1. FAQ
  2. Email Trust
  3. What Steps are Required to get a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC)?
FAQ Hero
EMAIL TRUST

What steps are required to get a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) or Common Mark Certificate (CMC)?

Wondering if you need a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) or a Common Mark Certificate (CMC)?

Collectively called DigiCert Mark Certificates, Verified Mark Certificates and Common Mark Certificates, or VMCs and CMCs, help authenticate your brand in email inboxes by displaying your official logo next to the "sender" field. This is made possible through BIMI and DMARC enforcement.

Check out our VMC flowchart to help you decide if a Mark Certificate is right for you.

What steps are required to get a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) or Common Mark Certificate (CMC)?

Before you can qualify for a Verified Mark Certificate, or Common Mark Certificate, your organization needs to meet a few key requirements to validate your domain and brand identity.

  1. Implement DMARC standards for your organization. 
    Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) is an email authentication, policy and reporting protocol that makes it harder for bad actors to spoof your brand and gives you more visibility and control over emails sent and received by your domain.
  2. Be able to prove ownership of your logo.
    - Trademark your logo. To qualify for a VMC, your logo must be legally trademarked with the appropriate office for your geographic region. Government entities do not need an active trademark.
    - Show prior use. If your logo is not a government seal or protected by trademark then you can get a CMC by proving prior use for at least a year.
  3. Convert your logo file to the .SVG format. 
  4. Purchase a VMC or CMC and complete validation.
  5. Update or create your BIMI record.
    After you have submitted your SVG logo file to DigiCert, you will receive a file containing a PEM-encoded certificate chain. Both the SVG and the certificate chain file must be placed on a publicly accessible server and be accessible via https (HTTP will cause a failure). DigiCert can host these files for you to make implementation and renewal easier. You will then need to update your BIMI record with the correct URL and file location. 

How can VMCs and CMCs increase trust in emails?

VMCs and CMCs increase trust in emails because they certify that a brand and its logo are authentic by way of Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC). VMCs and CMCs allow a brand’s logo to be viewed inside email clients if the message has passed DMARC authentication checks to ensure the organization’s domain is not being impersonated.

  • DigiCert Logo

    The most-trusted global provider of high-assurance TLS/SSL, PKI, IoT and signing solutions.