Does BIMI directly improve email deliverability?

BIMI's primary impact is on email engagement by displaying your brand's logo in the inbox, leading to increased trust and recognition. While it doesn't directly improve deliverability, the stronger authentication required for BIMI (like DMARC) does contribute to better inbox placement and reduced blocklisting.

What are the key requirements for implementing BIMI?

BIMI requires a DMARC policy set to enforcement (p=quarantine or p=reject), along with correctly configured SPF and DKIM. You'll also need a BIMI DNS record pointing to your SVG logo file, and for most major mailbox providers, a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) from an accredited certificate authority.

How does BIMI affect email engagement?

Yes, a verified brand logo in the inbox significantly enhances brand recognition. This visual cue helps your emails stand out, fostering greater recipient trust and often leading to higher open rates and click-through rates. This directly improves your email engagement metrics .

Which email clients support BIMI?

Not all email clients and mailbox providers currently support BIMI. Major supporters include Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Apple Mail. You should check the current list of BIMI-supported email clients to understand your audience's potential for seeing your logo.

Does BIMI improve email deliverability and engagement? - Sender reputation - Email deliverability - Knowledge base

When Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) first emerged, it quickly became a hot topic in the email world. The promise of displaying your brand's logo directly in the recipient's inbox was exciting, suggesting a new era of brand recognition and trust. However, the exact impact of BIMI on critical metrics like email deliverability and engagement has often been misunderstood, leading to some confusion about its true value.

My aim here is to clarify what BIMI actually does and what it doesn't. While it's not a direct deliverability booster in the same way that strong authentication protocols are, its influence on how recipients perceive and interact with your emails can certainly have beneficial ripple effects. Understanding this distinction is key to leveraging BIMI effectively in your email strategy.

BIMI's role in email security

BIMI, at its core, is a visual trust indicator, not an authentication protocol itself. To implement BIMI, a domain must first have robust email authentication set up, specifically SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. DMARC, in particular, must be enforced at a policy of quarantine (p=quarantine) or reject (p=reject). This rigorous authentication ensures that only legitimate senders can display their logo, preventing impersonation and enhancing security.

Because BIMI relies on these foundational security measures, it indirectly reinforces the importance of proper email authentication. Strong authentication is a critical factor in deliverability, as it helps mailbox providers verify the legitimacy of your emails. Without it, your emails are much more likely to be flagged as spam or rejected outright, meaning they could end up on a blocklist or blacklist.

However, it's crucial to understand that BIMI itself doesn't directly influence whether an email lands in the inbox. It doesn't modify the sending process or authentication checks. Instead, it acts as a visual signal that an email has passed these checks, essentially serving as a reward for having a properly authenticated sending infrastructure. This distinction is vital when discussing the impact on email deliverability.

The direct impact on engagement

Where BIMI truly shines is in its ability to boost email engagement. By displaying your brand's logo next to your sender name in the inbox, BIMI creates immediate brand recognition. In a crowded inbox filled with generic sender icons, a recognizable logo helps your email stand out, making it more likely for recipients to notice and engage with it.

This enhanced visibility often translates into higher open rates. When recipients instantly recognize and trust the sender, they are more inclined to open the email. A case study by Red Sift with TalkTalk showed a 4-6% improvement in email engagement after BIMI implementation. Similarly, a report from Entrust, a BIMI certificate authority, highlighted that BIMI-enabled emails experienced an increase in both open and click-through rates. This confirms the positive impact BIMI has on engagement metrics.

Beyond simply opening emails, increased trust fostered by a verified logo can also lead to higher click-through rates and conversions. Recipients are more likely to interact with content, click on links, and ultimately complete desired actions when they feel secure about the sender's identity. This visual verification reduces the cognitive load on the recipient, making their decision to engage quicker and more confident.

Before BIMI

Emails typically displayed a generic avatar or the first letter of the sender's name in the inbox. This offered no immediate visual cue of brand authenticity or recognition.

Reliance solely on sender name and subject line to capture attention, leading to potentially lower open rates in crowded inboxes.

After BIMI

Emails authenticated via DMARC display a verified brand logo, enhancing brand visibility and providing instant trust signals to recipients. This makes emails stand out, especially in providers like

Gmail and

Yahoo Mail.

