How to Implement BIMI to Display Brand Logo on Email?

Follow the steps below to ensure your logo displays correctly at participating mailbox providers. For details on all BIMI technical specifications, please visit bimigroup.org and the BIMI Specifications.

Prerequisites

Ensure BIMI is Supported

Speaking with your email administrator, your email service provider or domain hosting provider will provide more information on whether the hosting supports BIMI.

If BIMI implementation is not the part of the given service agreement, request the further procedure regarding the implementation by means of information below.

Before attempting to implement BIMI it is crucial to ensure that BIMI is supported and that the steps for its use are clear.

Implement DMARC Authentication on All Marketing Emails

BIMI depends on passing DMARC. One that is sure to show DMARC passing is the email headers of Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo!, or AOL. Specifically, the DMARC policy (p=) must be “quarantine” or “reject,” otherwise, your logo won’t appear.

Also Read: How to Create and Publish a DMARC Record?

If you need to take your DMARC policy to quarantine or reject, engage authentication compliance playbooks when required. There is a need to take this step because BIMI employs DMARC authentication to confirm the sender’s authenticity.

Determine Which Logo Your Subscribers Should See

For BIMI to work, the image that will be used needs to be in the SVG (. svg) Tiny Portable/Secure image format. With the help of tools at bimigroup.org/svg-conversion-tools-released, convert your SVG Tiny image to SVG Tiny Portable/Secure. It is an important point that the logo you will use should be squared, central and without captions.

Store your logo using HTTPS and note the URL string (e. g. , https://(subdomain. brand. com/image/logo. svg). The format and URL of the image also matters when it comes to displaying the logo on the page.

Obtain a Verified Mark Certificate (Optional)

 A VMC or a domain verification is necessary, though not mandatory, for some mailbox providers including Gmail for the logo display of BIMI.

Store your certificate using HTTPS and note the URL string (e. g. , https:The certificates provided (https://subdomain. brand. com/vmc/logo. pem) are to be enacted to utilize the web for sales.

Inserted in the assertion record within an a= tag is the URL. With regard to this step, you might ignore it ; if you do not possess the functional Verified Mark Certificate abbreviated as VMC. However, getting a VMC can help increase the reputation and exposure of your logo incorporated in BIMI.

Determine How to Measure Success

 This is why it is recommended to have metrics calculated before the implementation of BIMI. Monitor most commonly used performance indicators like opens and clicks, and sales and AOV, and so on.

It is recommended that these metrics should be compared before and after the introduction of BIMI to check how it benefits the business in terms of email marketing engagement.

BIMI Implementation (Setup)

Step 1: Create the DNS TXT (text) Record for Your Domain

Choose Your Domain and Selector

Note the “From:” domain (RFC5322) used in your marketing emails. This is the area where you set the DNS TXT record. Choose a selector name. The selector name is what a mailbox provider will use to find your BIMI record.

Use the “default” Selector Name if:

• You are running on a single brand or you are piloting one brand before introducing the rest of your brands.
• You have many brands and the web-sites of your companies have different domain names.
• First of all, let’s talk about the limitations regarding the placement of the header, namely the BIMI-selector header, into your emails.

Use a Custom Selector Name if:

• This setup means that you have other brands which are similar to yours and operate in the same World Wide Web domain.
• You require more flexibility in the appearance of logos.
• The selector name must be sensible and relevant (an example of this is a date like July2019 or a brand identifier as in brandabc).

Create a DNS TXT (text) Record for Your Domain

Follow the steps of the process that you can find on your email service provider’s or domain hosting provider’s website. It is also important that all necessary tags are included in the assertion record together with correct syntax.

Here is the example of the DNS BIMI record which should include your selector, domain, logo URL, and the URL to the authority evidence document:

No Authority Evidence Document:

brandx._bimi.brand.com IN TXT “v=BIMI1; l=https://subdomain.brand.com/image/logo.svg; a=;”

With an Authority Evidence Document such as a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC):

brandx._bimi.brand.com IN TXT “v=BIMI1; l=https://subdomain.brand.com/image/logo.svg; a=https://subdomain.brand.com/vmc/logo.pem;”

Using the “default” Selector Name:

default._bimi.brand.com IN TXT “v=BIMI1; l=https://subdomain.brand.com/image/logo.svg; a=;”

Step 2: Insert (Sign) the BIMI-Selector Header into Your Emails

Ignore this step if you are using the ‘default’ selector name. All mailbox providers under “default” automatically perform a DNS lookup of your BIMI record; just make sure your DNS TXT record is correct.

If you have the custom name for the selector other than the default name, check with the technical team or email service provider on how they’d recommend inserting the BIMI-Selector header into the emails.

Ensure that the syntax used at BIMI-Selector is correct, and that the s= value in BIMI-Selector is the same as the name used in the DNS or else the logo will not show.

Conclusion

Secure your email communication and enhance your email security with Email Signing (S/MIME) Certificates and DigiCert Verified Mark Certificate.