There are a few prerequisites that must be in place before an organization can be issued a VMC, which are listed below. No need to stress, though – when you go with The SSL Store™ for your VMC, you’ll get a dedicated Implementation Specialist to help expediate the validation process and guide you every step of the way.

Before you can start using your VMC, you’ll need to:

• Be DMARC compliant. More specifically, the DMARC record for your domain must be set to either “p=quarantine” or “p=reject”. If you aren’t sure about your domain.
• Have an officially registered logo. VMCs are available for both private organizations and governments. Government agencies must present a law or government record granting their logo. Private organizations must have their logo registered with one of these intellectual property offices:
  • United States Patent and Trademark Office
  • Canadian Intellectual Property Office
  • European Union Intellectual Property Office
  • UK Intellectual Property Office
  • Germany: Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt
  • Japan Trademark Office
  • Spanish Patent and Trademark Office O.A.
  • IP Australia
  • Intellectual Property India
  • Korean Intellectual Property Office
  • Brazil: Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial
  • French Bureau de la propriété littéraire et artistique
  • Benelux Office for Intellectual Property
  • Denmark Ministry of Culture
  • Swedish Intellectual Property Office
  • Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property
  • Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand
• Format your logo file correctly. It must be a square and in the SVG image file format.
• Purchase your VMC. The certificate authority will then validate your organization and logo.
• Publish a BIMI DNS record for your domain. This tells your email server which image file to display as your logo.
• Your logo will automatically display in Gmail, Yahoo, and other participating email clients.

If you have any questions along the way, reach out to our Customer Care Team and we’ll be happy to help

Marketing Benefits

• Higher engagement rates – After implementing a VMC, businesses experience a 10% increase to engagement rates on average.
• Brand consistency – Unify your communications and provide a more recognizable messaging experience.
• Greater authenticity – When customers see your verified logo, they’ll instantly associate it with trust and peace of mind.
• Stand out from the rest – Our inboxes are cluttered and it’s easy for messages to get lost in the shuffle. VMCs help yours get consistently opened.
• Better brand impressions – Recipients don’t just see a generic avatar or initials in their inbox, but your unique and professional brand logo.

IT & Security Benefits

• Put your security on display – Recipients will see a visual indicator that you’re dedicated to implementing the highest levels of email security via DMARC.
• Stop phishing – Thanks to encryption and digital signatures, VMCs cant be forged. In combination with DMARC, they make it much harder for hackers to succeed with identity-focused attacks.
• Mandatory DMARC – DMARC gives IT departments a higher level of visibility and control over the messages that are coming in and out of the organization.
• Improved detection – With DMARC enforcement, it’s much easier to identify how often attackers are targeting your organization and the methods they’re using.
• Reliability and consistency – The combination of DMARC and VMCs not only keep phishing attempts at bay but ensure that legitimate emails are consistently delivered.

As the premier brand in the TLS/SSL, IoT and PKI space, DigiCert hangs its hat on offering industry-leading solutions for every digital certificate use case. They’re one of only two CAs that have been trusted to start selling VMCs, and have a wealth of resources to help customers learn about and prepare for implementing their VMC.

No other brand inspires the same level of trust, thanks to DigiCert’s widespread adoption and their easily recognizable DigiCert seal. With the ability to support any digital certificate at any scale and unparalleled proficiency in encryption and authentication, its easy to see why 97 of the top 100 global banks feel confident in choosing DigiCert.