Increased recipient confidence often leads to higher engagement rates, including improved open rates, click-through rates, and overall interaction with your email content.

Indirect deliverability benefits

While BIMI doesn't directly influence whether an email goes to the inbox, its positive impact on engagement can, in turn, indirectly boost deliverability. Mailbox providers closely monitor how recipients interact with your emails. Higher engagement metrics, such as open rates and click-through rates, send positive signals to ISPs about your sending reputation.

Conversely, a lack of engagement, or worse, high spam complaint rates, can negatively affect your sender reputation, leading to more emails landing in the spam folder or on an email blacklist. By making your emails more appealing and trustworthy, BIMI helps reduce the likelihood of recipients marking your messages as spam. This reduction in spam complaints is a direct positive signal to ISPs, which can then improve your overall inbox placement.

It's also worth noting that the prerequisite for BIMI, strong DMARC enforcement, inherently improves deliverability. DMARC helps protect your domain from spoofing and phishing, ensuring that only authenticated emails are delivered with your brand's identity. This commitment to security, signaled by a DMARC policy at quarantine or reject, is viewed favorably by mailbox providers, contributing to a healthier sending reputation and better deliverability, reducing the chances of your emails appearing on a blocklist (or blacklist).

Maximizing BIMI's benefits

Implement strong authentication: Ensure your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly configured and your DMARC policy is set to p=quarantine or p=reject.
Obtain a VMC: A Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) is required by most major mailbox providers to display your logo with BIMI.
Optimize your logo: Ensure your logo is in SVG format and meets the specific requirements for BIMI, including being square and having a solid background.
Monitor performance: Track your engagement metrics, such as open and click-through rates, before and after BIMI implementation to measure its impact.

Implementing BIMI and key considerations

Implementing BIMI involves a few key steps beyond just setting up DMARC. The most significant additional requirement is obtaining a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC). A VMC is a digital certificate that verifies your ownership of the logo you wish to display, adding an extra layer of trust and security. This certificate must be issued by a recognized certificate authority.

While the concept of BIMI is straightforward, the implementation process can be complex. It requires precise configuration of DNS records, validation of your logo as an SVG file, and the aforementioned VMC. Not all email clients or mailbox providers currently support BIMI, although

Gmail and

Yahoo Mail are prominent supporters. This means the visual benefit may not be universally experienced by all your recipients, limiting its immediate impact.

Despite the effort involved in BIMI implementation, the long-term benefits of enhanced brand visibility, trust, and potentially improved engagement metrics often outweigh the initial challenges. It's a strategic investment in your email marketing and overall brand identity.

Requirement	Impact on deliverability	Impact on engagement
DMARC enforcement (p=quarantine/reject)	Directly improves security and sender reputation, leading to better inbox placement and reduced blocklist risk.	Indirectly fosters trust; a prerequisite for visual brand recognition.
Verified mark certificate (VMC)	No direct impact on deliverability; confirms logo ownership for display.	Crucial for displaying logo in supported inboxes, significantly boosting trust and brand recognition.
BIMI DNS record	No direct impact on deliverability; signals to mailbox providers where to find your logo and VMC.	Enables the visual display of your brand logo, enhancing immediate recognition and recipient trust.
Supported mailbox providers	Deliverability impact is indirect, through improved engagement by recipients using supported clients like Google and Apple.	Directly impacts where your logo is seen, maximizing brand recognition and engagement with users of those clients.

Conclusion: A valuable addition to your email strategy

In summary, BIMI primarily enhances email engagement by providing a visual trust signal in the recipient's inbox. This increased brand recognition and confidence can lead to higher open and click-through rates. While BIMI itself isn't a direct technical factor for email deliverability, its reliance on robust authentication (especially DMARC enforcement) means that implementing it also reinforces practices that are crucial for good inbox placement and avoiding blocklists.

Therefore, while you might not see a direct deliverability boost solely from BIMI, the holistic improvements to your email program, driven by stronger authentication and better engagement, can certainly contribute to better long-term inbox performance. It's a powerful tool for brand building and fostering recipient trust, an essential component for effective email communication.