Al Iverson
Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) is an email spec that allows email senders to display a brand or company logo alongside email messages when displayed in different email applications and webmail platforms. It helps to promote trust and security by requiring proper underpinnings of email authentication and a Yahoo study indicated that the logo display can increase chances that recipients will interact with your email messages. The BIMI specification is overseen by a collaborative email industry group known as the AuthIndicators Working Group, comprised of email senders, email receivers, email security and deliverability experts. Which mailbox providers and webmail platforms will display BIMI logos? As of January 2024: Supports BIMI: Apple (iOS and MacOS email clients), Cloudmark, Fastmail, Gmail, La Poste, Onet Poczta, Yahoo Mail and Zone. (This also includes Pobox, AOL/Netscape, and Google for Business/Gsuite mailboxes). Considering BIMI Support: atmail, BT, Comcast, Qualitia, Seznam.cz, GMX/Web.de, Yahoo Japan. Does not support BIMI: Microsoft. Implementation Considerations:
Salesforce Pardot (aka “Marketing Cloud Account Engagement”) is a B2B-focused marketing automation tool meant to help companies nurture leads and build engaged email relationships with their subscribers. If you’re a Pardot user and wondering how do I set myself up for deliverability success? And how do I know ongoing if I’m having deliverability challenges or not? Then this content is perfect for you. In this fifteen minute recorded webinar, I’ll walk you through the deliverability basics when it comes to the Salesforce Pardot platform. Find the recording on Youtube or embedded below, and thanks for watching! For ease of navigation, below I have included all of the different links I referenced in the recorded webinar. Happy surfing! Configure DKIM authentication in Pardot. “Warm up” your IP and domain in Pardot. More on 2024 Yahoo and Gmail sender requirements. Opt-in performs better. Should I use a purchased email list? Pardot Reporting
Reporting is an important part of DMARC. It provides valuable feedback from mailbox providers to help you identify any problems with authentication of your legitimate emails, and allows you to monitor for fraudulent email misuse of your domain name. But lots of people set up DMARC without understanding the reporting component — I myself have been guilty of simply routing DMARC reports (which tend to comprise a low volume if emails containing XML-formatted data attachments) to a folder or mailbox to review them “someday.” And if that day ever comes, I figure it would be good to understand what I’m looking at as far as the two different types of DMARC reporting — and why, ultimately, RUA (aggregate) reporting is all I (and you) should rely on. When creating a “reporting address” for your DMARC record, you might notice that there are two different “reporting” fields in the DMARC record
Here’s a link to DMARCian’s DMARC Dictionary. Say that ten times fast! Then bookmark it, because it’ll come in handy as you navigate this new world of DMARC. And don’t forget to keep their DMARC Inspector link handy, too.
Time to decode another deliverability acronym. Today, we’re going to talk about VMC, which stands for “Verified Mark Certificate.” A VMC is something that a domain owner will purchase to go along with their BIMI (“Brand Indicators for Message Identification”) sender logo implementation. BIMI is the specification to allow a domain owner to publish details of a logo meant to show up in the inbox next to email sends from that domain. VMC is a certificate purchased from and issued by either DigiCert or Entrust. The purchase process involves either of those companies verifying that you are who you say you are, and that your logo is appropriately trademarked. VMC is an optional add on to the BIMI specification. However, Apple and Gmail will only display BIMI logos for domains that have implemented the Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) process. No VMC means no BIMI logo in Gmail or on Apple
With over nine years experience at Google, Neil Kumaran has worked across multiple teams, but always focused on things close to my heart – risk mitigation, security, safety and anti-abuse. It is thus timely that he was willing to sit down and chat with me about the upcoming new Gmail sender requirements, the initial phase of which is set to begin in February. I think it’s easy for most (good) email senders to comply. I do grant, though, that there are some number of email senders who may not be technically savvy enough to know how to implement technologies like DKIM and DMARC on their own, and that work remains to be done to help educate the world about these new requirements. Hopefully discussions like this will help. And keep an eye on Spam Resource for more help and guidance. And with no further ado, on to the interview. Hey
It’s time for another Webinar Rewind! Recently I presented (alongside Jesse Kennedy) a live webinar specifically meant to help AWeber users get up to speed on the new sender requirements brought to us by Yahoo and Google. With a focus on the specifics of what buttons to push, what text to paste into what field, even where and how to buy a domain — from start to finish, how to configure your email domain so that your AWeber email sends are fully in compliance with the new email authentication requirements. If you missed it, don’t fret! You can find the recording here and embedded below. We made sure to save time to take your questions, and did a bunch of live poking at email authentication and domain DNS settings, so you could see us push the buttons that you yourself need to push to get everything in place. As an
DMARC — and specifically, DKIM and DMARC compliance with the new Gmail and Yahoo Mail Requirements — these are a very hot topic for 2024! I’ve been talking about all of this quite a bit lately and I don’t see that letting up any time soon. Want to get in on the action? Here’s your chance. On January 10th, 2024, LB Blair from Email Industries and yours truly (Al Iverson) presented a live webinar on this very topic: DMARC-Pocalypse Now: What you need to know about DMARC and new Yahoo/Gmail requirements . Explaining what DMARC is, why you need it, what to be aware of as far as implementing it — prerequisites, risks, policy settings, reporting annoyances, all that jazz. We didn’t focus on just a single email sending or newsletter send platform — it was more of a technical overview of what any savvy sender might need to know
Here is everything you need to know (I think? I hope?) about how to comply with the new sender requirements announced by Google and Yahoo, applying to Gmail and Yahoo mail, coming into force in early 2024. You can read more about it all here (and over at Yahoo or Google), but it boils down to a handful of things that were previously best practice recommendations for deliverability excellence, which are now requirements that these two mailbox providers are saying that senders must implement. Those that don’t implement these requirements risk being blocked and unable to send mail to Yahoo Mail and Gmail subscribers. Here are the ten steps you need to take, that if you follow these all the way through, you’ll be fully compliant with the new requirements. Stop sending newsletter/marketing/bulk mail as Gmail or Yahoo. For your 1:1 email messaging where you respond to emails from your
Here’s a directory of many different email service provider (ESP) links to their various guides explaining what their clients have to do to be fully compliant with the new 2024 Yahoo / Google sender requirements. Wondering how different platforms are guiding their customers? Or are you a customer of a given platform and you’re looking to find their guidance? Here you go. AWeber Beehiiv BenchmarkEmail Braze Brevo Constant Contact ConvertKit GetResponse HubSpot Klaviyo Mailchimp MailerLite MessageBird Sender Sendgrid Socketlabs There are lots more ESP/CRM platforms out there. Did I miss yours? Drop me a line via the usual means or leave a comment below with details, and I’ll update this list as I’m able.