BIMI Record Checker
Validate your BIMI record and logo file, and check what Gmail and Yahoo require.
What is BIMI?
BIMI, or Brand Indicators for Message Identification, is an email authentication standard that allows brands to display their logo next to their email in supported email clients. It enhances brand visibility and trust in email communication by linking the brand's logo with a validated DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) policy, thereby helping to reduce email fraud and increase engagement.
Email authentication knowledge base
What criteria must be met for a BIMI logo to be approved by major email clients?
For a BIMI logo to be approved, the domain must have a DMARC policy of either quarantine or reject in place, ensuring strong email authentication. The logo itself must be in SVG format, meet specific size and design requirements, and, in some cases, be accompanied by a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) to authenticate the logo's ownership.
How does the Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) enhance BIMI's effectiveness?
A Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) provides an additional layer of authenticity to the BIMI logo by certifying that the logo is officially owned and approved for use by the domain. This enhances trust among email recipients, making them more likely to open and engage with the email, knowing it comes from a verified source.
What are the steps to troubleshoot a BIMI logo not displaying in supported email clients?
To troubleshoot: Verify that your DMARC policy is set to quarantine or reject. Check that the BIMI record in your DNS is correctly formatted and points to a valid SVG logo. Ensure the email client supports BIMI. If required, obtain a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) for your logo. Consult with the email client’s support or forums for any client-specific requirements or issues.
How can BIMI impact consumer trust and email engagement rates?
BIMI can significantly boost consumer trust by visually confirming the authenticity of the email sender through the display of a brand's logo next to the email. This visual trust marker can increase open rates, enhance engagement, and reduce the effectiveness of phishing attempts.
How does BIMI complement existing brand protection strategies?
BIMI complements brand protection strategies by adding a visual layer of authentication to email communications, making it easier for recipients to identify legitimate emails. This works alongside other email authentication practices (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to build a comprehensive defense against brand impersonation and fraud.
What are the technical challenges of implementing BIMI, and how can they be overcome?
Technical challenges include ensuring DMARC compliance, creating a compliant SVG logo, and managing DNS records for BIMI. These can be overcome by closely following BIMI specifications, using tools and services designed to facilitate BIMI implementation, and possibly consulting with experts for best practices and troubleshooting.
How does BIMI affect the perception of brand identity in email marketing?
BIMI positively affects brand identity perception by consistently presenting the brand's logo in a prominent place within the email client, reinforcing brand recognition and trust every time an email is received. This visual branding helps distinguish emails in crowded inboxes, potentially increasing engagement.
What are the future developments expected in BIMI standards?
Future developments in BIMI standards may include broader adoption by email clients, enhancements in logo verification processes, and integration with emerging email security technologies. These advancements aim to further streamline the implementation process and enhance the security and branding benefits of BIMI.
How can organizations measure the ROI of implementing BIMI for their email communications?
Organizations can measure the ROI of BIMI by tracking metrics such as email open rates, click-through rates, and engagement levels before and after implementation. Reductions in phishing attack effectiveness and improvements in brand recognition can also indicate a positive ROI. Surveys and feedback can provide qualitative insights into customer trust and brand perception changes.
BIMI requires a DMARC policy at enforcement. Here are the DMARC tags you'll configure.
- vVersion
- The Version tag is essential in a DMARC record and must strictly be set to ‘DMARC1’. If this value is not correctly specified or if the tag is absent, the DMARC record will not be considered valid and will be disregarded.
- pDMARC policy
- The DMARC policy setting is crucial and accepts three possible values: ‘none’, ‘quarantine’, or ‘reject’. By default, it is set to ‘none’, which means it doesn’t actively intervene with emails that fail authentication. This setting primarily serves to gather DMARC reports, aiding in understanding the existing email traffic and its authentication status. On the other hand, the ‘quarantine’ option flags unauthenticated emails as dubious, and ‘reject’ outright prevents their delivery.
- ruaAggregate report destination
- The destination for sending aggregate reports is specified using a ‘mailto:’ URI, which Email Service Providers (ESPs) utilize to dispatch failure reports. While this tag is not mandatory, omitting it means you will not receive any reports.
- rufForensic report destination
- The destination for Forensic (Failure) report transmission is designated by a ‘mailto:’ URI, which is employed by Email Service Providers (ESPs) for the delivery of failure reports. Although this tag is not obligatory, failing to include it will result in not receiving any reports.
- spSubdomain policy
- The policy for subdomains defaults to inheriting the main domain’s policy tag (p=), as previously described, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Similar to the domain policy, the permissible values for subdomains are ‘none’, ‘quarantine’, or ‘reject’. However, this option is not commonly employed in current practices.
- adkimDKIM alignment
- The alignment of the DKIM signature, indicated by this tag, refers to the congruence between the DKIM domain and the originating domain in the ‘Header From’. The acceptable values for this tag are ‘r’ for relaxed and ‘s’ for strict. The default setting, ‘r’, permits a partial match between these domains, whereas the ‘s’ setting demands an exact match of the domains.
- aspfSPF alignment
- This tag pertains to the SPF alignment, which concerns the compatibility between the SPF domain (the sender) and the domain in the ‘Header From’. It allows two settings: ‘r’ for relaxed and ‘s’ for strict. By default, it is set to ‘r’, which tolerates a partial match between the domains. In contrast, the ‘s’ setting necessitates an exact correspondence of the domains.
- foForensic reporting options
- The options for forensic reporting include ‘0’, ‘1’, ‘d’, and ‘s’. The default setting is ‘0’, which triggers a forensic report only when both SPF and DKIM alignments do not pass. Use ‘1’ if the outcome of either SPF or DKIM is anything other than a pass. The option ‘d’ is selected to generate a report specifically for DKIM validation failures, and ‘s’ is used for SPF-related issues. To actually receive these forensic reports, it’s necessary to specify the ‘ruf’ tag.
- rfFailure report format
- The format for failure report generation can be set to either ‘afrf’ or ‘iodef’, as these are the two permissible options.
- pctPercentage (historic)
- The legacy Percentage tag asked receivers to apply a quarantine or reject policy to only part of the mail that failed DMARC. RFC 9989 removed pct because receivers implemented partial enforcement inconsistently. New records should omit it and stage rollout with aggregate reports, whole-policy changes, and low-volume subdomains.
- riReporting interval
- The Reporting interval specifies how often XML reports are received, measured in seconds. The standard setting is 86400 seconds, which equates to daily reporting. However, it’s important to note that despite the specified interval, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) typically send these reports on their own schedules, which in most cases, is also once a day.