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Have you ever wondered how the internet seems to know precisely where to go when you type a website’s name into your browser’s address bar? How does your computer know to show you the right page when you type in “

”? The answer to these questions lies in the Domain Name System or DNS.

DNS is an essential part of the Internet’s inner workings, serving as the Internet’s equivalent of your iPhone’s address book. But what exactly is DNS, and why is it so important?

To understand DNS, we first need to understand how the Internet works. Let’s dive in!

Every device connected to the Internet, including computers, phones, and servers, has a unique IP address.

An IP address is a string of numbers separated by periods that identifies each computer using the Internet Protocol to communicate over a network. For example, an IP address might look like this: “192.168.0.1”.

However, humans generally find it much easier to remember names rather than strings of numbers. This is where the 

 comes in. The DNS translates the domain names that we humans easily understand and remember into the IP addresses that computers use to identify each other on the network!

” into your web browser, your computer sends a request to a DNS server asking for the IP address associated with that domain name.

The DNS server responds with the IP address, and your computer then sends a request to that IP address to fetch and display the website.

The process of converting domain names into IP addresses is known as 

, and it usually takes only milliseconds. DNS servers are strategically located around the world and work together to ensure that these requests are processed quickly and accurately.

Now, why is DNS crucial? Firstly, it makes the internet user-friendly.

Without DNS, we would have to memorize complex IP addresses for each website we wanted to visit. Secondly, it ensures the smooth operation of the internet. Every time you send an email, browse a website, or use an app, DNS is working behind the scenes to route your request to the right destination.

And if that wasn’t enough, DNS also provides a level of security. DNS servers can filter and block access to certain websites that might be harmful or inappropriate, providing an essential layer of protection for internet users. It helps you verify the authenticity of a sender via email as we’ll cover in the next section.

DNS is vital for the functioning of email.

When you send an email, your email client needs to know where to send it.

Let’s say you’re sending an email to 

The client doesn’t inherently know where “gmail.com” is, just like your web browser wouldn’t know where to go if you entered that into the address bar. DNS steps in to resolve “gmail.com” into an IP address that represents the actual server your email needs to reach.

DNS is used for email routing, particularly through a type of DNS record called the MX (Mail Exchanger) record.

An MX record is a type of record that specifies a mail server responsible for accepting email messages on behalf of a recipient’s domain.

A priority value (a number like 10 is typical) is used to prioritize mail delivery if multiple mail servers are available. Without the MX records, your email wouldn’t know which server to go to.

Most importantly, DNS plays a critical role in email security.

For instance, Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) are two methods used to prevent email spoofing, a technique used in phishing and spam campaigns where the sender masquerades as another by forging the header data.

SPF and DKIM utilize DNS to hold text records that a recipient’s server can check to verify the sender’s identity.

In essence, DNS is a cornerstone for email operations and security. It helps your email find its way to the correct server, ensures the recipient’s server can accept the mail, and provides mechanisms to verify the sender’s identity to combat fraudulent activities. Without DNS, our email system would be far less reliable and secure.

In summary, the Domain Name System, or DNS, is a critical component of both the internet and email as a whole, transforming the web from a complicated network of numeric addresses into an accessible and secure environment for users worldwide.

It’s the silent hero that allows us to navigate the digital world with ease, translating memorable website names into computer-friendly IP addresses.

So, the next time you browse the internet or send that time-sensitive email, take a moment to appreciate the extraordinary system that makes it all possible: 

What is DNS?

As an email marketer, ensuring that your emails actually get seen and read is priority #1. Adding an avatar to your emails can increase your open rates by up to 21%. The familiarity and trust that this little avatar brings has a great impact on your email campaigns.

Outside of manually adding your brand’s logo as an avatar to each individual email client, there may actually be another way to ensure your emails have the same visual aid with additional layer of trust built in.

BIMI, or Brand Indicators for Message Identification is a relatively new email standard that allows you to add your brand’s logo to your authenticated emails.

