Apple Branded Mail and BIMI might seem to be and do the same thing, at least at first glance. However, while the two may seem quite similar in nature, they also differ in various ways. Understanding the key differences can help you significantly in the process of choosing what you need for a strong and safe business presence online.
Key Takeaways
- Branded Mail and BIMI might seem similar, but they are not the same.
- Both offer a wide range of benefits, but also have some drawbacks.
- BIMI’s scope of activity is wider and often seems more credible, but Branded Mail is easier to set up and configure.
- It is advised to use both BIMI and Branded Mail for a well-rounded experience.
- To compensate for the drawbacks of BIMI and/or Branded Mail, you can make use of PowerDMARC’s hosted BIMI and DMARC services.
What Is BIMI?
Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) refers to the standard that helps leverage your brand image and reputation to make your emails more trustworthy and reliable. 
It works by affixing your brand’s logo on every email you send, thereby serving as a second level of verification for your email. This ensures your customers know that the email comes from a legitimate, verified source, increasing the likelihood of opening it.
BIMI Benefits
BIMI offers a large scope of benefits, such as:
Improved brand visibility
Brand recognition is made much easier thanks to BIMI’s visual cues. This, in turn, leads to higher email credibility, showing your business’s attention to email authentication and security.
Less phishing, more security
Because BIMI makes the use of email authentication protocols (e.g. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) mandatory, it significantly contributes to a reduction in successful phishing and spoofing attacks.
Adherence to local and international regulations
With BIMI, you can ensure compliance with local and international requirements and regulations, always keeping your email authentication practices in line with any changes and developments.
Higher open rates
Recipients are more likely to engage with an email when they see recognizable logos through BIMI.
Google verified user checkmark
Those Google Workspace users who use BIMI can benefit from a blue verified checkmark, ensuring higher credibility and safety online.
Increased Brand Recognition and Awareness
With BIMI, you can ensure a strong and stable visual brand experience for a wide range of email clients.
Comprehensive reporting capabilities
Businesses that use BIM can also benefit from useful insights offered by DMARC, which can help improve their overall online security standing as issues will be identified and fixed in real time.
What is Branded Mail?
Branded Mail is a feature that helps you add your brand logo and name to commercial emails. If you would like to benefit from higher open rates and increased safety online, then Branded Mail is exactly what you need. Apple Branded Mail is available in the Mail app on Apple devices․ You can also find it in iCloud Mail on the web.
What are the Benefits of Branded Mail?
Some of the many benefits of Apple Branded Mail are presented below:
A higher degree of trustworthiness
With Apple Branded Mail, you can easily make your emails more credible in the eyes of the recipients. Visual cues will add the necessary air of trustworthiness to your emails, boosting open rates.
Higher cost-effectiveness
Expensive trademarks are now a thing of the past, as Branded Mail gives you the same benefits, all completely free of charge. If you are a small business, this will be a great way for you to ensure high visibility and credibility without big financial investments.
Improved brand recognition
Seeing and recognizing your logo and brand name will facilitate brand recognition for your email recipients, potentially contributing to a better customer experience and higher customer retention rates.
Less spam
By filtering out malicious emails from safe ones, you can significantly decrease spam and improve your email deliverability rates.
Eligibility and Requirements
To be able to benefit from Branded Mail, you need to meet the below requirements:
- Having an Apple Business Connect account is mandatory
- Ensure DMARC verification and keep both your DKIM and SPF correctly configured
- Be the owner of the logo you use for Branded Mail
- Ensure your email domain is commercial
- Pass Apple’s company verification
What Are the Main Differences Between BIMI Vs Apple Branded Mail?
While the functionalities of BIMI and Branded Mail are quite similar, BIMI’s scope of activity is relatively wider. It might indeed be easier to set up and configure Apple Branded Mail compared to BIMI, but for a comprehensive, long-term, and effective authentication experience, BIMI is still necessary. Moreover, Branded Mail is a proprietary feature of the Apple company and operates only witin the Apple infrastructure. BIMI, on the other hand, is a universal standard.
On the contrary, an advantage of Branded Mail over BIMI is that it is very easy to configure. There is not even a need for the logo to be in SVG Tiny 1.2 format. However, it is also important to note that Branded Mail doesn’t require VMC (verified mark certificates) or CMC (common mark certificates), making it more prone to impersonification and other forms of unauthorized use. BIMI has this requirement and can therefore be seen as a safer option.
With these details in mind, it is recommended to use both Branded Mail and BIMI to benefit from the advantages of both while avoiding any issues they might have.
How Can PowerDMARC Help You?
If you are concerned about the challenges associated with BIMI configuration, we have you covered! You no longer have to do it manually by yourself, as PowerDMARC offers a hosted BIMI feature, which lets business owners upload their logo image in a format that aligns with BIMI requirements and standards. With PowerDMARC’s hosted BIMI services, you can also easily create and publish a BIMI DNS record in a matter of seconds. Moreover, the platform allows you to manage your BIMI setup, all from an intuitive, simple and straightforward interface.
In addition to the hosted BIMI service, PowerDMARC can also help you reach DMARC compliance with its helpful Hosted DMARC services. These services will help you with DMARC setup and monitoring, ensuring you comply with Branded Mail access and usage criteria.
With PowerDMARC’s hosted services, you can:
- Manage your DMARC within one, easy-to-navigate interface with only one-time configuration.
- Complete any changes and updates directly within the platform, which will then reflect on your DNS (no need to contact your DNS provider anymore)
- Seamlessly transition to stricter DMARC policies (e.g. reject or quarantine) and stay up to date with the latest industry developments
- Easily monitor your DMARC records and compliances
Summing Up
You don’t have to choose between Branded Mail and BIMI. Instead, you can make use of both of them for maximum effectiveness, email credibility, improved visibility, and higher-than-ever open rates!
