After Yahoo who were the first, followed by Fastmail and Gmail since mid 2021, La Poste is the first major French MSP (Mailbox Service Provider) to implement BIMI since August 29, 2022. And Apple has recently announced it will soon support BIMI too!
BIMI, a specification for greater trust in messaging systems and a marketing asset
BIMI stands for Brand Indicators for Message Identification.
Today, BIMI has not yet been standardized by IETF (the organization that oversees web guidelines), but the project is underway.
Protecting emails with DMARC
BIMI was born out of the desire to speed up the use of the DMARC standard to fight phishing.
DMARC is a protocol. It strengthens email protection in two steps. First, by analyzing the domain name. Then, DMARC follows instructions on how to handle emails that are not aligned with SPF and DKIM protocols.
This authentication protocol greatly reduces phishing attempts.
If the DMARC protocol (and by extension, SPF and DKIM) is compliant, BIMI allows brand logos to be displayed.
Few companies still do this, because the providers (such as webmails, email clients…) were not yet able to display them. However, with La Poste, but especially with Apple now supporting it, the value of implementing BIMI will significantly increase.
Adding a logo increases the visibility of the brand and naturally encourages companies to implement DMARC.
How do webmails display brand logos?
Every email received by an email service provider will be authenticated using DMARC. If the message is successfully authenticated, the email provider will query the DNS for a matching BIMI record.
If a BIMI record is found, the provider can use branding, including its logo along with the message.
NOTE: Each email service provider has its own set of guidelines for the display of a domain’s BIMI logo.
Bimi Group has created a Sender FAQ to provide full details and delivery times.
BIMI allows you to
- Display your logo in emails
- Manage the logo displayed in the mailboxes supporting BIMI
- Instantly identify the sender of an email
- Provide users with proof that the email is safe.
La Poste, the first major French player
Since August 29, 2022, Laposte.net supports BIMI and displays the logos of domain names that have set BIMI.
To display logos, La Poste supports images with a verified mark certificate (VMC). This certificate is issued by DigiCert or Entrust.
For those that do not have this certificate, the “self-declared” BIMI records can also be displayed.
If the domain is self-declared, the owner of the domain will have to contact La Poste to have it reviewed for approval.
For now, BIMI is only supported on webmail, but the mobile app should soon follow.
Below is the render on webmail:
Apple, a major new global player
On September 12, 2022, Apple announced:
It will now support BIMI on iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura 13 or later, and on iCloud.com. This is a significant step forward for BIMI given Apple’s market share.
Apple’s Mail client accounts for 90.5% and macOS’ Desktop Mail client accounts for 58.4% of the market according to Litmus.
To support BIMI and thus have your logo displayed on Apple, you will need:
- A DMARC setup with a quarantine or reject policy.
- The logo will also have to have a VMC (Verified Mark Certificate)
Mailbox Service Providers that make it easy to identify senders with BIMI
Today, some Mailbox Service Providers (MSP) support BIMI. Others have announced they are working on the feature. Only a few have not yet decided to support BIMI.
Mailbox Service Providers that support BIMI
- Apple (since fall 2022)
- Fastmail with Pobox
- Google with Gmail and Google Workspace
- Yahoo! Aol. and Netscape
- La Poste
Mailbox Service Providers working on supporting BIMI
- Atmail
- BT
- Comcast
- Qualita
- Seznam.cz
- GMX
- Yahoo! japan
Mailbox Service Providers that do not support BIMI
- Microsoft with Outlook and Office 365
The main email service providers that support BIMI are mainly American. But France is now starting to follow with the La Poste.
Contact our teams to have your logo displayed on webmails!