Opening: Despite predictions, email remains a vital communication channel for marketers.

"The great thing for all of us who love email is email is still alive and kicking and it's not going anywhere anytime soon."

Takeaway:

• Email continues to be a powerful tool for marketing campaigns.
• Investing in email strategies like BIMI enhances engagement.
• Embrace email's enduring relevance in your marketing efforts.

Opening: Protecting your brand in email is essential to maintain trust and reputation among your audience.

"For sure, if you don't protect your brand, somebody's going to try to exploit it. I mean, it's just no question about it."

Takeaway:

• Implement DMARC and BIMI to safeguard your brand from spoofing and phishing.
• Regularly monitor for unauthorized use of your brand in emails.
• Proactive protection helps maintain customer trust and brand integrity.

Opening: AI technologies can both enhance and threaten email security, making it vital for marketers to stay informed.

"...you guys have probably been following ChatGPT... you can give it some input, it can create some pretty nice phishing emails, you know, potentially. So there's all sorts of crazy stuff going on these days that you've got to stay aware of."

Takeaway:

• Be aware of emerging AI tools that can be used maliciously in email phishing.
• Ensure robust email authentication to protect against sophisticated threats.
• Stay informed about technology trends impacting email security.

Opening: Understanding future developments in BIMI can help marketers plan for adoption and leverage upcoming opportunities.

"I think what we'll see too this year is the certificate authorities trying to make BIMI easier and then maybe a registered trademark might not be required... So I'm really hopeful this year that we'll continue to see kind of vertical markets expand..."

Takeaway:

• The barriers to BIMI adoption may decrease, making it accessible to more brands.
• Keep an eye on emerging developments to take advantage of new opportunities.
• Wider adoption of BIMI can enhance overall email marketing effectiveness.

Opening: Protecting your brand from lookalike domains is crucial to maintain trust and prevent phishing attacks.

"Once you've locked down your own domains with DMARC, you might see abuse on other domains... we found like 50,000 different lookalike domains of those original 250... they're using a company's real logo on a phishing website that's sending mail as well."

Takeaway:

• Monitor for lookalike domains that could harm your brand's reputation.
• Implement DMARC but also watch for threats beyond your own domains.
• Collaborate with legal teams to take down malicious domains.

Opening: Apple's adoption of BIMI has significant implications for email marketers, expanding BIMI's reach and impact.

"One interesting thing I've seen is Apple with their support of BIMI now, they've created a framework for other mailbox providers to support BIMI in Apple Mail clients... their customers can get the benefit of logo display if they follow this Apple protocol."

Takeaway:

• Apple's support increases BIMI adoption and visibility among users.
• Marketers can now reach more recipients with branded logos in Apple Mail.
• Apple's framework enables smaller providers to adopt BIMI more easily.

Opening: DMARC compliance is a critical step for implementing BIMI and improving email deliverability and security.

"One thing they should be aware of is like, hey, if you want to adopt BIMI, get to DMARC compliance on both your subdomain you might use for marketing activities and then also you might have to talk to your IT team about getting the top-level domain into compliance."

Takeaway:

• DMARC enforcement is a prerequisite for BIMI implementation.
• Ensure both subdomains and top-level domains are DMARC compliant.
• Collaboration with IT is necessary to achieve full DMARC compliance.

Opening: Understanding how BIMI affects email performance helps marketers justify the effort and resources invested.

"...For customers, it's more like, what are your other measures of success for your program in terms of engagement... we did one case study with a customer who had implemented BIMI... for them it was like... a 25 percent increase in clicks after implementing BIMI."

Takeaway:

• Focus on metrics beyond open rates, like clicks and conversions, to measure BIMI's impact.
• Case studies show BIMI can significantly improve engagement.
• Tracking performance before and after BIMI helps demonstrate its value.

Opening: Implementing BIMI requires coordination between different teams, and understanding these challenges can help streamline the process.

"One of the challenges I see with folks that are implementing BIMI is that the marketing team might drive the BIMI project... The most successful customers I've worked with... it's been a cross-functional effort. It hasn't been done in a silo by either marketing or IT."

Takeaway:

• Successful BIMI implementation requires collaboration between marketing and IT teams.
• Ensure both subdomains and top-level domains are DMARC compliant.
• Cross-functional efforts lead to smoother adoption and better results.

Opening: BIMI is becoming an important factor in email marketing, enhancing brand visibility and trust in the inbox.

"Today it's still in a bit of an early adopter phase where you actually will notice in your inbox, like, hey, if I'm looking at mail on my Gmail app, on my iPhone, I see the logo, you know, it's the from Avatar instead of like initials or like a blank avatar, you know, that stands out these days, which is one of the reasons why marketers should think about adopting it."

Takeaway:

• Implementing BIMI makes your emails stand out with your brand logo in the inbox.
• Early adopters can gain a competitive edge in email marketing.
• BIMI increases recipient trust by confirming email authenticity.