Verifying Email Addresses for Validity: Necessity and Implementation Methods

Modern marketing involves the use of a huge number of different tools and approaches designed to ensure effective interaction with the target audience, increase their loyalty, encourage them to browse the catalog, and place orders. New solutions are constantly emerging in this niche, but at the same time, many classic approaches remain extremely relevant, such as... email marketing. Today, you can find experts claiming that this approach has exhausted its potential, that its effectiveness is gradually declining, giving way to other, more advanced solutions. This statement is far from the truth: in terms of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, email marketing is the best option. And no business should overlook it if they want to easily inform their audience about new products, special offers, remind those who have already placed orders on the website, etc.

But all this is only relevant when email marketing is set up correctly, and when your emails are guaranteed to reach their audience. If your email is sent to an incorrect or non-existent address, you risk being flagged as spam, seriously damaging your business's reputation, and reducing the effectiveness of your overall marketing campaign. This means that all email addresses in your contact database must be validated periodically—checked for existence, suitability for mailings, and spelling. This will help you remove outdated and misspelled addresses from your database, including those with misspelled domains or prefixes, temporary or disposable email addresses, and spam traps.

In today's review, we'll cover in detail what email address validation is and why it's essential for anyone who uses email marketing. We'll also discuss which businesses should perform this type of validation. We'll explain how the validation process works and what criteria to consider when choosing the most suitable service for this check. We'll take a detailed look at the most popular software solutions available in this niche today, describing their features, advantages, disadvantages, and specifics, as well as points that will help you choose the most suitable option for your upcoming work. We'll also briefly discuss what to do after the validation process is complete.

The information provided will help you understand the importance of this work specifically for your business, understand the available software solutions for email address validation on the market today, and choose the best solution for you.

Why is it important to regularly validate email addresses?

Any email newsletter requires a fair amount of preparation. The target audience is analyzed, broken down into segments, a relevant and engaging topic is selected for each segment, and content is prepared to engage the recipient. And what do we get in the end? Part of your mailing list is simply bounced back because the address you sent it to is no longer valid.

Email validation is a process that allows you to ensure that an email address is current, meaning it's ready to receive your mailing list. If this type of marketing is relevant to your company, if you work with large subscriber bases, or if you'd like to launch automated campaigns, then performing such work will definitely be part of your responsibilities.

Regular email validation is a must. This will allow you to:

• Minimize your bounce rate: fewer returns will indicate that email services consider you a reliable sender.
• Significantly save money on marketing campaigns: Most modern platforms charge based on the number of emails sent: proper verification will prevent emails from being sent to invalid addresses;
• Improve your domain reputation: regularly sending emails to invalid addresses is guaranteed to lower your domain rating;

Although these points are not numerous, they are all essential for the proper functioning of virtually any business. This means they should definitely not be neglected. However, there are a number of cases in which email validation is critical.

Who Should Regularly Validate Emails?

Many of you may think that since you collect your target audience's contacts manually, all the addresses in your database will be valid. Unfortunately, this is a fairly common misconception. Here are a few situations in which you should not neglect regular email address validation:

1. You've been diligently collecting potential clients' addresses for a long time, but haven't gotten around to sending out a newsletter. This means your database may contain outdated, unused addresses. Situations where users change email addresses are quite common. When it comes to corporate email addresses, this practice is much more common: people simply change jobs.
2. You didn't use double opt-in when building your database. This could result in your database containing addresses with misspellings in the domain or name. Users could unintentionally make such errors. To prevent this, you need to enable subscription confirmation. This will require clicking a link in the email.
3. You regularly encounter low email delivery rates. If you frequently receive reports indicating "email address does not exist" or "delivery failed," you need to validate this information as quickly as possible by purging your database of irrelevant data.
4. You added contacts to your address book manually. Human error may play a role here. Most email addresses are quite complex to spell, so the likelihood of errors is high. This could be a simple typo, an extra space, a missing @ symbol, etc.

Does this apply to you? Then let's take a closer look at how to validate emails.

