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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
Today, let’s define the acronym BIMI, aka “Brand Indicators for Message Identification.”Let’s go straight to the folks who have created the BIMI specs, the Authindicators Working Group. From their website: “Brand Indicators for Message Identification is an emerging email specification that enables the use of brand-controlled logos within supporting email clients.”What? It’s a way to publish a logo that will show up next to email messages you send.Why? To increase branding, increase customer confidence that your emails are legitimate, and it can increase engagement.How? First, you must secure your domain with DMARC (and that DMARC policy must be a “strong” one, aka “quarantine” or “reject”). You must purchase a “verified mark certificate” (required by some BIMI-supporting mailbox providers, though not all) to prove that your logo is properly trademarked, and then you need to publish a version of your logo in a special limited vector graphics format. BIMI is supported by
What’s an ANIBIMI? A completely fake term that I just made up! It’s not a BIMI — it’s an animated user image for a Google profile, and (at least until Google decides they don’t like this any more) it’s your way to make an animated BIMI-like logo that will display for Gmail subscribers (only).Repeat after me: This is not actually a BIMI logo! You should still implement a BIMI logo! Especially since Apple’s jumping on the BIMI bandwagon. But since a lot of people have asked about animated profile images lately, I thought I would share this fun little trick. (And keep in mind that you can set this up and use it as a potential stopgap until you get that VMC certificate and are able to fully implement BIMI.)Create an animated GIF. There are lots of tools online that’ll help you with this, like EZGif, Imgflip or Canva. Because I’m
Obtaining a VMC (Verified Mark Certificate) can be a hurdle for folks who want to implement a BIMI logo. You can proceed without it, but if you do, while your logo likely will show up in Yahoo Mail and Fastmail, but it isn’t going to show up in Gmail, as Google has made a VMC cert a requirement for their BIMI installation.If you don’t have a VMC today — here’s how you can work around that, and implement a BIMI-like sender logo display for Fastmail, Yahoo and Gmail.First, do set up a BIMI record, even though you don’t have a VMC. Here are logo requirements, and here’s what you need to setup the overall DNS record, including authentication-related prerequisites.That’ll cover you for Yahoo and Fastmail. Now, Gmail. Note that this Gmail workaround is NOT A BIMI LOGO — I don’t want anybody to get mad at me, thinking I’m trying…
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a BIMI status update, and things are changing! Things are standardizing! Things are getting good. So, let’s get right to it…