Adopting BIMI will allow your brand’s logo to appear next to your emails in your recipient’s inbox without manually needing to add and maintain it on a provider by provider level. As long as the email client supports BIMI, your logo will appear.

A growing number of email provider’s are currently supporting BIMI with many more currently considering it. The current list of supported providers are:

macOS Ventura 13, iOS 16, and iPadOS 16, or later

Yahoo (Yahoo Japan is not currently supported but is under considering for future adoption)

Here is the full breakdown of who does and doesn’t support BIMI as of right now:

Setting up BIMI will take a bit more work than simply uploading your brand’s logo and hitting save.

Technically speaking, BIMI is a text file that lives on your sending servers and works hand in hand with DKIM, SPF, and DMARC protocols.

At a broad level, after you send an email, your recipient’s email provider will look up your BIMI text file and attempt to verify the legitimacy of it. Once verified, your BIMI text file points the email provider to where they can find your logo and they will then attach it to your email.

To start, the sender (you) will need to ensure that you are DMARC compliant. DMARC (domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, & Conformance) is an 

email authentication policy and reporting protocol

 that defends against unauthorized use of domains.

Basically, DMARC helps protect your brand by detecting emails that aren’t coming from your domain – preventing spoofing and phishing attempts.

The email provider will also run through the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) protocols to ensure that the sender’s email address was sent from the correct domain.

Next, you will need to create the logo that will actually be used. The current recommendation is a 

The naming convention of this file should be:

Next is an optional but recommended step. To fully embrace BIMI, your brand should acquire a VMC, or a Verified Mark Certificate. This will help validate the true ownership of the logo being used. More on this in the section below.

Finally, you will need to create a TXT record for BIMI in your DNS records. This record will contain a URL to your logo for the email provider to grab and display.

The full implementation guide from BIMI can be located 

Along with taking some technical chops to get BIMI fully set up, it’s also not free.

Getting the Verified Mark Certificate mentioned above currently 

On top of this cost, to qualify for the certificate your brand logo also needs to be a registered trademark, which will also come with additional costs and possible legal fees.

Now that you’ve gone through the work of setting up your BIMI records, it’s time to confirm that everything is working as expected.

 where you can enter your domain to ensure everything is set.

As you can see, fully embracing BIMI is a lengthy and potentially expensive process that may test your patience.

However, leaning into this new email standard positions your brand to gain your reader’s trust while limiting the manual labor and upkeep on your end to ensure that your brand’s logo is always at the forefront of their inboxes.

As the inbox becomes a more and more competitive landscape with each passing day, anything that you can do to stand out should be done.

BIMI just might give your brand the edge it needs to capture those sought after eyeballs.

What is BIMI?

When it comes to email marketing, there are countless metrics that you can track. Some of these metrics may be fun to track and look great on paper (your computer screen) but unfortunately don’t actually lead to improved business results.

While you might think that vanity metrics help paint a picture of success or improvements to unknowing stakeholders, they are ultimately a distraction.

Facebook likes, Twitter followers, blog pageviews… these are all vanity metrics because they don’t materially impact the success of your business in a tangible way.

Yes, you read that right. The main metric you’ve been tracking (and sharing) to gauge the success or failure of your email marketing campaigns is (mostly) just for show.

An email open rate is the number of unique opens your email campaign receives. Calculating open rate is simple:

Number of unique email opens / Number of delivered emails x 100 = Open Rate

Delivered emails are important here because hard bounced emails do not count towards this calculation.

Note: a hard bounced email is an email that cannot be delivered due to an unchanging and permanent reason. Unfortunately, there is nothing that you can do to reverse this to force your email through.

Some common reasons for a hard bounce are recipient email address doesn’t actually exist, recipient mail server doesn’t exist, and invalid domain name. While a hard bounce will prevent your email from arriving in its intended inbox it is possible that a hard bounce could be caused by something as simple as your recipient having a typo in their email address.

