. Domain reputation matters.
DMARC Policy
A Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) record must be present.
Set the DMARC policy either of the following values:
- p=quarantine
- p=reject
The sending domain must be aligned with the returnpath domain.
Generated BIMI record
Check if it exists or generate your BIMI record with the following tool: BIMI Record Generator.
Example for a BIMI record:
default._bimi.sending.domain.com IN TXT
"v=BIMI1;l=https://sending.domain.com/filepath/logo.svg"Sender reputation
Currently, for BIMI to work with Yahoo, the email domain must have the following:
- A good sender reputation.
- High engagement from recipients.
- Identified as a commercial (high volume) email sender.
Implementing BIMI for Verizon Media Group (Yahoo/AOL)
Follow these steps to implement BIMI on your sending domain:
- Obtain your image file, which meets these requirements: Image file (logo) specifications.
- Upload the image file to your domain.
- Provide an accessible image either of the following ways:
- organizational domain, e.g.:
domain.com/filepath/to/the/image.svg, or - sending domain, e.g.:
sending.domain.com/filepath/logo.svg.
- organizational domain, e.g.:
- Add a TXT DNS record for BIMI. For information, see DMARC Policy.
Example for a BIMI record:
default._bimi.sending.domain.com IN TXT
"v=BIMI1;l=https://sending.domain.com/filepath/logo.svg"
Image file (logo) specifications
- File format: .
svgfile
Note: A true.svg(a.k.a. SVG Tiny 1.2 or SVG Tiny Portable/Secure) is needed. Saving a.pngfile into .svgcontainer does not work. - Image format: Vector graphics
Note: We recommend a vector logo, as there are also dark themes that recipients use, so BIMI will align with that option. - Image size: Use the same width x length. e.g.: 200x200, 400x400, 1000x1000 etc.
Note: The logo should be displayed directly in the center of the image. - Image position: Centered
- File location: Provide an accessible, valid file path to the
.svgimage file.
(Emarsys will confirm it and provide an accurate BIMI record.)
BIMI images appear only on Yahoo mobile application in the message list. Logos will not appear in the desktop version.
Implementing BIMI for GMAIL
Gmail is currently piloting BIMI implementation. Complete the following additional steps to implement BIMI for Gmail:
- Ensure that you have a Registered Trademark with your local authority.
Note: A new Trademark Registration may take up to 6 months to be processed. - Verify that the image you want to use for BIMI is exactly the same as the image you have registered for the Registered Trademark. Update it in case of any differences.
Note: Keep in mind to meet the requirements: Image file (logo) specifications. - Apply for the Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) with one of the providers that provide such certification services. For example, EntrustDatacard or Digicert. This will be a paid service.
- Gmail requires an additional tag
"a="in the BIMI DNS record, which will need a HTTPS URL to a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC).
Example for adding a VMC to the BIMI DNS record:
"v=BIMI1; l=https://sending.domain.com/filepath/logo.svg
;a=https://verified.mark.certificate.url"Company logo for Gmail can also be implemented via Gmail Promotion Tab Annotations. For more information, see: https://developers.google.com/gmail/promotab/overview
As BIMI is currently on Pilot release for GMAIL for a limited number of clients only, proper operation cannot be guaranteed at this stage. These steps are shared only in case you want to prepare for it upfront. EntrustDatacard are anticipating Gmail pilot until 2021 and they are pre-verifying organizations for the VMC.
Troubleshooting - FAQ
In this section we collect the currently known common issues and the solutions for them.
BIMI checker shows "Invalid SVG File" error?
The current, most common issue could be derived from .png images saved as .svg files. Logo files must be formatted as an .svg with Tiny (1.2) profile, in a square image with the aspect 400 x 400 px ratio.
Do not copy a .png image into an .svg file container!
BIMI record generator and checker can be found here: https://bimigroup.org/bimi-generator/
BIMI is set, but not showing up in Yahoo?
If you think all of those requirements are met, but still no logo is displayed, reach out to Yahoo’s mail team for help.
Contact
Note that BIMI improvement is in pilot phase. Should you have any BIMI-related question, that is not answered here, feel free to contact Emarsys support. Emarsys will assist you with setting up your sending domain with your logo.
For more information, see: https://bimigroup.org/all-about-bimi/
