As an email marketer, your primary objective is to get your message across to your target audience. However, despite creating compelling email campaigns, if your emails end up in the spam folder, all your efforts would have been in vain.
That's where email deliverability comes in. Email deliverability refers to the ability of your emails to land in your subscribers' inboxes. Previously we have discussed the more established methods of authentication, but one of the latest technologies that can enhance email deliverability is BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification). In this article, we'll explore what it is and how it works.
BIMI is an email authentication protocol that leverages brand logos to authenticate the sender's identity, which builds upon the DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) standard, which enables email clients to authenticate the sender's domain name.
It allows email marketers to display their brand logo alongside email messages in the recipient's inbox, subject to the email passing DMARC authentication, adding an additional level of protection.
Bimigroup.org have a great set of resources including an implementation guide along with supporting documents that they keep up to date.
First you must establish DMARC authentication for your domain name, with the policy set at least to 'quarantine'.
And remember! DMARC requires that SPF or DKIM has been implemented correctly as a standard so that’s two layers of protection that are required in order to proceed.
After setting up DMARC, you can generate a BIMI record that specifies the location of your brand's logo. This record is then publicly available in your domain's DNS (Domain Name System).
The recipient's email client verifies the sender's DMARC record whenever an email is transmitted. If the email passes, the email client then searches for a BIMI record in the sender's DNS, and if found, the email client exhibits the sender's logo and the email message.
First and foremost, it enhances email deliverability by improving the sender's reputation and trustworthiness, aided by the fact that it requires SPF or DKIM and DMARC to succeed.
Also, you increase brand recognition and recall by displaying your brand logo in the recipient's inbox, and this can in turn help improve your email open and click-through rates.
The resulting improvement in engagement can also lead to better deliverability providing other best practices are also maintained.
Lastly it can also help prevent email phishing attacks as it provides an extra method for verifying the sender's identity.
What sounds like a bad children’s book is actually a serious case for making sure that you have authentication implemented correctly.
In June, 2023, a security architect named Chris Plummer was able to send an email that appeared to come from UPS, managing to trick gmail to include the UPS logo and blue check.
The official statement clarifies that the issue stems from a vulnerability that can occur if SPF is not implemented or if it has been implemented incorrectly. Gmail made some changes as a result and now DKIM is a necessary requirement as a part of your DMARC alignment, where previously SPF was also acceptable.
BIMI is a cutting-edge technology that can significantly enhance email deliverability. You can boost brand recognition and recall by showcasing your brand logo in the recipient's inbox, heighten email open rates and click-through rates, and thwart email phishing attacks. As an email marketer, it's prudent to implement it to stay at the forefront and enhance the efficacy of your email campaigns.
Nobody wants to be scammed. We all want to improve subscriber engagement and deliverability that is the best it can be. Get in touch with InboxWizards today, and we can help you set up authentication correctly, troubleshoot any existing problems you might have and monitor your deliverability, ensuring that any future issues are dealt with quickly and effectively.