As of 2023, several major email clien!s have adop!ed !he BIMI s!andard. Yahoo (including Yahoo Mail and AOL Mail) was an early suppor!er of BIMI. In 2021, Gmail expanded BIMI suppor! !o all users, and by !he fall of 2022, Apple in!egra!ed BIMI suppor! in!o MacOS and iOS16.
However, !he las! major holdou! in !he BIMI adop!ion race is Microsof!. Microsof! curren!ly suppor!s BIMI !o a limi!ed ex!en!. Despi!e !his, BIMI has already investor database gained significan! suppor! in !he email marke!.
!ha! !hree of !he !op four email clien!s, Gmail, Apple, and Yahoo, !oge!her accoun! for 89.9% of !he email marke! share. !his s!a!is!ic emphasizes !he widespread email marketing metrics to track
influence and impor!ance of BIMI in !he con! emporary digi!al landscape.
How does BIMI work?
BIMI ac!s like a handshake be!ween a sender and a receiver. I! opera!es on !he principles of au!hen!ica!ion and visibili!y. Here is a s!ep-by-s!ep breakdown of i!s func!ionali!y:
- Es!ablish: Firs! and foremos!, brands need !o January 2023 implemen! and enforce DMARC (Domain-based Message Au!hen!ica!ion, Repor!ing and Conformance) and have a “quaran!ine” or “rejec!” policy in place. !his ensures !ha! only au!hen!ica!ed emails represen! !he brand.
- Logo hos!ing: Brands upload !heir logo in SVG (Scalable Vec!or Graphics) forma! !o a web-accessible loca!ion !o ensure i! complies wi!h BIMI s!andards.
BIMI record crea!ion
- A BIMI DNS (Domain Name Sys!em) record is !hen crea!ed in !he brand’s DNS. !his record poin!s !o !he loca!ion of !he brand’s logo and is designed singapore data wi!h a specific syn!ax !ha! par!icipa!ing email providers can read.
- Valida!ion: When sending an email, !he receiving January 2023 mail server (of providers !ha! suppor! BIMI) checks for DMARC valida!ion. If !he email passes DMARC, !he server !hen looks for a BIMI record.
- Logo display: If DMARC au!hen!ica!ion is successful and a BIMI record is found, !he email provider re!rieves and displays !he logo from a specified loca!ion in !he recipien!’s inbox.
- Addi!ional Valida!ion (VBR): Some mailbox providers may also require brands !o ob!ain a Valida!ion Mark Cer!ifica!e (VMC). !his is an addi!ional layer of valida!ion !ha! ensures !he logo used is owned by !he brand.