Why BIMI matters now
Brand Indicators for Message Identification puts your verified logo next to your messages in supporting inboxes. The visual difference is small — an avatar instead of an initial — but the recognition effect is real. Recipients open more reliably when they see a brand they trust rather than a generic placeholder. Click-through rates from BIMI-verified senders typically run 5–15% above non-BIMI baseline at the same audience.
More importantly, BIMI requires DMARC enforcement as a prerequisite. The fact of being BIMI-verified is itself a trust signal: it tells the recipient (and the mailbox provider) that the sender has done the authentication work necessary to qualify. Major brands — banks, airlines, retailers, SaaS companies — have been adopting it through 2024 and 2025; in some industries, not having BIMI is starting to look like an authentication gap rather than just a missing nice-to-have.
Where BIMI displays
If your audience uses Apple Mail at meaningful scale, the VMC is necessary to capture that audience's display. If your audience is primarily Gmail and Yahoo, BIMI without VMC captures most of the value. Many B2C senders end up choosing the VMC path because the audience mix justifies it; B2B senders sometimes start without VMC and add later if they see Apple Mail in their open data.
What we do, step by step
We verify your DMARC posture. If you are not yet at p=quarantine or p=reject, we either pause the BIMI work until DMARC enforcement is achieved (we can do that work as a separate engagement) or you confirm timing for in-flight DMARC work that will reach enforcement before BIMI publication.
Your existing brand logo gets converted to the SVG Tiny PS profile. This is a constrained subset of SVG: no gradients (or limited gradient profiles), no embedded raster, paths only, specific viewBox dimensions, file size under 32 KB. Most brand logos need real conversion work; we either do this from your source files or work with your design team's preferred output. Final SVG passes the BIMI Group validator.
Verified Mark Certificate from DigiCert or Entrust. The CA validates trademark ownership against the relevant registry (USPTO for US trademarks, EUIPO for EU, country-specific elsewhere). You provide the trademark certificate and corporate documentation; we coordinate the certificate issuance and embedding. Typical timeline: 2–4 weeks from documentation submission to certificate issuance.
SVG and (if applicable) VMC are hosted on HTTPS endpoints under your control or ours. The BIMI TXT record is published in DNS at default._bimi.yourdomain.com, pointing at the SVG URL and (if applicable) the VMC PEM URL. DNS propagation completes in 24–48 hours.
We send test messages to monitored inboxes at Gmail, Yahoo, Apple Mail, and Fastmail and confirm display. We document the validated state for your records. From this point forward your campaigns send with BIMI active — no per-message work required.
Packages
For Gmail, Yahoo, Fastmail audiences
- SVG Tiny PS preparation
- BIMI hosting setup
- DNS record publication
- Cross-provider validation
- 30-day post-launch support
Apple Mail will not display without VMC. Add VMC later if needed.
Full coverage including Apple Mail
- Everything in BIMI without VMC
- VMC procurement coordination
- Trademark documentation review
- VMC embedding in BIMI record
- Apple Mail validation
- 90-day post-launch support
CA fees (DigiCert/Entrust) passed through at cost, typically €1,300–1,800/year.
3+ domains or complex trademark scope
- Multiple sending domains
- Multi-trademark VMC
- Group BIMI strategy
- Annual maintenance contract
- Dedicated TAM
Implementation packs are one-time fees. Optional annual maintenance (€290/year per domain) covers VMC renewal coordination, ongoing validation monitoring, and re-validation when DMARC posture or DNS configuration changes.
Common BIMI gotchas we handle
- Logo doesn't fit SVG Tiny PS profile. Most brand logos need real path work. We do the conversion or guide your design team through it.
- VMC requires registered trademark. If your trademark is in application but not yet registered, VMC issuance has to wait. We help you understand the gap.
- DMARC at p=quarantine but with low pct. CAs may push back if pct is below 100. We confirm enforcement quality before BIMI publication.
- Subdomain BIMI vs root domain BIMI. If you send from
marketing.example.comandbilling.example.com, each subdomain typically needs its own BIMI record (or a clear inheritance pattern). - SVG hosted with mixed-content issues. The SVG must be on HTTPS with valid certificate; HTTP-hosted SVGs do not validate.
Ready for verified logo display?
Tell us your domain and trademark situation. We'll tell you within a day whether VMC makes sense for your audience and what the timeline looks like end-to-end.