BIMI Alternatives: How to Get Your Logo to Show Next to Your Emails

BIMI is the “real” way to get a brand-controlled logo next to your emails in supporting inboxes — but for most teams, the expensive part is the Verified Mark Certificate (VMC)/Common Mark Certificate (CMC) process (trademark + certificate + ongoing work).

If you’re not ready to pay for that, you still have a few legit, provider-specific levers you can pull to get some kind of inbox avatar / sender image showing up for some recipients.

This is a practical playbook for maximizing coverage (with clear limits and links to the underlying docs).

TL;DR (do these first)

• Gravatar: Set it up if you want extra coverage in apps that integrate it — but don’t expect it to show in Gmail/Outlook/Apple Mail.
• Yahoo/AOL: Implement DMARC enforcement and publish a self-asserted BIMI record (no VMC). Yahoo explicitly says they’ll display logos without a VMC if you meet their other requirements.
• Apple Mail: Use Apple Business Connect Branded Mail (Apple-only) if you can meet Apple’s DMARC + DKIM requirements.
• Gmail (person-to-person): Set a Google Account / Workspace profile photo for the actual account sending the mail.
• Everyone: Add “save us as a contact” to your welcome email. Contact photos are the most widely supported “inbox avatar,” but they’re recipient-controlled.

Coverage cheat sheet (what’s realistic)

Step 0: Know what “logo next to an email” means

There are three different things people call “the logo”:

• Inbox avatar: the circle image next to a message in the list.
• BIMI verification UI (Gmail checkmark): Gmail only, and it’s tied to BIMI with VMC/CMC.
• Logo inside the email body: your HTML header logo (not an inbox avatar).

This post is about the inbox avatar (and the few systems that influence it).

1) Self-asserted BIMI (works in Yahoo/AOL; won’t work in Gmail)

Some mailbox providers will display self-asserted BIMI. Yahoo is explicit: they do not require VMCs for BIMI logos to appear (though they may use one “to inform eligibility” if present).

What you get

• Where it can show: Yahoo Mail and AOL Mail experiences that support BIMI.
• Where it won’t: Gmail (requires VMC/CMC), and Apple Mail’s BIMI implementation can require additional evidence/document verification.

Setup steps (safe + accurate)

1. Get DMARC to enforcement for the domain you use in the visible From: address.
   • Your DMARC policy needs to be p=quarantine or p=reject.
   • Many programs also require pct=100 (apply the policy to all mail).
   • If you’re currently at p=none, don’t jump straight to reject—review DMARC reports first so you don’t break legitimate sends.
2. Make sure DMARC passes (SPF and/or DKIM aligned to the From: domain). If you’re using an ESP, DKIM alignment is usually the lever you control.
3. Create a BIMI-compliant SVG (SVG Tiny P/S).
   • Don’t include scripts, external references, or animations/interactive elements.
   • Use SVG Tiny Portable/Secure (baseProfile tiny-ps, version 1.2).
   • Avoid x= and y= attributes on the root <svg> element.
4. Host the SVG on a public HTTPS URL.
   • No auth, no “works only in a browser” redirects, no geoblocking.
5. Publish the BIMI TXT record at default._bimi.yourdomain.
   • Example (self-asserted, no VMC):

default._bimi.example.com  TXT  "v=BIMI1; l=https://example.com/.well-known/bimi/logo.svg"

6. Be patient and realistic about eligibility:
   • Yahoo says they show BIMI logos for bulk mail, and only when they see sufficient reputation and engagement. Personal one-off mail won’t qualify.

Quick troubleshooting checklist

• Does default._bimi.yourdomain resolve publicly?
• Is the SVG reachable over HTTPS (200 OK) and not blocked by auth, geo rules, or robots?
• Is DMARC actually enforcing (quarantine/reject) for the organizational domain?
• Are you a bulk sender with decent reputation? (Yahoo explicitly gates display on it.)

2) Apple Business Connect Branded Mail (Apple-only, no VMC required)

If Apple Mail matters to you, Apple Business Connect Branded Mail is the most practical alternative to “full BIMI everywhere.”

It’s not BIMI; it’s Apple’s own verification + branding system. It can show your brand in:

• the Mail app on iPhone (with certain device languages), and
• iCloud Mail on the web

Requirements (Apple is strict here)

Apple’s docs call out the big ones:

• You must use a commercial domain (no gmail.com, icloud.com, outlook.com, yahoo.com, etc.).
• Your domain must have mail records (MX, A, or AAAA).
• Your mail must meet DMARC requirements (v=DMARC1, p=quarantine or p=reject — or sp=quarantine/sp=reject when registering subdomains — and pct=100).
• Apple requires DKIM authentication for customer-facing mail; SPF-only isn’t supported.

