Email validation is an essential part of any marketing or customer service campaign. Without proper validation, you run the risk of sending emails to invalid or inactive addresses, which wastes time and resources. This article will cover the best practices for validating emails, including:
Manual validation
When obtaining emails manually through a signup form, validation can be done in several ways:
- Require proper email format. Use input filters to make sure the user enters a correctly formatted email like name@your-article.com.
- Confirmation email. Send a confirmation email with a link the user must click to verify their address. This ensures the email exists and is active.
- Double opt-in. Have the user confirm their subscription twice – once when signing up and again when clicking the validation link. This reduces the chances of typos and mistakes.
API validation services
For large volumes of emails obtained from lists, third-party API services can quickly validate and clean up email addresses. These services check:
- Syntax – Ensuring the basic email format is correct.
- Disposable domains – Filtering out free email providers likely to be inactive.
- Existing domains – Checking that the domain actually exists and has mail servers.
- Previously bounced – Removing emails that have previously bounced from your sending domain.
- Recent activity – Flagging addresses with no recent activity.
- Custom blacklists – Checking your own blocklists of invalid or spam trap addresses.
Some API providers offer a full suite of email validation, verification, and hygiene services. Pricing is typically based on the number of emails validated.
Benefits of email validation:
- Higher deliverability – Valid emails are more likely to reach the intended recipient’s inbox.
- Better tracking and metrics – Invalid emails will not open or click on your emails, skewing your data.
- Reduced spam complaints – Inactive or nonexistent addresses can flag your domain as a spammer.
- Improved campaigns ROI – When your emails reach the right people, you get better conversion rates.
- Compliance with mailing list regulations – Some laws and policies require email lists to be valid and updated regularly.
Challenges of email validation:
- Changes over time – Even validated emails can become invalid due to users changing or disabling their accounts.
- Typos and human error – People sometimes mistype their email when signing up.
- ]Webmail providers – Free email services offer no guarantee an address is active.
- Spam traps – Some domains exist only to trap spammers and will never accept your emails.
- constant updating -You must constantly validate new emails and screen for bouncing addresses.
In summary, proper email validation is a critical part of any email marketing strategy. Combining manual validation methods with API services can give you the highest confidence in your email lists. Be sure to regularly revalidate and update your lists to weed out invalid addresses over time. Start validating your emails today to see major improvements in your campaign results!