BIMI Captures Email Reader Attention.

• 08.02.2021 by Sebastian Kluth guest author @ www.inxmail.de and translated from original German language version here
  

  The Standard Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) brings the logo to your inbox. This ensures that relevant e-mails from well-known senders stand out against spam. Our guest author Sebastian Kluth of the Certified Senders Alliance (CSA) explains exactly how this works and what is technically necessary in this blog post.

  The number of emails that accumulate with the recipient in the inbox is increasing. Listed among themselves, it makes it harder for users to distinguish important from unimportant emails or spam. Subject lines are similar, and especially with promotional e-mails and newsletters, the shipping times overlap: Many messages appear simultaneously in the inbox. Getting the recipient’s attention in this jungle is a real challenge for Marketeers.

  However, the danger is much greater due to phishing mails, which are currently appearing better and technically optimized. Fraudsters shy away from nothing to provoke reckless clicks on dangerous links. The e-mail mailbox is still one of the biggest gateways for viruses and malware.

  BIMI provides more security and more attention for relevant emails in your inbox. If you meet the necessary technical standards, this “Brand Indicators for Message Identification” brings your own logo into the recipient’s inbox.

  Brand identity is reflected in your inbox

  BIMI marks the received e-mail with the respective logo of the brand. This gives the recipient confidence between all the spam emails to actually open the sender’s email. A strong logo has a high value for a brand. It gives the brand an identity, ensures trust in the customer and makes the brand present. For example, who doesn’t know Nike’s Swoosh or the bitten apple? It is therefore particularly important for a brand to show the logo as often as possible in order to use the existing trust in the brand and to create a high recognition value for the end customer. BIMI therefore has the following postive effects:

  1. The use of the brand logo increases the recognition value and uses the brand identity directly in the inbox.
  2. The technical capability verifies the brand and thus creates trust among the recipients.
  3. The strict requirements for BIMI authentication make it very difficult to abuse the brand domains and thus protect the brand and the recipient.

  The ability to display the logo in your inbox is well received: With BIMI, the world’s largest mailbox providers (MBP), including Google, Microsoft, and Verizon, have already introduced a cross-industry standard in email marketing. Google recently decided to make its email client Gmail more secure and is currently rolling out BIMI for customers.

  The way of an e-mail

  However, before an email ends up where the Marketeers believe it belongs, namely in the recipient’s inbox, it has a long journey behind it:

  1. On the one hand, there is the sender, in our case, for example, the marketing department of a brand. The sender has a great interest in ensuring that his advertising message reaches all addressees as far as possible and is also opened and read by them. The technical aspects behind the sending and delivery of his e-mails are too complex for him and have little relevance.
  2. This is usually done by a service provider, the e-mail service provider (ESP), for him. As a rule, the latter knows all the hurdles, such as authentication procedures,that an e-mail must take on the way to the recipient.
  3. Then there is the MBP, which accepts the e-mail on the recipient’s side and posts it to the addressee’s inbox – or not. The task of the MBP is to protect the addressees – i.e. their own customers – from spam and phishing attacks as effectively as possible and to deliver only those e-mails that are secure and relevant.
  4. And there is not least the addressee, who on the one hand wants to receive and read his e-mails, but on the other hand also wants to be effectively protected against spam and phishing.

  For BIMI to work, all instances from the sender to the receiver must support the BIMI standard technologically. Unfortunately, you can’t avoid technical framework conditions if you want to benefit from the added value of using BIMI.

  DMARC forms the basis

  Emails from senders using BIMI will only appear in the recipient’s inbox with the brand logo if you have previously successfully implemented Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC). And the receiving e-mail client must also support BIMI. The BIMI logo in the inbox is therefore a visible feature for the recipient for the protection of a brand’s domains. This gives him the certainty not to fall for a phishing or spoofing email.

  BIMI has advantages for all parties involved:

  • The brand benefits from the increased presence and visibility in the inbox.
  • The ESP protects its reputation by allowing e-mails sent via it to be uniquely assigned to a shipper.
  • The recipient can be sure that the received e-mail is actually from the sender and is not a phishing.

  The brand is effectively protected from abuse by phishing attacks that damage its reputation and the performance of its mailings. However, this is not entirely new. MBP has often developed individual procedures to display a brand’s logo in the email recipient’s inbox. With mixed success, because such a “single-handedness” is time-consuming for all involved: Each MBP must have its own archive of logos and the brand owners must ensure that all MBPs have the brand logo always up-to-date and in the format that suits the respective MBP.

  None of this is necessary at BIMI. BIMI is an open standard that anyone can implement and use. BIMI builds on the existing authentication standards Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and DMARC. And BIMI offers an additional advertising value to a brand due to the multiple placement of the logo, which will ultimately convince marketeers in particular, who have so far attached little importance to compliance with the technically necessary standards in e-mail sending. And it is precisely these standards that make e-mail more secure, not only protect the brand’s reputation, but also further enhance the brand’s reputation, and give recipients a safe feeling when reading their emails.

  Up-to-date information on DMARC, BIMI and all aspects of e-mail can be found on the website of the Certified Senders Alliance.

