Email avatars
The avatar that customers see in an email from your support email address is determined by the recipient’s email client, which controls how inboxes are rendered. Having a good email avatar is important to reinforce brand trust and create a professional look.
Here’s a breakdown of the options available for displaying custom avatars in your emails:
BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification)
BIMI lets you display your logo next to your emails by adding a special DNS record pointing to an SVG file of your logo.
Gmail and other providers support BIMI, but with caveats:
To guarantee your logo appears, you’ll need a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) – this is a third-party certification and costs around $1,200/year.
Without a VMC, some clients may still show your logo, but support is inconsistent.
Best for: Teams who want to invest in high-trust branding and work with enterprise customers.
Gravatar
Some email clients use Gravatar to display avatars based on the sender’s email address.
You can set this up for free using your workspace’s email address.
If the recipient’s email client supports Gravatar, your chosen profile picture will appear.
Best for: Lightweight branding when BIMI isn't feasible.
Gmail Profile Picture
If your support email is managed through Gmail (e.g. via Google Workspace), Gmail may show the profile picture associated with the account.
You can update this from your Gmail inbox settings or through the Admin Console.
This will only affect how your email appears in Gmail clients.
Best for: Teams using Gmail who want simple avatar control without extra setup.
Key takeaway
The avatar your customer sees next to your email is entirely up to their email client. Plain doesn’t include avatars in outgoing emails – we just send clean, authenticated messages.
But by setting up BIMI, Gravatar, or Gmail profile pictures, you give email clients something to work with – increasing your chances of showing up with the right look.