Getting started with BIMI for Zoho Mail
Zoho users should implement BIMI so that their logos are displayed alongside authenticated emails in recipients’ inboxes. This way, more people will trust your messages, and your domain’s reputation will improve. Moreover, a logo creates a professional and consistent presence in emails. The visual logo reinforces that the email is sent by a legitimate source, ultimately boosting engagement and open rates.
Zoho encourages and supports BIMI and, hence, offers easy integration with DNS settings for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Requirements for deploying BIMI for Zoho Mail
Here are 4 things you need to ensure to start with BIMI setup-
1. Properly configured SPF for your domain
Ensure your SPF record doesn’t have the following configurations that could make it overly permissive-
- Use of +all mechanism
- Use of wide IP ranges
- Not specifying the ‘all’ mechanism
- Excessive wildcarding
- Mixing too many mechanisms
- Not removing deprecated or unused entries
- Overusing the ‘include’ mechanism
Run your SPF record through an online lookup tool to see if any of the above issues exist. If detected, contact an expert and have it fixed.
2. Properly configured DKIM for your domain
DKIM helps ensure the integrity of emails sent from your domain by verifying if the email was truly sent by the claimed sender and checking for any changes during transit. It uses a pair of cryptographic keys: a private key to sign emails and a public key to verify them.
3. Properly configured DMARC for your domain
To use BIMI, you must set up a DMARC record for your domain and publish it in your DNS. DMARC works with SPF and DKIM to help mail servers handle fake emails from your domain.
DMARC has three policy options: ‘none,’ ‘quarantine,’ and ‘reject.’ However, BIMI requires a policy stronger than ‘none,’ as it only monitors and doesn’t provide protection. For Zoho BIMI, first enforce a stricter DMARC policy, then proceed with the BIMI setup.
4. Getting a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC)
A Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) confirms that you own your brand logo, allowing you to use it to set up BIMI. While a VMC isn’t mandatory for all email providers, platforms like Zoho Mail require one to enable BIMI. VMCs are issued by trusted certification authorities such as DigiCert, ensuring the authenticity of your logo and enhancing brand credibility in email communications.
Setting BIMI for Zoho Mail
1. Create your brand logo
- Use a BIMI SVG logo converter to convert your logo to SVG Tiny 1.2 format.
- Make sure the logo is square, under 32 KB in size, and has a solid background.
- Ensure the logo does not include animations or interactive features.
2. Generate a BIMI record for your domain
- Sign up for free on online BIMI record-generating tools.
- Enter your domain name, logo URL, VMC, selector (optional), and email address (optional).
3. Create and configure your BIMI record
- Enter your domain name, logo URL, and VMC certificate details.
- Publish the generated BIMI record in your DNS.
- Example TXT record: v=BIMI1;l=https://domain.com/image.svg;a=https://domain.com/certificate.pem
4. Verify your BIMI record
Use a credible BIMI lookup tool to confirm that the record is correctly set up. Once you have done this, your BIMI logo will appear in Zoho Mail and other BIMI-supporting email clients.
