Issue #161 All About Email

Hi, friend. 👋

Welcome to Issue #161 of All About Email!

Last week, we discussed email reporting, some tools (free and paid) to do this and (of course) mixed in some AI (more on that at the bottom of this email).

This week, we're discussing BIMI, which is now achievable for more small and medium-sized businesses. No more trademarks are required.

Let’s go! 👇

Following Google's changes and Zoho Mail now supporting BIMI, it’s time to revisit how to set up BIMI for your business.

Setting Up BIMI

Background

If you don't know BIMI and why you should care, read more about it in this detailed Litmus guide.

⚡️ In short, "BIMI is an emerging email specification that enables the use of brand-controlled logos within supporting email clients".

BIMI allows you to:

• Display your logos on your emails.

• You can control the logos displayed in your email messages.

• Cultivate immediate brand recognition and enhanced user experience.

Step 1

✅ Run the free BIMI Lookup & Generator tool to check your current compliance with BIMI standards.

There are a few key elements, and the tool will advise you on what (if anything) you need to fix.

DMARC might cause the most issues. If you aren't sure what DMARC is, you can learn more about DMARC alignment at DMARCIAN or read my newsletter on DMARC.

Step 2

The image above shows that I am missing:

• A BIMI record.

• And an SVG version of my logo.

🧠 Thankfully, the tool we used to look up our current compliance can also create a BIMI record for us.

Before generating the record, you should create the SVG logo needed and upload it to your server or the BIMI Generator Tool.

🛠️ The BIMI group has also created free tools to help convert your SVG logo to the correct format.

There is an online converter solution you might also wish to try first:

• BIMI SVG Logo Converter

(EasyDMARC also has a handy guide for converting your logo to an SVG using the free tool Inkscape before uploading to the BIMI SVG Logo Converter tool)

Dark Mode

🌚 Once you create your SVG logo that meets BIMI requirements, you can re-run the Lookup Tool and preview how it looks in Dark Mode (see the screenshot above).

Step 3

✅ The final step (for most of us) is to create the BIMI Record using the free Generator Tool.

After generating the record, you need to add it to your DNS, and then you are all set.

Your record will look similar to the one below but with your domain and link to your SVG file. 👇

Publishing the Record

🚨 BIMI records are published to your DNS for each domain you have created a record.

If you use subdomains to send different emails like me, the good news is you can generate one BIMI record for all your subdomains (or separate BIMI records if you wish).

💡 BIMI is designed to function similarly to DMARC. You can publish a single global BIMI record for your organisation domain that will cascade down to other subdomains, or you can publish a specific record for a subdomain.

⚡️ Like DKIM, BIMI also supports selectors allowing the same domain to publish multiple but separate records.

The base selector is 'default,' and the DNS txt records should look similar to this: 'default._bimi.example.com '.

🧠 The different selectors can be used to segment different logos.

A Note on VMCs

The "eagle-eye" amongst you may have spotted that I highlighted some text in the screenshot above.

That is for the optional VMC (Verified Mark Certificates), which is required for your logo to show in all mailbox providers (e.g. Gmail).

For most of us without a trademarked logo, that won't be easy, but if you have one, then you can learn more about purchasing a VMC from either:

• DigiCert

• Entrust Datacard

Remember, {friend, I mentioned at the beginning of this email that Google announced support for CMCs with BIMI.

CMCs make it easier for those without trademarked logos to meet BIMI compliance, but there are some trade-offs (details in the article above).

🚨 At the time of writing, only Digicert is currently offering CMCs.

Confused? Let PowerDMARC explain things in 45 seconds:

💡 I’ve also included additional links in this week’s News and Tips section at the bottom of this email.

That’s it for This Week 👋

⏭️ Next week, I’ll review my Content Framework for writing emails, digging into my process and the tools I use.

It could be similar to yours and inspire when you get stuck.

Email Marketing News & Tips

This week's excellent and insightful email news & tips:

• Workspace Updates - Gmail allows more senders to protect their brand using BIMI Common Mark Certificates (Google)

• Unlock BIMI - An easier way to get your logo in the inbox: Google’s latest BIMI changes. (Valimail)

• MX Toolbox Can Help - Google to support Common Mark Certificates for BIMI. (MX Toolbox)

• BIMI Validation - 7 free tools to validate BIMI for your domain. (Zoho)

• UGC - How to Leverage User-Generated Content in Email Campaigns (Beehiiv)

• Accessibility - How do screen reader users navigate through email clients? (Sarah Gallardo)

• Riddle Me This - How to Use In-Newsletter Polls to Engage With and Learn From Your Audience. (Inbox Collective)

• Deliverability - “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” (Alison Gootee)

• Send It Right - A Love Letter to Email Analogies. (Lauren Meyer)

• Warning! - Email Marketing Red Flags: High Bounces, Low Delivery.
(SocketLabs)

• Message Mania - All the replays from this year’s Email Camp are now available for free! (Sinch Mailjet)

• Agenda - This year’s free Litmus Live agenda is now…live. 🤭 Enter your customer journey era and get ready for a multi-day virtual event packed with sessions and panels. (Litmus)

If you have a question about this email or email marketing, reply, and I will answer you as soon as possible.

I hope you have a great week! 👋