If a business owner is only going to collect a base of subscribers, they need to take the time to verify their emails. This will help increase the effectiveness of using newsletters and protect against problems in the future.

The process of validating and verifying email addresses can be automated with dedicated tools. You don’t need to know a programming language or spend days learning a new one. It’s enough to understand the basic settings. 

1. Email Validation and Verification Explained

Let’s imagine that a business owner has collected a database of emails and wants to use it to increase conversions. He signs up for a newsletter service, pays the rate, creates a template, and waits for a response.

A few hours later, the sender sees unflattering statistics in the reports. It turns out that only half of the letters reached their recipients, and only 10% of this number opened them. Time is wasted, and the entrepreneur decides not to use the channel.

The critical mistake is that collecting email addresses is not enough to create an effective newsletter. If most mailboxes are invalid or their owners are not interested in the content, there will be no benefit from sending letters.

There are two operations to clean the contact database — validation and verification. Validation of the mailbox is often confused with verification, so it is important to understand the details.

Validation is the process of verifying the existence of an email address. With the help of specialized services, it is possible to quickly find out if there is really such a box. Users often add fake emails to the contact form because they do not want to share personal information.

Verification is confirmation of subscription. On many sites, you can find a newsletter tracking form. The user enters an email address, receives an email with an activation link according to GDPR terms, and subscribes to an update.

Validation and verification help keep the subscriber base up-to-date. The global difference between the two is that verification only must be done once, at the time the user subscribes to the newsletter. But it’s better to perform validation from time to time because emails stop working. 

2. Why Is It Necessary to Verify Email Addresses Before Sending Emails?

Statistics show that approximately 23% of email accounts become invalid each year. This doesn’t necessarily apply to every email address database, but a percentage of users are lost every year, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Verifying that the email account is working correctly and then verifying it will save the newsletter service time and resources. Assuming that 1,500 contacts out of a database of 12,000 contacts do not receive notifications, the limits will be wasted.

Email address verification is done automatically, so there is no need to be afraid of it. But it is important to choose the right email service before sending emails. If you have to change the platform, you will need to ask for verification again.

2.1. Reducing bounce rates 

When an email is sent to a non-existent email address, the sender gets a tough rejection. If there are many such cases, the email service provider (ESP) may block the account.

Checking email addresses periodically protects against a high bounce rate. In some marketing services, you can set up scheduled recipient validation and not waste time on it.

Keeping the bounce rate low or zero is one of the main goals of every marketer or business owner who deals with newsletters. 

2.2. Increase the percentage of emails delivered

If most emails on the list are valid, the percentage of delivered emails will be close to 100%. This, in turn, makes the sender’s account authoritative for the algorithms of email services.

Other factors also affect delivery: the number of links in the background, subjects of emails, domain trust. But if problems start at the very beginning, there is no point in counting on effective work with the email channel. 

2.3. Protection of the sender’s reputation

Bulk email newsletter services are interested in cooperating with clients who have no problems with the delivery of emails and do not use prohibited methods to promote their products or services.

Service providers have internal metrics to evaluate each user’s performance. As soon as they exceed the established ranges, the work will be blocked.

The purpose of email services is the successful delivery of emails. Email address validation and other preliminary tasks are the responsibility of senders. They are more interested in making sure that the system works perfectly.

You should also keep in mind that when you send emails from your corporate email account, there is a risk that it will be blocked. This happens when there is a steady stream of spam and users send complaints. 

2.4. Improving newsletter results

Email address blocking and other technical issues are not significant problems. However, if newsletter performance problems arise, this can hamper your business and reduce your income.

You can track the improvement of newsletter performance using Reply Rates, Open Rates, and other metrics. If users read your emails, respond to them, and perform other targeted actions, you can consider the task done.

Newsletters are created to keep in touch with potential and existing customers. But if interaction with them turns into email harassment, it will be of no use.

The outcome of email interactions with subscribers depends on many factors. When the sender doesn’t pay attention to verifying the accuracy of the emails, the feasibility of further efforts will be highly questionable. 

3. How to Verify an Email Address Without Sending an Email?

There are many ways to verify emails that users of all skill levels can use. To save time, it is better to use bulk email verification tools to check the correctness of email addresses.

If a newsletter service is at hand, you should check if there are validation features available. Many email servers provide the service for free. But access to it may be open after you pay for a subscription plan.

You can also check the validity of an email address without using external tools, but you will only be able to verify the validity of an email after sending a test message through the provider. 

3.1. Checking the email address syntax

The syntax of an address consists of certain components. They are the email name, the @ symbol, and the domain name. Only dots can be used in the nickname, but no more than one.

As for the domain, it also consists of a sequence of specific parts of the name and zone. The domain my-spam.email.com.tld is suspicious because it doesn’t look like a regular user’s mailbox. 

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Checking the syntax visually and finding disposable addresses is not difficult, but don’t rush to avoid removing valid addresses that only seem to be incorrect. 

