# Do I need BIMI?

**NO**—nice to have

> BIMI puts your logo next to your emails, which is lovely branding—and does nothing for deliverability. It also quietly requires the thing that does matter: an enforcing DMARC policy.

BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) is the standard that displays your logo next to your messages in supporting inboxes. It's a genuinely nice touch—recognizable senders get opened more—but it is decoration on top of authentication, not authentication itself.

## Why this is a no

- **Zero deliverability effect.** No mailbox provider ranks your mail higher because a logo record exists. Whatever placement you have without BIMI, you have with it.
- **It gates on the hard part anyway.** BIMI requires your DMARC policy to be `p=quarantine` or `p=reject`. If you're not at enforcement yet, BIMI isn't your next step—[DMARC is](https://doineed.email/dmarc).
- **The certificate landscape is a mess.** The classic route needs a VMC—a certificate that requires a *trademarked* logo, with real cost and lead time. Gmail now also accepts CMCs (proof you've used the logo publicly for 12 months), but only Gmail honors those. Outlook supports none of it.

## If you want the logo anyway

There's a pragmatic, mostly-free path once DMARC enforcement is in place:

- **[Apple Branded Mail](https://resend.com/blog/apple-branded-mail)**—free, set up through Apple Business Connect, shows your logo in Apple Mail regardless of the recipient's email provider.
- **BIMI without a certificate**—Yahoo and Fastmail display BIMI logos with no VMC/CMC at all.
- **Then decide** whether Gmail coverage is worth paying for a CMC (or a VMC, if you want Gmail's blue checkmark, which is reserved for trademarked logos).

That combination covers a large share of real inboxes for the price of a DNS record and an afternoon.

## The honest framing

BIMI is a reward for finishing your authentication homework, not a shortcut to the inbox. Do SPF, DKIM, and DMARC properly, get to enforcement, and then—if the brand team is excited—collect the logo as a trophy.

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- Canonical: https://doineed.email/bimi
- Learn more: https://resend.com/blog/email-changes-for-bimi
- All questions: https://doineed.email/llms.txt

An opinionated answer from the [Resend](https://resend.com) team.