14% of the Gmail blue checkmark certificates we found have expired. Are VMCs actually worth renewing?
I’ve been analysing BIMI data from 1,200+ brands through Email Detective, and one result surprised me:
175 Mark Certificates, around 14%, are currently expired.
Some other interesting numbers:
- Around 90% of certificates where we could identify the issuer came from DigiCert
- We found 110 expired DigiCert certificates
- All 65 Entrust VMCs in our dataset have now expired after Entrust stopped issuing them
- Brands currently publishing expired certificates include Wells Fargo, Capital One, Booking.com, T-Mobile, Adidas, Binance, Hyatt and Monday.com
Some of them may be changing providers or stuck in the renewal process (or they have even forgotten to renew them). One VMC user told us their recertification took 7 months.
I am curious about your experience using a VMC. Have you been able to measure any actual benefit from the blue checkmark?