The latest email authentication protocol is Brand Indicators for Message Identification. Many email marketers found the idea of implementing BIMI attractive in 2021.

That's because, in July, Google announced it would begin officially supporting BIMI in Gmail inboxes. It comes after Google launched a BIMI pilot program in 2020, previously closed to new senders.

Successful implementation of BIMI should see brand logos next to authenticated messages in Gmail or other mailbox providers.

Perhaps we are getting ahead of ourselves.

The basics of BIMI

What is BIMI? It is a new method for authenticating emails and preventing brand spoofing. It works in the same way as other protocols. First, you set up a record on your domain's DNS used by receiving mail servers to verify that the message is legitimate.

BIMI is subscriber-facing, which is what makes it unique. Your subscribers don't know you have set up DKIM, SPF, and DMARC. They can view the results of BIMI. A logo in an email's inbox could signify that the email is safe to read and engage with. It's the reward for brands to improve their email authentication.

BIMI could be the beginning. It could be a way to allow third-party developers to integrate logos and give brands control over what's displayed.

How does BIMI work?

A mailbox provider will first check for email authentication protocols before it receives a message. Next, it uses the DMARC records to search for DKIM and SPF. It then searches the DNS for the domain's BIMI records, if any.

If a brand passes Google announced authentication and BIMI implementation is correct, the mailbox provider must retrieve the logo file from the subscriber and display it in their inbox.

It looks like this:

Similar to how certain mailbox providers display profile photos of your contacts alongside personal emails, this is also possible. Marcel Becker from Yahoo said that 97% of the emails in our inboxes are brand-related. BIMI logos might offer a more professional email experience.

How can you implement BIMI in your organization?

It will be a bit of work to get a BIMI logo displayed in your inboxes. These are the essential steps to take:

1. Identify your sending domain to get assistance

The BIMI record must be published on your DNS domain. It may not be the main domain of your brand. Larger organizations often have a subdomain that is used to host a mail server.

Here is how a BIMI record looks like:

default._bimi TXT "v=BIMI1; l=https://mydomain.com/image.svg;"

It's a good idea to ask the IT team or cybersecurity for help in publishing the BIMI record. Your email service provider (ESP) may also be able to help with troubleshooting. If you're active in the email geeks community, you can reach out to people at BIMI Working Group for help too.

2. Get a BIMI logo created and certified.

There are some requirements for logos of BIMI. First, they must be SVG files (SVG Tiny 1.2), a secure vector file that's harder to impersonate.

The logo should be square. It should fit neatly into a circle as it will be displayed inside inboxes. BIMI logos should not exceed 32kb size.

Your BIMI logo image should be a registered trademark. You will need to create a trademarked logo if you don't already have one. To meet Gmail's requirements, BIMI Logos must also be certified to prove ownership.

Entrust, and Digicert are the two organizations that provide Verified Mark Certificates for BIMI. This list is expected to expand in the future.

Once you've completed these steps and published your record, BIMIGroup.org has a BIMI Inspector tool you can use to verify your brand's compliance with the established standards.

Who supports BIMI via email?

Before Google announced support of BIMI in Gmail, Yahoo and Verizon Media mailbox providers such as AOL.com supported this type of email authentication. In addition, FastMail, an Australian email client, supports BIMI logos.

Gmail is not a common tool for smaller brands, so they may be reluctant to spend the time and money required to implement BIMI. However, Gmail addresses make up 25 percent or more of many subscriber list subscribers.

Gmail has adopted BIMI, and other major email clients will soon follow suit. There are many benefits to BIMI.

What are the advantages of BIMI?

BIMI is a useful email authentication method that brands often the targets of email spoofing can use. It includes banks like Bank of America that have partnered with Google, BIMI Working Group, and others to use the technology.

PayPal, Drop Box, and Apple are just a few of the many impersonated brands that could benefit from BIMI. To reap the benefits of BIMI, however, you don't have to be a Fortune 500 business.

Preliminary research suggests that implementing BIMI can increase email engagement. In our Ask Me Anything on BIMI, Marcel Becker of Yahoo explained the results of some user experience studies. For example, people are more inclined to interact with emails that feature brand logos.

BIMI protects subscribers against cybercriminals trying to exploit your brand's image to trick people into downloading malware or revealing personal information. BIMI is a great way to protect your brand's image, especially if you use transactional email and have online customers.

Let's face it, what brand doesn't want its logo to be seen in as many places as possible? Implementing BIMI is a great way to increase brand recognition and recall.

If you are unsure whether implementing BIMI in 2021 is a good idea, you should consider these benefits. You could be competitive by being an early adopter.

However, the implementation of BIMI can be expensive and technical. Keep in mind that not all email clients will display BIMI logos to bulk senders. Therefore, you will need to send a lot of mail, but it is not clear if there is a threshold.

Email previews and BIMI

Email on Acid's pre deployment platform doesn't currently verify BIMI implementation. However, when you run email tests and view previews of your campaigns on different clients and devices, you should see if BIMI is working correctly.

Email on Acid displays screenshots taken from real devices. What you see is what your subscribers will see. Ensure you include Gmail, Yahoo!, AOL, and any other clients that support BMI in your testing profile.

Do you want to see if clients who support BIMI have better engagement with your subscribers? Then, you can use our Email Analytics to compare results.

Gmail's adoption in 2021 of BIMI by Gmail means that Brand Indicators are here to stay.
Source: https://cyber-security-information.blogspot.com/2021/08/bimi-in-202...