An emerging industry standard will make it easier for consumers to identify authenticated email, while simultaneously giving brands greater control over how their emails appear in consumer inboxes.
It’s called Brand Indicators for Message Identification, or BIMI for short. After only launching in 2018, it has widespread support, with contributions from many of the major providers of email accounts to consumers, including Apple, Google, Yahoo, and more.
What BIMI outlines, in short, is simple: Senders can provide brand-specific imagery (logos) that appears alongside messages they send. These images appear in place of the user photo or the initial letter that many email clients display next to the sender’s name.
How to use BIMI
In order to use BIMI, senders need to set up email authentication using Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) with an enforcement policy (quarantine or reject). That ensures that company logos, for instance, only appear next to authenticated emails.
BIMI also includes safeguards to ensure that companies can only display their own logos. It prevents any would-be fraudsters from using a brand’s imagery without its permission.
For brands, this is an opportunity to extend the reach and visibility of their logos or other brand elements. It is also potentially a way to convey a higher degree of trustworthiness in their emails: Only authenticated emails that actually came from the company (or which were sent by an authorized sender) will carry its logo.
Why BIMI matters for consumers
For consumers, BIMI provides a way to avoid being ensnared by phishing scams. If an email displays a company’s logo next to the sender, you can be sure it is an authentic email from that company. No logo? Don’t trust it.
Here’s how BIMI improves the experience for consumers:
- Increased Trust: Because all BIMI emails are authenticated email, you can trust them. When consumers receive emails with BIMI-enabled logos, it confirms the legitimacy of the sender and reduces the risk of phishing and spoofing attacks.
- Reduced Phishing and Spoofing: BIMI encourages email senders to implement strong email authentication protocols like DMARC.
- Improved Email Engagement: With BIMI, brands can display their logos directly in email clients that support the standard. This visual indicator can help consumers quickly recognize emails from their preferred brands. Valimail Amplify can enhance deliverability and engagement by up to 20% combined boost in open rates.
- Enhanced User Experience: When email clients display logos alongside authenticated emails, it improves the overall aesthetic of the inbox and makes it easier for consumers to identify emails.
- Industry Standardization: BIMI encourages brands to implement proper email authentication mechanisms, which in turn can drive broader industry adoption of email security best practices.
Get started with BIMI
Are you a company with a recognized brand that sends a large volume of emails? Would you benefit from having your logo appear next to these emails in consumer inboxes?
Get started with Valimail Amplify. Amplify automates BIMI, ensuring your logo shows up in the inbox the way it’s supposed to—without you having to do any tinkering or troubleshooting.
We’ve accelerated the BIMI implementation process by offering a scalable solution tailored for organizations with numerous brand entities, domains, and logos. Our collaboration with prominent certificate authorities enables the quick acquisition and management of Verified Mark Certificates (VMC).
Don’t just take our word for it—get on the BIMI fast track.
