BIMI — show your logo in Gmail

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification)

BIMI is an email authentication standard that lets receivers display your company logo next to your emails in the inbox. Gmail, Apple Mail, and Yahoo support it.

This is a premium trust signal. Customers who see your logo are much more likely to engage vs. a generic initial avatar.

Prerequisites

1. DMARC at `p=quarantine` or `p=reject` — BIMI ignores p=none. Finish the DMARC progression first.
2. An SVG version of your logo — SVG Tiny Portable/Secure (SVG-PS 1.2), ≤32KB, 1:1 aspect ratio. Most graphic design tools export a conforming file.
3. A signed logo certificate — either:

• VMC (Verified Mark Certificate) — the full standard, displayed by Gmail + Apple Mail + Yahoo. Requires a registered trademark. ~$1,500/year.
• CMC (Common Mark Certificate) — a cheaper alternative, displayed by Gmail only (not Apple Mail/Yahoo). No trademark required. ~$800/year.

Vendors: DigiCert, Entrust.

Steps

1. Prepare the SVG.

Must be SVG Tiny PS 1.2. Validate with bimigroup.org/svg-validator. Fix any errors before proceeding.

2. Apply for the certificate.

DigiCert/Entrust will ask for:

• Your domain (yourdomain.com).
• A copy of the SVG.
• Trademark registration docs (VMC only).
• Business verification (company registration, etc.).

Approval takes 5–15 business days for VMC, 1–3 days for CMC.

3. Host the SVG + PEM.

When the certificate arrives, you'll have two files:

• logo.svg
• certificate.pem

Upload both to a public HTTPS URL. On Enterprise plans, WRRK hosts these for you on our CloudFront distribution. On self-serve plans, host on your own infrastructure (S3 + CloudFront, Cloudflare R2, etc.).

4. Add the BIMI TXT record.

Type: TXT
Name: default._bimi
Value: "v=BIMI1; l=https://assets.yourdomain.com/bimi/logo.svg; a=https://assets.yourdomain.com/bimi/certificate.pem"
TTL: 3600

The l= URL points to your SVG. The a= URL points to the certificate.

5. Verify.

After DNS propagates (minutes to hours), send a test email to a Gmail inbox. Your logo should appear next to the sender name. If not, check:

• DMARC is at p=quarantine or p=reject (not p=none).
• SVG loads over HTTPS (no mixed-content issues).
• Certificate is valid (not expired, matches the domain).
• Gmail account has BIMI display enabled (some users disable it).

Enterprise plan BIMI-as-a-service

On Enterprise, you can upload your SVG and CMC certificate to WRRK and we publish the BIMI TXT record + host the assets. The admin dashboard at /admin/deliverability has a BIMI tab showing your current config.

Troubleshooting

Logo appears for some users but not others — Gmail rolls out BIMI display gradually. A logo that shows for you may take 24–48 hours to propagate to all users.

"Logo not showing after 48 hours" — BIMI silently fails on policy violations. Re-check DMARC status, certificate validity, SVG conformance. The BIMI Inspector will flag most issues.

"Our domain has a trademark but VMC was rejected" — Common reason: trademark class mismatch (e.g. you have a Class 42 software trademark but applied under Class 35). Work with the certificate authority to reconcile.