Bimi May Boost Brand Safety—and Email Open Rates

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Brand logos are now linked to legitimate domains according to a new standard specification. It has the potential to boost email trust and help people avoid phishing scams.

BIMI is a new email standard that appears to be gaining traction, with Google announcing a Gmail testing lately.

It allows businesses to include their logo alongside messages in recipients' inboxes as proof of authenticity.

BIMI is based on DMARC, and to use it, a sending domain must have a DMARC policy in place.

BIMI, or Brand Indicators for Message Identification, is a new standard specification that can help businesses develop confidence in their email messages while also making them stand out. With phishing email schemes on the rise—and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic—BIMI might help brands stay safe by increasing recipients' trust in authentic brand messages.

According to marketing industry benchmarks based on pooled data, brands report an average email open rate of around 20%. However, even maintaining that batting average may be challenging.Of course, people receive an excessive amount of emails. Still, there's ...
... also an increase in the incidence—and awareness—of phishing emails, particularly business email compromise (BEC) scams, in which a criminal spoofs a company's or its partner's email address and website and impersonates a company executive.

Email fraud is on the rise, as is the financial and reputational cost it exacts. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 23,775 complaints of business email intrusion in 2019, resulting in losses of $1.7 billion. As a result, businesses are encouraging employees and customers to be cautious about opening emails to combat BEC, and this caution might result in legitimate emails being ignored.

How BIMI Helps Protect Brand Safety

By showing a brand's emblem in authentic email communications, BIMI helps maintain brand safety and establish trust by giving recipients a visual indicator that the message is truly from that business. The cryptographically secured third-party-issued certificate ensures that a message hails from a trusted sender.

DMARC, email authentication and reporting mechanism based on the SPF and DKIM standards, is used by BIMI for strong authentication. Although BIMI is not a security solution in and of itself, its widespread use over time could reduce the incidence of email compromise by allowing users to more easily distinguish legal messages from phishing emails and other scams.

"BIMI adds another degree of trust—legitimate emails will be much easier for end-users/receivers to identify. BIMI is also a huge positive for email marketers because it's expected to boost open rates and help create a better brand experience with each email communication."

How BIMI Works

Without BIMI, it is feasible to link a brand logo to an email, but it isn't easy. Email providers must develop their logo management and display system to accommodate the many different brand and logo combinations. As a result, complicated and proprietary technologies are created, which may or may not render a brand's logo correctly.

Companies who want their logos to appear in their emails will need a Verified Mark Certificate given by a third party, according to BIMI (VMC). To receive a VMC, you must have a trademarked logo. The sender must then use DNS to publish brand claims for their email domains.

When an email is authenticated, the email provider searches DNS for the BIMI record that corresponds to it. If the record is present, the logo appears alongside the email in users' inboxes in a fashion that the client email application closely controls. It's vital to note that the email sender must have a DMARC, SPF (Sender Policy Framework) or DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) in place so that the source can be marked as trusted..

The logos themselves must be standardized to work with BIMI. Logos, for example, must be able to display at multiple resolutions and have features that aid in verification and security. Logos must likewise be square and saved in a version of the SVG format created by the BIMI Working Group (the SVG Tiny Portable/Secure profile). Script tags and external links are not permitted.

Growing Industry Support for BIMI

Google Cloud announced a BIMI pilot for G Suite in July, claiming that "BIMI improves the entire email ecosystem." Users and email security systems will have higher confidence in the source of emails if robust authentication is required. Senders will be able to utilize their brand trust and give a more immersive experience to their consumers.

VMCs, or Virtual Mark Certificates, will be used in the Google BIMI trial to verify a trademark logo's legitimacy associated with an email sender's domain.

Comcast, Fastmail, and Seznam.CZ have all declared that they will add BIMI compatibility to their offered mailboxes, according to the BIMI working group.

The Bottom Line

The BIMI specification, which is still in development, allows businesses to include a cryptographically secured logo next to their email messages. This should assist enterprises in getting their messages received by demonstrating that the email is real and helping the message stand out amid the myriad emails that clutter users' inboxes.The BIMI specification, which is still in development, allows businesses to include a cryptographically secured logo next to their email messages. It should assist enterprises in getting their messages received by demonstrating that the email is real and helping the message stand out amid the numerous emails that clutter users' inboxes.

Diligent, driven and resourceful technical leader, driving critical global Cyber Security deliveries in multimarket segment clients (BFSI, Manufacturing, Mining, Pharma, Transportation, FMCG). Responsible for global technology roadmap development and delivery for multinational, GBP 22 Billion company in over 180 countries. Holding extensive Cyber Security, technical, and business experience.