To keep things simple, let’s assume you sent and delivered an email to 100 different users in your campaign. 23 of your users opened this email giving you an open rate of 23%.

Up until recently, open rates were a universally loved way to gauge campaign performance.

Apple changed — mostly. With a dominating 

New privacy initiatives from many of the largest email clients are quietly removing email senders ability to successfully track open rates.

Apple is leading the charge with their new “Mail Privacy Protection” (first introduced in 2021 with iOS 15) that allows users to opt-in to having Apple pre-load their email upon receipt. By doing so, the email’s tracking pixel will immediately trigger.

Note: an email tracking pixel is a 1px by 1px square image that is inserted into an email and is transparent in color and invisible to the recipient. These tracking pixels are what allow marketers to measure open rate, click rate, traffic sources and more.

This change artificially inflates open rates as delivered emails will now automatically show as opened whether they truly have or have not been opened by the intended recipient.

These changes to email open tracking are completely out of the sender’s control.

And to top it all off, these changes affect not only users receiving emails on the Apple Mail app itself but also those who use an Apple client in any way (r

). This means that using GMail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc. on iOS 15 may also contribute to your now-inflated open rate.

What was once a key metric to track and share with key stakeholders should now be viewed with a bit more skepticism.

It is highly unlikely that these recent privacy changes will be reversed anytime soon (ever).

We suggest continuing to run your campaigns as you have been.

Continue to send consistent emails (both in frequency and content), create intriguing and accurate subject lines and body content, segment your list so that only the most relevant audience is receiving your emails, and pay close attention to your unsubscribe rate.

However, now you should put a greater emphasis on tracking specific product goals in relation to your email campaigns. Have actionable metrics in mind – metrics around business goals such as generating free trials, converting trials to paid, increased usage of your app or inviting team members.

And actually, this should have been the goal all along.

High open rates don’t necessarily lead to increased sales or profits for your business, the end result of those opens is what really makes the difference.

Now that your focus has transitioned to more tangible KPI’s that lead to specific product goals being met it will be much easier to accurately measure the success of your email marketing campaigns.

Looking back on it, maybe your email open rate becoming a vanity metric overnight will ultimately be a blessing in disguise.

Take this as an opportunity to refocus your attention on the KPI’s that ultimately matter for your business. High open rates may have been impressive in the past but now it’s time to craft and measure your email campaigns against the things that truly move the needle.

Open rates are a vanity metric

Sending emails to Apple “Hide my email” addresses

Apple has recently begun offering their iCloud+ users more and more privacy options when it comes to how they move and appear on the internet.

What does this mean for email? It turns out… quite a bit.

 provides Apple users the opportunity to create unique, random email addresses that forward to their actual email address. This allows them to keep their real email address hidden from online services and email marketers (likely, you).

This can pose challenges for businesses and marketers that hope to track user engagement or maintain an updated and engaged email list.

Sending emails to customers using Hide My Email

Sending emails to customers that are using Apple’s Hide My Email feature can result in both hard or soft bounces — meaning your email will not be delivered.

 as your ESP (email service provider) to send your marketing and transactional emails, an additional step is needed to ensure these members of your audience remain in the loop (pun intended).

You will need to register your sending domain with Apple through these quick steps.

 under the category labeled Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles 

You'll want to register the email address that we provide for you in-app as well as the usual domain.

 (envelope is the part we are generating for you) and 

That’s it! Goodbye bounces and hello inbox.

If you don’t register your sending domain with Apple prior to sending emails it may very likely result in a bounce, meaning that your email will not be delivered to the intended recipient.

If you are using Loops and notice bounces to these email addresses in your email metrics please follow the above steps to register your domain.

Once your domain is registered, reach out to us and we can manually remove the emails from our block list.

Email basics

What is DNS?

What is BIMI?

Open rates are a vanity metric

Send to “Hide my email” addresses