Make your emails stand out with your logo in Gmail
By Antoine Minoux
Introduction
Want your logo to appear next to your emails in Gmail? With BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) and ImprovMX, you can set this up in under 5 minutes.
What is BIMI?
BIMI is an email standard that lets you display your brand's logo in supporting email clients. When recipients see your logo, it builds trust and increases open rates.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, you'll need:
- A domain with ImprovMX SMTP configured
- DKIM and DMARC records set up (required for BIMI)
- A square SVG logo file hosted on your website
Step 1 - Prepare your logo
Create a square SVG logo. The file must be in SVG Tiny Portable/Secure format. Host it on your website at a publicly accessible URL.
Step 2 - Set up DMARC
If you haven't already, add a DMARC record to your DNS. For BIMI to work, your DMARC policy must be at least p=quarantine.
Example:
_dmarc.yourdomain.com TXT "v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com"Step 3 - Add the BIMI record
Add a TXT record to your DNS:
default._bimi.yourdomain.comWith the value:
v=BIMI1; l=https://yourdomain.com/logo.svgStep 4 - Verify
Send a test email and check if your logo appears in Gmail. Note that it may take up to 48 hours for DNS changes to propagate and for Gmail to start displaying your logo.
Note
Gmail currently requires a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) for full BIMI support. However, Google has been gradually rolling out basic BIMI support without VMC for domains with strong DMARC compliance.