BIMI

What is BIMI?

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is an emerging email standard that allows organisations to display their brand logo next to their authenticated emails in supporting email clients. When an email passes DMARC authentication, the receiving inbox looks up the sender's BIMI record to find and display their logo.

BIMI is supported by Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Apple Mail, and Fastmail. It acts as a visual trust signal — recipients can see at a glance that an email genuinely came from the brand it claims to be from.

How BIMI Works

1. The domain owner publishes a BIMI TXT record at default._bimi.example.com.
2. The record contains two fields: l= (logo URL) and a= (authority/certificate URL).
3. The logo must be in SVG Tiny PS (Portable/Secure) format.
4. When an email passes DMARC with an enforcement policy (quarantine or reject), the receiving client fetches the logo and displays it.
5. For Gmail, a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) from DigiCert or Entrust is required. The VMC proves the logo is a registered trademark.

BIMI Requirements

• DMARC enforcement — Your domain must have DMARC set to p=quarantine or p=reject.
• SVG Tiny PS logo — The logo must be in the specific SVG Tiny Portable/Secure format, square aspect ratio, hosted over HTTPS.
• VMC certificate — Required by Gmail. Costs approximately $1,500/year and requires a registered trademark.
• DNS TXT record — Published at default._bimi.yourdomain.com.

Example BIMI Record

Benefits of BIMI

• Brand visibility — Your logo appears in the inbox next to your emails, increasing recognition.
• Higher engagement — Studies show BIMI can increase email open rates by up to 10%.
• Trust signal — Visual confirmation that the email is genuinely from your organisation.
• Security incentive — Requires strong DMARC enforcement, improving your overall email security posture.