BIMI: putting your brand logo next to your sender name in Gmail and beyond.
Published 2026-06-07 · Last updated 2026-06-07 · Vantyris editorial
BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is the email-authentication win your marketing team will actually celebrate. When your domain is set up correctly, the major inboxes (Gmail, Apple Mail, Yahoo, Fastmail) show your company logo next to your name instead of the default greyed-out initial. It needs your DMARC policy at p=quarantine or p=reject, which makes it a reward for getting the rest of your email authentication right. It also needs a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) costing around £1,200/year, and most SMEs find that prohibitive. The Common Mark Certificate (CMC) is a cheaper alternative for trademark holders.
What this means for your business
- BIMI puts your logo in the avatar slot of authenticated emails in supporting clients. Published studies put the open-rate lift from that visual recognition at 5-10%, and the logo is a clear signal to the recipient that the email really is from your brand.
- You need three things to be eligible. (1) DMARC at
p=quarantineorp=rejectwithpct=100. (2) A square SVG Tiny 1.2 logo file hosted at an HTTPS URL on your domain. (3) A Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) from an authorised CA (DigiCert or Entrust today) at about £1,200/year, OR a Common Mark Certificate (CMC) for trademark holders at a lower price. - Without the VMC you can still publish the BIMI DNS record and the SVG. Gmail and Yahoo won't display the logo, but Apple Mail and Fastmail will. Whether that partial display is worth the work depends on which inboxes your recipients use.
How to fix
Confirm DMARC is enforcing and prepare an SVG logo. Buy a VMC if you decide you need one, then publish the BIMI DNS record pointing at the logo (and at the VMC, if you have one).
- Confirm DMARC is at quarantine or reject with
pct=100. Look up your DMARC record. If it's stillp=none, BIMI won't display anywhere. Progress DMARC first (see our DMARC explainer). - Prepare the BIMI-compatible SVG. You need your logo as SVG Tiny 1.2, not regular SVG, with a square aspect ratio and a transparent or solid background. SVG Tiny is a restricted SVG profile, so most logo files need converting. Tools like svgcleaner help. Host the file over HTTPS, ideally on your apex domain.
- Decide whether to buy a VMC. Without a VMC, Apple Mail and Fastmail display the logo, but Gmail and Yahoo don't. VMCs are issued by DigiCert (about £1,200/year) or Entrust, based on your registered trademark. No trademark means no VMC, only a CMC, which has slightly different eligibility rules.
- Publish the BIMI DNS record. At
default._bimi.<yourdomain>, publish a TXT record:v=BIMI1; l=https://yourdomain.com/logo.svg; a=https://yourdomain.com/vmc.pem. Theaparameter points at the VMC PEM file. Leave it out if you don't have one. - Send a test email and verify in Gmail. Send to a Gmail account you control. After about 30 minutes (BIMI results are cached), the logo should appear next to your sender name in the inbox list. If it doesn't, check the BIMI Inspector at bimigroup.org/bimi-generator.
Owner: Your DNS admin + your designer (for the SVG conversion) + procurement (for the VMC if needed). · Time: 30 minutes setup + 2-4 weeks for VMC issuance (longest critical-path step).
Common gotchas
- Most logos won't be SVG Tiny 1.2 compatible out of the box. Filters, embedded fonts, and gradients aren't supported, so they have to come out. Budget for a round with your designer.
- VMC issuance requires a registered trademark in a major jurisdiction (UK IPO, USPTO, EU EUIPO). The CA validates trademark ownership before issuing.
- Moving DMARC from
p=nonetop=quarantinebreaks legitimate mail if you have unauthenticated senders. Finish the DMARC progression first. Don't try to land BIMI as a single project.
How to verify the fix
Use the BIMI Inspector (bimigroup.org/bimi-generator) or a Vantyris verified scan, which checks for BIMI alongside DMARC in the Email category. For visual confirmation, send a test email to a Gmail account.
Cyber Essentials alignment
This finding informs the following Cyber Essentials control areas (the UK government's baseline scheme, a sound checklist in any country):
- A1. Firewalls: boundary protection between the internet and your services.
Vantyris is not a CE certifying body. The mapping above is informational.
Common follow-up questions
Is BIMI worth £1,200/year for a small business?
Honestly, usually not (yet). The open-rate lift is real but small, and the VMC is a significant cost for an SME. Most SMEs we talk to wait until DMARC is fully enforced, then revisit BIMI once they're sending higher volumes (about 50k a month or more). For brands sending consumer-facing transactional mail, the ROI flips earlier.
Will my logo show on Outlook?
Not today. Microsoft hasn't announced BIMI support for Outlook. Roadmap-watching only.
What's CMC and how is it different from VMC?
Common Mark Certificate. Like a VMC, it proves logo ownership, but it accepts logos held by an organisation under different jurisdictions, or 'common law' marks. Generally cheaper, but the eligibility list is narrower. Talk to your CA if a VMC is out of reach.
References
- BIMI Group: implementation guide Vendor
- Google: BIMI support announcement Vendor
- RFC draft: BIMI IETF RFC
Related explainers
- What is DMARC, and why every business with a domain needs one.
- DMARC p=none does not stop phishing. Here's what to do instead.
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Written by Vantyris