  With Inxmail on the safe side

  SPF, DKIM, DMARC and BIMI – Inxmail meets all of the above-mentioned quality features of the CSA. With us, you can count on your message to arrive in the recipient’s inbox. Contact usif you want to optimize the delivery of your newsletters and mailings.or)

The Standard Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) brings the logo to your inbox. This ensures that relevant e-mails from well-known senders stand out against spam. Our guest author Sebastian Kluth of the Certified Senders Alliance (CSA) explains exactly how this works and what is technically necessary in this blog post.

The number of emails that accumulate with the recipient in the inbox is increasing. Listed among themselves, it makes it harder for users to distinguish important from unimportant emails or spam. Subject lines are similar, and especially with promotional e-mails and newsletters, the shipping times overlap: Many messages appear simultaneously in the inbox. Getting the recipient’s attention in this jungle is a real challenge for Marketeers.

However, the danger is much greater due to phishing mails, which are currently appearing better and technically optimized. Fraudsters shy away from nothing to provoke reckless clicks on dangerous links. The e-mail mailbox is still one of the biggest gateways for viruses and malware.

BIMI provides more security and more attention for relevant emails in your inbox. If you meet the necessary technical standards, this “Brand Indicators for Message Identification” brings your own logo into the recipient’s inbox.

Brand identity is reflected in your inbox

BIMI marks the received e-mail with the respective logo of the brand. This gives the recipient confidence between all the spam emails to actually open the sender’s email. A strong logo has a high value for a brand. It gives the brand an identity, ensures trust in the customer and makes the brand present. For example, who doesn’t know Nike’s Swoosh or the bitten apple? It is therefore particularly important for a brand to show the logo as often as possible in order to use the existing trust in the brand and to create a high recognition value for the end customer. BIMI therefore has the following postive effects:

1. The use of the brand logo increases the recognition value and uses the brand identity directly in the inbox.
2. The technical capability verifies the brand and thus creates trust among the recipients.
3. The strict requirements for BIMI authentication make it very difficult to abuse the brand domains and thus protect the brand and the recipient.

The ability to display the logo in your inbox is well received: With BIMI, the world’s largest mailbox providers (MBP), including Google, Microsoft, and Verizon, have already introduced a cross-industry standard in email marketing. Google recently decided to make its email client Gmail more secure and is currently rolling out BIMI for customers.

The way of an e-mail

However, before an email ends up where the Marketeers believe it belongs, namely in the recipient’s inbox, it has a long journey behind it:

1. On the one hand, there is the sender, in our case, for example, the marketing department of a brand. The sender has a great interest in ensuring that his advertising message reaches all addressees as far as possible and is also opened and read by them. The technical aspects behind the sending and delivery of his e-mails are too complex for him and have little relevance.
2. This is usually done by a service provider, the e-mail service provider (ESP), for him. As a rule, the latter knows all the hurdles, such as authentication procedures,that an e-mail must take on the way to the recipient.
3. Then there is the MBP, which accepts the e-mail on the recipient’s side and posts it to the addressee’s inbox – or not. The task of the MBP is to protect the addressees – i.e. their own customers – from spam and phishing attacks as effectively as possible and to deliver only those e-mails that are secure and relevant.
4. And there is not least the addressee, who on the one hand wants to receive and read his e-mails, but on the other hand also wants to be effectively protected against spam and phishing.

For BIMI to work, all instances from the sender to the receiver must support the BIMI standard technologically. Unfortunately, you can’t avoid technical framework conditions if you want to benefit from the added value of using BIMI.

DMARC forms the basis

Emails from senders using BIMI will only appear in the recipient’s inbox with the brand logo if you have previously successfully implemented Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC). And the receiving e-mail client must also support BIMI. The BIMI logo in the inbox is therefore a visible feature for the recipient for the protection of a brand’s domains. This gives him the certainty not to fall for a phishing or spoofing email.

BIMI has advantages for all parties involved:

• The brand benefits from the increased presence and visibility in the inbox.
• The ESP protects its reputation by allowing e-mails sent via it to be uniquely assigned to a shipper.
• The recipient can be sure that the received e-mail is actually from the sender and is not a phishing.

The brand is effectively protected from abuse by phishing attacks that damage its reputation and the performance of its mailings. However, this is not entirely new. MBP has often developed individual procedures to display a brand’s logo in the email recipient’s inbox. With mixed success, because such a “single-handedness” is time-consuming for all involved: Each MBP must have its own archive of logos and the brand owners must ensure that all MBPs have the brand logo always up-to-date and in the format that suits the respective MBP.

None of this is necessary at BIMI. BIMI is an open standard that anyone can implement and use. BIMI builds on the existing authentication standards Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and DMARC. And BIMI offers an additional advertising value to a brand due to the multiple placement of the logo, which will ultimately convince marketeers in particular, who have so far attached little importance to compliance with the technically necessary standards in e-mail sending. And it is precisely these standards that make e-mail more secure, not only protect the brand’s reputation, but also further enhance the brand’s reputation, and give recipients a safe feeling when reading their emails.

Up-to-date information on DMARC, BIMI and all aspects of e-mail can be found on the website of the Certified Senders Alliance.

With Inxmail on the safe side

SPF, DKIM, DMARC and BIMI – Inxmail meets all of the above-mentioned quality features of the CSA. With us, you can count on your message to arrive in the recipient’s inbox. Contact usif you want to optimize the delivery of your newsletters and mailings.