Email avatars

When it comes to customizing the avatar or logo that appears alongside the emails you send from Plain, it’s important to note that you don’t “send” an avatar with the email itself. Instead, the avatar your customer sees is determined by the recipient’s email client, which controls how inboxes are rendered.

Here’s a breakdown of the options available for displaying custom avatars in your emails:

1. BIMI
   BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) allows you to display a custom logo next to your emails by adding a DNS record that points to an SVG image of your logo. Some email clients support BIMI, but there are a few considerations:

   • Gmail, amongst others, will only display your logo if it’s verified by a certificate authority. This process involves purchasing a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC), which costs around ~$1200 per year.
   • Without the certification, some clients may still show your logo, but support varies across different platforms.

2. Gravatar
   Some email clients use Gravatar to display avatars. You can create a Gravatar profile for free (using your workspace’s email address) and if the recipient’s client supports it, your Gravatar’s profile picture will show in the emails you send.

3. Gmail In the abscense of BIMI, Gmail will pull the avatar from the profile picture you use in your Gmail-managed email. You can do this from your Gmail inbox or follow these instructions

Ultimately, the avatar that appears next to your emails depends entirely on the recipient’s email client and its rendering choices.