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What is BIMI?

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is an email standard that lets you display your brand’s logo next to your emails in the recipient’s inbox. Instead of a generic avatar or initials, recipients see your actual logo — making your emails instantly recognizable.
Example of a BIMI logo displayed next to an email in the inbox.
BIMI is a visual trust signal. It shows recipients that the email is legitimately from your organization and has passed email authentication checks.

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How BIMI works

BIMI builds on top of DMARC. Here’s the chain of trust:
  1. SPF and DKIM authenticate the email
  2. DMARC enforces a policy (quarantine or reject) on failing emails
  3. BIMI tells the email client where to find your logo
  4. The email client verifies the DMARC policy is enforced, then displays the logo
Without a strong DMARC policy, BIMI won’t work. This is by design — BIMI is a reward for properly authenticating your email. 
SPF + DKIM → DMARC (quarantine or reject) → BIMI → Logo displayed

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Prerequisites

Before implementing BIMI, you need:
  1. A verified domain in SendKit with SPF and DKIM passing
  2. A DMARC record with p=quarantine or p=reject at pct=100. See the DMARC guide
  3. A logo in SVG Tiny PS format (more details below)
  4. A mark certificate (VMC or CMC) from a supported certificate authority

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Email client support

Not all email clients support BIMI. Here’s the current support:
Email clientVMC (Verified Mark Certificate)CMC (Common Mark Certificate)
GmailYesYes
Apple MailYesYes
Yahoo MailYesYes
Outlook (new)Coming soonComing soon
VMC requires a registered trademark. CMC is an alternative for organizations without a trademark — it requires demonstrating at least one year of consistent logo use.

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Implementing BIMI

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Step 1: Enforce DMARC

Your DMARC record must have p=quarantine or p=reject with pct=100 (all emails). If you’re still on p=none, follow the DMARC guide to upgrade your policy first. 
v=DMARC1; p=reject; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com;
Your logo must meet these requirements:
  • Format: SVG Tiny PS (Portable/Secure) — a specific subset of SVG
  • Shape: Square aspect ratio
  • Background: Solid, non-transparent background (the logo will be displayed in a circle or square depending on the email client)
  • Size: Keep it under 32 KB
A regular SVG file won’t work. It must be specifically in the SVG Tiny PS format. Most certificate authorities provide tools to convert your logo.
Host the SVG file on your web server over HTTPS. For example: https://acme.com/brand/logo.svg

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Step 3: Obtain a mark certificate

A mark certificate proves that you own the logo. There are two types: VMC (Verified Mark Certificate) — requires a registered trademark with an intellectual property office recognized by the certificate authority. CMC (Common Mark Certificate) — for organizations without a registered trademark. Requires demonstrating at least one year of consistent, visible use of the logo. You can obtain certificates from:
  • DigiCert
  • GlobalSign
  • SSL.com
The certificate authority will validate your logo ownership and issue a PEM certificate file. Host it on your web server over HTTPS alongside your logo.

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Step 4: Add the BIMI DNS record

Add a TXT record to your DNS:
FieldValue
TypeTXT
Namedefault._bimi.yourdomain.com
Valuev=BIMI1; l=https://acme.com/brand/logo.svg; a=https://acme.com/brand/certificate.pem;
TTL3600
Replace the URLs with your actual logo and certificate locations.

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BIMI record parameters

ParameterRequiredDescription
vYesVersion. Always BIMI1
lYesURL to your logo in SVG Tiny PS format (must be HTTPS)
aYesURL to your VMC or CMC certificate in PEM format (must be HTTPS)

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Verifying your BIMI record

After adding the DNS record, it may take a few days for email clients to start displaying your logo. You can verify your setup by:
  1. Sending a test email to a Gmail or Yahoo address
  2. Checking the email headers for bimi=pass in the Authentication-Results
  3. Looking for your logo next to the email in the inbox
Gmail may cache BIMI lookups. If your logo doesn’t appear immediately, wait 24–48 hours and try again.

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FAQ

The DNS record is free. However, you need a mark certificate (VMC or CMC), which is a paid certificate from a certificate authority. Prices vary by provider.
Not necessarily. A VMC requires a registered trademark, but a CMC only requires one year of demonstrated logo use. The CMC option makes BIMI accessible to smaller organizations.
BIMI won’t work. Email clients require p=quarantine or p=reject at pct=100 before they’ll display BIMI logos. This ensures that only properly authenticated senders can show their logo.
BIMI supports selectors, so you could in theory use different logos. In practice, most organizations use a single default selector with one logo for consistency.