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 the marketing team will actually celebrate. When your domain is set up correctly, Gmail, Apple Mail, Yahoo, and Fastmail show your company logo next to your name in the inbox, instead of the default greyed-out initial. It requires your DMARC policy at `p=quarantine` or `p=reject` (so it's a reward for getting the rest of your email authentication right) and a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) costing around £1,200/year, which most SMEs find prohibitive. The Common Mark Certificate (CMC) is a cheaper alternative for trademark holders.
What this means for your business
- BIMI displays your logo in the avatar slot of authenticated emails in supporting clients. Visual recognition increases open rates 5-10% per published studies, and it's a clear signal to the recipient that the email is legitimately from your brand.
- Eligibility requires three things: (1) DMARC at p=quarantine or p=reject with pct=100; (2) a square SVG-Tiny-1.2 logo file hosted at an HTTPS URL on your domain; (3) a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) issued by an authorised CA (DigiCert or Entrust today) for ~£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, but Gmail and Yahoo won't display the logo. Apple Mail and Fastmail will. Whether the partial display is worth the work depends on your inbox-mix.
How to fix
Confirm DMARC is enforcing, prepare an SVG logo, optionally purchase a VMC, then publish the BIMI DNS record pointing at the logo (and the VMC if you have one).
- Confirm DMARC is at quarantine or reject with pct=100. Look up your DMARC record. If it's still `p=none`, BIMI won't display anywhere. Progress DMARC first (see our DMARC explainer).
- Prepare the BIMI-compatible SVG. Your logo as SVG-Tiny-1.2 (not regular SVG). Square aspect ratio, transparent or solid background. Most logo files need conversion. SVG-Tiny is a restricted SVG profile; tools like svgcleaner help. Host it at HTTPS, ideally on your apex domain.
- Decide whether to buy a VMC. Without a VMC, Apple Mail and Fastmail display the logo; Gmail and Yahoo don't. A VMC is issued by DigiCert (~£1,200/year) or Entrust based on your registered trademark. If you don't hold a trademark, you can't get a 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`. The `a` parameter points at the VMC PEM file if you have one; omit if not.
- Send a test email and verify in Gmail. Send to a Gmail account you control. After ~30 minutes (BIMI caches), the logo should appear next to your sender name in the inbox list. If not, 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. Strip filters, embedded fonts, and gradients aren't supported. Plan for a designer round.
- VMC issuance requires a registered trademark in a major jurisdiction (UK IPO, USPTO, EU EUIPO). The CA validates trademark ownership before issuing.
- Bringing DMARC from p=none to p=quarantine breaks legitimate mail if you have unauthenticated senders. Do 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 Vantyris's verified scan, which checks for BIMI alongside DMARC in the Email category. Visual confirmation: send a test email to a Gmail account.
Cyber Essentials alignment
This finding informs the following UK NCSC Cyber Essentials control areas:
- 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 uplift is real but small; the VMC cost is significant for an SME. Most SMEs we talk to wait until DMARC is fully enforced, then revisit BIMI once they're sending higher volumes (~50k/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. Same purpose as VMC (proves logo ownership) but 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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Vantyris editorial team · methodology v1.0.0