Setup steps

1. Create an Apple Business Connect account and register your company at businessconnect.apple.com.
2. Verify your company in Apple Business Connect (Apple has multiple verification methods).
3. Add a Brand and upload your logo for approval (Apple may take several business days to review).
4. In Apple Business Connect, go to Branded Mail and add your domain/subdomain or a specific email address.
5. Apple will provide a TXT record. Add it to your DNS, then click Verify.
   • Apple notes you have a limited window (14 calendar days) to complete verification.
6. Publish/confirm DMARC enforcement that matches Apple’s requirements. Apple’s own example looks like:

_dmarc.example.com  TXT  "v=DMARC1; p=reject; pct=100;"

Gotchas to know up front

• Branded Mail visibility is not universal: Apple notes the logo is visible only:
  • in iPhone Mail when the device language is one of: English, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Simplified Chinese
  • and in iCloud Mail on the web
• Apple needs to approve email names before they’re allowed.

3) Google profile photos (best for humans; limited for bulk brand mail)

If your email is being sent from a Google Account (Gmail or Google Workspace), you can often influence the avatar by setting a profile picture.

This is the most “free” way to get a recognizable image in Gmail inboxes, but it mainly helps when:

• the sender is a person, or
• you’re sending from a real mailbox like founder@, support@ (as a user account), etc.

Option A: Set your Google Account / Gmail profile picture

1. Go to myaccount.google.com
2. Personal info → Profile picture → upload and save
3. If you want to control who can see it: People & sharing → About me → set visibility (for example, “Anyone” or “People you interact with”)

Google notes the Gmail profile picture is the same as your Google Account picture and can take up to 24 hours to update.

Option B: (Workspace) Set a user photo in the Admin console

If you manage a Workspace domain:

1. Go to admin.google.com
2. Directory → Users
3. Select the user → click the avatar → upload JPEG/PNG

Google notes:

• Profile photos are JPEG/PNG (max 5MB; max 20 million pixels).
• If your org turns off Directory, users won’t see profile photos.
• Admin-added photos have tighter visibility than user-managed photos, so don’t assume this becomes a universal “brand logo” for every external recipient.

Important limitations (don’t get surprised)

• If you send marketing mail through an ESP (not through Gmail/Workspace), this usually won’t affect what recipients see. That’s where BIMI comes in.
• Profile photos are account-level. Don’t expect separate avatars per “From” alias.

4) The universal fallback: get into Contacts

The most widely supported inbox avatar system is also the least controllable: recipient contacts.

You can’t force this, but you can increase the odds:

• Welcome email: add a plain line like “Save this address to your contacts so you always recognize our emails.”
• Consistent From name + address: people only save contacts when they’re confident it’s stable.
• Customer support: it’s easier to get saved when the relationship is 1:1 (support, onboarding, sales) than in pure promo blasts.

If Outlook/Microsoft inboxes are a big part of your audience, this matters more: Microsoft doesn’t support BIMI, so contacts are the main way a real image shows up instead of initials.

5) Gravatar (extra coverage outside major inboxes)

Gravatar is real and useful — just not for most inbox avatars.

Gravatar’s own support docs say most popular email services don’t show Gravatar avatars (including Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail). That means this won’t move your “logo in the inbox” KPI for typical consumer inboxes.

Still, it can help in tools and platforms that integrate Gravatar (and it’s quick to set up):

1. Create an account at gravatar.com
2. Add/verify the sender email address(es)
3. Upload an avatar and assign it to that email

The hard truth (so you don’t waste time)

• If your goal is “logo in Gmail for marketing mail,” Google’s Workspace Admin docs are clear: BIMI in Gmail requires a VMC or CMC.
• There’s no reliable “cheap BIMI alternative” that produces the same result in Gmail today.

So the practical strategy is:

• do self-asserted BIMI for Yahoo/AOL coverage,
• do Apple Branded Mail for Apple coverage,
• do profile photos for human senders in Gmail,
• and use Contacts as the universal fallback.

Sources

• Yahoo BIMI requirements (and VMC not required): Yahoo Sender Hub: BIMI
• Gmail BIMI requirements (VMC/CMC required + DMARC enforcement + pct=100): Google Workspace Admin Help: Set up BIMI
• Apple Mail BIMI support details (evidence documents verified by provider): Apple Developer: Prepare your email server for BIMI support in Apple Mail
• Apple Branded Mail overview + requirements: Apple Business Connect: Prepare to use Branded Mail
• Apple Branded Mail setup steps: Apple Business Connect: Set up Branded Mail
• Apple Branded Mail DMARC requirements: Apple Business Connect: Verify your email domain for Branded Mail
• Gmail profile picture behavior: Gmail Help: Change your Gmail profile picture
• Google Account profile photo + steps: Google Account Help: Change your Google Account picture
• Workspace admin user photos: Google Workspace Admin Help: Add or change a user's profile photo
• Google profile visibility (“About me”): Google Account Help: Control what others see
• Gravatar + email clients: Gravatar Support: Avatars for gmail and email clients
• Mailbox-provider BIMI support overview (includes Microsoft “does not support BIMI”): BIMI Group: BIMI Support by Mailbox Provider

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