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VMC | How brands protect their emails
Time to read 4 Min
The Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) is the digital certificate for your logo. Read on to find out how it works, how your company can benefit from it and how you can get a VMC for your logo.
Published by
Carina Prüll
Date
2023/03/22
The benefits of a Verified Mark Certificate are clearly evident. When implemented fully, the VMC allows the placement of the brand logo directly next to the email address of the sender. Email recipients can immediately see that the email comes from the brand owner before they even open it. This instantly creates trust while simultaneously making it difficult for scammers to misuse logos in email communication.
Using Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC), companies can protect their email communication against abuse to a certain degree. SPF and DKIM provide other mail servers with instructions about which mail server may send emails from your domain.
DMARC provides instructions about how an email should be handled if SPF and DKIM do not apply. Adding VMC as a third instance here, the displayed logo adds an additional step, improving the protection of your email communication.
How can your company profit from a Verified Mark Certificate?
The implementation of VMC primarily heightens the presence of your brand. Your logo becomes an eye-catching feature, boosting recognition and enhancing your branding. In addition, there are further advantages that speak for using a VMC:
1. Increase trust in your brand
The Verified Mark Certificate presents email traffic coming from your domain as exceptionally trustworthy. The display of your logo is an indication of a reliable verification process and therefore serves as a seal of trust.
2. Stand out from the crowd
A logo, a familiar company emblem, a recognized brand symbol – images often say more than words and have an immediate effect. Graphical symbols are perceived more readily than the customary initials. So emails with your logo will stand out and put the spotlight on your brand.
3. Higher conversion rate
As your logo is displayed, your emails will attract more notice, promoting interaction between the recipient and the email. The recipients react to the familiar brand mark and are more likely to open your email, not only increasing the click rate, but also boosting the conversion rate.
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What are the requirements for a VMC entry?
In order to acquire a Verified Mark Certificate, certain legal and technical requirements must be met.
On the legal side, your logo must be registered as an active word and/or image mark at one of the eight currently authorized trademark offices. DigiCert uses this, as well as other verification processes (personal identification, notarized certification, video call) to verify your trademark and your company.
On the technical side, SPF, DKIM and DMARC must be successfully set up for your emails.
How can I get a VMC for my trademark logo?
In order to qualify for a Verified Mark Certificate, you must own a registered trademark logo. The reason for this is that the spoofing of a logo protected by a registered trademark is much more difficult. Once you have proof of your registered trademark, you can complete the stringent validation process with InterNetX and the certificate authority.
The validation process for VMCs entails three stages:
1. Verification of the trademark rights for the respective logo
2. Verification of the notarized identification documents of the applicant in your organization
3. Personal or virtual meeting with an employee of the certificate authority in order to verify the identity of the applicant
After successfully completing the validation, you can implement your verified logo on the mail server and in the DNS. To do this, first upload your logo to your mail server.
Important: The relevant logo must be uploaded in scalable vector graphics format as a .SVG file.
The final step is to create a TXT record in the zone of the corresponding domain. An example of this is:
bimi TTL 3600 IN TXT v=BIMI1;l=https://images.internetx.com/brand/bimilogo.svg;a=https
://images.internetx.com/ brand/certificate.pemAfter this has been set up correctly, the logo should be displayed next to your emails in the inbox of systems that support VMC.
A DMARC record is a requirement for the implementation of a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC). What does DMARC do for email communication and which benefits does it hold for trademark protection? Read our article “DMARC | This is how it protects against email spoofing” to find out.
Why domain experts use AutoDNS
You can use the AutoDNS platform, developed by InterNetX, to easily set up resource records like DMARC for your entire domain portfolio. Related products like TLS/SSL or S/MIME certificates and name servers can also be managed conveniently via AutoDNS. For more information about our products, please contact our Partner Managers.
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