DMARC and BIMI: Which is Right for Your Business?
As a business owner, you probably understand how important it is to secure your email and protect your brand reputation. Email authentication protocols such as DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) and BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) can help with that. But with two different protocols available, how do you decide which one is right for your business? In this article, we’ll explore the differences between DMARC and BIMI and help you make an informed decision.
Introduction
Email authentication is crucial for businesses that want to protect their brand reputation and prevent fraud and phishing attacks. Without proper authentication, anyone can send an email using your domain name, leading to trust issues and potential financial losses. DMARC and BIMI are two protocols that aim to solve this problem, but they work differently.
What is DMARC?
DMARC is an email authentication protocol that verifies whether an incoming email is authentic or not. It uses two other protocols, SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), to determine whether an email is authorized to come from your domain. If an email fails both checks, it’s rejected, and the recipient is notified that the email failed DMARC.
How to Check Your DMARC Record?
To check your DMARC record, you can use an online DMARC record checker tool. Simply enter your domain name and the tool will display your DMARC record, if one exists. Alternatively, you can use the “dig” command in the terminal to check your DMARC record manually.
What is BIMI?
BIMI is a protocol that allows businesses to display their brand logo in the recipient’s inbox next to authenticated emails. It uses the DMARC protocol to verify the authenticity of emails and ensures that only authorized senders can display the logo. BIMI can increase brand recognition, build trust, and reduce the risk of phishing attacks.
How to Check Your Bimi Record?
To check your BIMI record, you can use the “dig” command in the terminal or an online BIMI record checker tool. Simply enter your domain name and verify that your BIMI record is correctly configured.
DMARC vs. BIMI: Which is Right for Your Business?
To determine which protocol is right for your business, you need to consider your email authentication needs, your brand image, and your resources.
DMARC:
DMARC is ideal for businesses that want to:
- Ensure that their emails are delivered to the recipient’s inbox and not the spam folder
- Prevent fraud and phishing attacks
- Monitor their email delivery and identify potential issues
- Establish trust with their customers
If your business sends a lot of emails, especially transactional emails such as invoices and receipts, DMARC is a must-have protocol. It can help you ensure that your emails are delivered, and your customers can trust that the emails are authentic.
BIMI:
BIMI is ideal for businesses that want to:
- Increase brand recognition
- Build trust with their customers
- Stand out in the inbox
If your business wants to enhance its brand image and differentiate itself from competitors, BIMI can help. By displaying your logo in the inbox, you can increase brand recognition and build trust with your customers.
Both:
DMARC and BIMI can work together to provide comprehensive email authentication and brand protection. By using DMARC to ensure email authenticity and BIMI to display your brand logo, you can increase trust and recognition simultaneously.
FAQS:
1. Can I use DMARC and BIMI together?
Yes, you can use DMARC and BIMI together. In fact, BIMI requires DMARC authentication to work.
2. Do I need to be a big business to use DMARC and BIMI?
No, any business can use DMARC and BIMI, regardless of its size. However, the implementation process can be more complicated for larger organizations with complex email infrastructures.
3. Can DMARC and BIMI prevent all email fraud and phishing attacks?
No, DMARC and BIMI can reduce the risk of email fraud and phishing attacks, but they can’t prevent all of them. It’s important to educate your employees and customers
4. Is DMARC required for BIMI?
Yes, DMARC authentication is required for BIMI to work. BIMI uses the DMARC protocol to verify the authenticity of emails and ensure that only authorized senders can display the brand logo in the recipient’s inbox.
5. Is BIMI worth it?
BIMI can be worth it for businesses that want to increase brand recognition, build trust with their customers, and stand out in the inbox. It can also reduce the risk of phishing attacks. However, the implementation process can be complicated, and it requires DMARC authentication to work.
6. Does BIMI increase deliverability?
BIMI doesn’t directly increase deliverability, but it can indirectly help by improving the recipient’s perception of the email’s legitimacy. By displaying the brand logo in the inbox, BIMI can increase brand recognition and build trust with customers, making them more likely to engage with the email and less likely to mark it as spam.