4.9.7. Set avatar in mail services

Attention!

The avatars that should be displayed to recipients in various mail services are not configured on the hosting side, but on the side of the recipients' mail services themselves.

This article provides an example of how to customize avatars for recipients using Gmail. For more information on how to display avatars in other mail services, please contact the support of those mail services directly.

For example, if you create a domain mail in Google mail service, set an avatar in its settings and send a message to a mailbox in another mail service, it will not be displayed because the necessary settings were not made on the recipient's side.

WebMail.Online

See Avatars in WebMail.Online.

Gmail

If Google says the account already exists

Open accounts.google.com, specify the mailbox for which you are setting up the avatar, click "Forgot password?", then "Try another way" and use the code that Google will send you to the specified mailbox to confirm that it belongs to you.
  1. Open the Gmail registration page located at accounts.google.com/signupwithoutgmail.
  2. Fill out the registration form and click "Next":
    • "First name" and "Last name" — enter the required data (it will be displayed to the recipients).
    • "Email address" — specify the mailbox created on the hosting for which you want to set an avatar.
    • "Password" and "Confirm" — set the password for the Gmail account.
  3. Confirm that you have access to the mailbox:
    1. Open the specified mailbox in WebMail.Online or any other mail client.
    2. Find the message sent by Gmail.
    3. Copy the confirmation code, paste it into the "Enter code" field and click "Confirm".
  4. Confirm your phone number:
    1. Enter your phone number and click "Next".
    2. Enter the code sent by Google via SMS and click "Confirm".
  5. Enter your date of birth, select your gender and click "Next".
  6. Add a phone number or click "Skip".
  7. Read the terms of use and privacy policy, then click "Accept".
  8. On the management page of the created account, click on avatar and upload the desired image.
  9. Check the avatar display by sending a message from the hosted mailbox to any Gmail mailbox.

If there are several mailboxes, the operation must be repeated for each of them.

About BIMI standard

Paid VMC certificate required

VMC (Verified Mark Certificate) — a digital certificate that verifies the authenticity of the logo used by the sending domain. You can get one from one of the trademark verification organizations (Mark Verifying Authority, MVA), such as here. Certificates are paid, the cost of a certificate for one logo is about $1,000 per year.

In 2020, there is a new standard — BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification). It allows you to customize the display of your own logo in different mail services for messages sent from your domain. At the moment, BIMI is already supported by Gmail, Fastmail, Yahoo!, proofpoint, Mailchimp, SendGrid, Valimail and Validity, while others are considering implementation.

General order of customization:

  1. Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC (be sure to have a strict policy).
  2. Prepare a logo in SVG format and post it to a public address accessible via HTTPS.
  3. Get the VMC — digital certificate of authenticity for the logo (see note above) — and post it to a public address accessible via HTTPS.
  4. In domain settings add a special TXT record:
    v=BIMI1; l=https://example.com/logo.svg; a=https://example.com/vmc.pem

    In record:

    • https://example.com/logo.svg — address of the logo file.
    • https://example.com/vmc.pem — address of the certificate file.
The logo display is also affected by the reputation of the domain, the volume and regularity of mailings, the recipient's mail service and other factors.
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