3.2. Pinging a server

Only experienced users usually ping an SMTP server because they know that this way, you can remove the entire domain, not specific addresses, from the email address database. In this way, you can confirm the email address more quickly.

Using tools such as PuTTY for Telnet, you can ping a domain and find out if it exists online. If there is no response for a long time, it makes sense to remove the email addresses from your list or to temporarily block email sending. 

3.3. Finding the IP address

Another quick way to check email boxes is based on analyzing the IP address. You can use any IP validation tool and not waste your time learning more advanced tools.

Checking an email address without sending an email using IP analysis is based on working with an MX record. The system analyzes whether it exists and how it is configured.

By checking the MX, you will be able to see the IP address and then check the information about it in any service that provides such data. You can find it in a few seconds via a search engine. 

3.4. DNS Lookup

DNS Lookup is a tool for checking the authenticity of a domain. DNS Lookup can be used as an additional way to fix problems with the domain. Keep in mind that every domain can have difficulties at times.

In a search engine, you can easily find a service that will show information about the configured service records of the domain in a few seconds. And then, you only need to check their correctness. 

3.5. Search for the address in Google

You can find email addresses on almost every informational or commercial website. They are published for clients or potential partners to be able to get in touch and receive answers to their questions.

The method doesn’t guarantee 100% accuracy, but if the email is publicly available, it’s probably correct. Don’t forget to pay attention to the availability of the domain. If it is not responding to the requests, the correctness of the email address will not affect the successful delivery of the message. There are many ways to verify emails, and search engines cannot be called the most effective. But they can be used as a source of information. 

3.6. Checking existing blacklists

Blacklists are a set of email addresses previously spotted in suspicious activity. For example, spam or links to phishing sites were sent from them in bulk. Emails from low-trust domains do not reach their recipients.

When newbies ask how to verify emails, one of the most relevant options is to use blacklists. If a domain is on the list, you should not send emails to such emails.

In some cases, addresses get blacklisted accidentally, but it does not happen that often. Therefore, you can rely on them and use them to clean up your contact base for newsletters. 

3.7. Using email validation tools

Validating emails is a standard task for anyone working with this channel. Therefore, services to perform such verification have long been in demand. And you can find dozens of options on the Web with approximately the same functionality.

When asked how to verify a mailbox, the easiest answer is with the help of verification services. It is enough to enter the address into a special line and launch the analysis. In a few seconds, the result will appear on the screen.

To get more accurate data, it is necessary to use several tools at once. Then, the risk of error will be lower, and you will be able to use the addresses for newsletters with confidence.

3.7.1. How do they work?

Most email validation services use complex data monitoring – syntax check, server ping, and interaction with DNS.

To make sure that the algorithms work correctly, you should add several addresses to the service and check the results. If there are no problems, you can use the tool to perform your tasks.

The majority of popular services successfully cope with email verification. And the user only has to copy the email address to add it to the next newsletter. 

4. The Best Email Address Verification Tools

After typing a query related to the best email analysis tools into the search bar, you will see many options. But the user will have to make a choice on their own.

Each site can be positioned as the best mailbox checker because there is nothing complicated about the email verification mechanism. Some tools use only one way to retrieve data, and the user will not know about it.

Among email validators, SalesHandy with its API can be distinguished. After uploading the recipient list, algorithms check the emails and categorize them into segments. Once the analysis is complete, information about valid, invalid, and risky emails is available.

You can easily find SalesHandy in a Google search with the query “how to check an email address.” But it may not be suitable for all marketers or business owners as a newsletter tool. That’s why you should focus on general needs rather than on a single task.

A good alternative is Email Verifier from Hunter. The service uses a comprehensive algorithm to verify email address data and ensures that every email account is safe for sending emails.

If email address lookup is used for email outreach, you can avoid wasting your time on this and use another option. PRPosting provides access to over 40,000 donors. You can communicate with website owners in a user-friendly interface and do not have to wait a few weeks for feedback by email. 

In addition to quick access to the database of webmasters, the service also provides a guarantee for placing links. It replaces any website databases for outreach and freelancers who offer hundreds of links for $100 and can jeopardize website development. 

5. Conclusions

Email address validation and verification are the most important tasks, the quality of which determines the effectiveness of work with the email channel. If you do not pay attention to these procedures, you risk wasting your money. 

FAQ

What is email validation?

It is a procedure of checking if the address is correct. If the email address exists, analysis services will find it and show the service information.

What is email verification?

It is the process of verifying the email address of a mailbox. Usually, a letter with an activation link is sent to the email. After you click it, you’re automatically included in the subscriber database.

Why is it necessary to check the email address before sending messages?

To reduce the bounce rate, increase the percentage of delivered emails, keep the reputation of the sender at a high level, and, most importantly, increase the effectiveness of newsletters by email.

How to confirm the email address without sending a letter?

You can use server ping, domain availability check, DNS and MX analysis, and other methods.