Features of Email Validity Checking

The entire process of checking email address validity involves a sequential series of steps. Thanks to this process, you can identify problematic contacts even before sending them a mailing. In particular, modern validators use methods such as:

• Typos and syntax. In this case, the program will check that the address spelling complies with current standards and also detect typos.
• Role-based addresses. Examples include names such as abuse@, postmaster@, and admin@. These are usually assigned to a group of people rather than a specific user. These are typically departments within companies. This means that if you send an email to such an address, even if one of the department representatives gives you permission to send, you still risk receiving a complaint. Therefore, role-based addresses should not be used at all in email marketing.
• MX record. This is a type of DNS record that points to the server that processes mail. The validator program checks not only its presence but also its spelling. If the MX record is incorrectly specified, this may cause problems with the recipient's domain receiving mail.
• Disposable email addresses. Sending emails to such email addresses is pointless, as the recipient will never use them again. The program will detect such addresses during the check and prompt you to delete them, thereby eliminating budget waste.
• Spam traps. Here we are talking about email addresses used by the mail service to track down unscrupulous users. If your database contains such addresses, you risk being blocked. In this case, the validator will run your subscriber database through all known spam trap lists and mark the positions where matches are found.
• Checking with the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), which is used to send and receive emails over the internet. This checks all email activity.

As you can see, validators perform comprehensive address verification. This means you'll see absolutely every email that's outdated or poses a risk. However, you can only ensure maximum accuracy by using a reliable and proven service.

Key Criteria for Choosing an Email Validator

The modern market offers users a wide variety of services for validating email addresses. To navigate this diversity and choose the most suitable option, it's important to consider a number of key criteria:

1. Speed of execution. If you're working with large databases or need to verify a large number of addresses before launching a marketing campaign, time is often of the essence. Experience shows that a reliable service can verify tens of thousands of addresses in an hour. With their help, you can perform asynchronous checks via the API, preventing any other processes from being blocked on your device. If you enter your address interactively, as is the case when registering on the website, you will receive a response in real time.
2. Accuracy of the results. This is essential for maintaining high email deliverability rates, preserving your sender reputation, preventing your emails from being labeled as spam, and saving money on mailings overall. In this case, you must be confident that the service will perform the most accurate check possible and will find all addresses that do not meet the requirements, as well as that high-quality emails will not be included in the error list. In other words, you need a service that guarantees the accuracy of the results.
3. Security and privacy. A user contact database is an extremely important asset for any business. This means that all information contained within it must remain confidential. Therefore, it's best to choose services that strictly adhere to current personal data protection standards, comply with GDPR standards, and are ISO-certified. It's also essential to eliminate the possibility of storing email addresses on third-party servers. Furthermore, such tools should operate under a transparent privacy policy and have a public data processing agreement.
4. Reasonable and reasonable pricing. All validator services available on the market today vary in price. This largely depends on the validation limits and functionality provided. Payment models can also vary. For example, fees may be charged for a certain number of validations, such as per 1,000, or a monthly subscription with or without limits. You can also find services that offer free email validation, but most of them offer limited functionality or a limited number of validations.

To choose the most suitable service, it's important to understand that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. All of these tools currently on the market have their own specific goals, contact database size, and technical capabilities. Furthermore, their costs vary. It's also important to understand that the most expensive isn't synonymous with the best. You simply need to understand what you want to get out of the validation service.

Initially, you need to decide how many contacts your database will have. A database of 50-100 contacts is one thing, but a database of hundreds of thousands is quite another. The latter requires extremely high speed and scalability. You also need to understand how often you'll be performing these checks. If they're regular, consider subscription options, while a one-time check is best with a pay-per-volume model. Also, consider what integrations you'll need. If your business uses email platforms or CRM systems, you should ensure they have ready-made integrations or an open API. Now that you clearly understand your needs and priorities, it's time to familiarize yourself with the services available on the market and choose the best option for you.

The Best Email Address Validation Services

We've already discussed the wide variety of email address verification services available on the modern market. But now we'd like to highlight five options worth considering if you're looking for the optimal balance between accuracy, convenience, and iteration flexibility. These include solutions such as:

1. Pabbly Email Verification.
2. ZeroBounce.
3. NeverBounce.
4. Hunter.io.
5. SendPulse.

Now let's take a closer look at each of these solutions, highlighting their key features, advantages, and usage nuances.

Pabbly Email Verification

Pabbly Email Verification is a validator that allows you to perform deep email address verification as quickly and easily as possible, without requiring monthly subscriptions. Payment is based solely on the number of checks performed. It's worth using if you need to perform a one-time database cleanup, or if you plan to perform similar tasks periodically.

The main advantages of this validation service include:

• good quality of domain, syntax, overall mailbox, temporary email addresses, and spam trap verification;
• reasonably fast operation without complex pre-configurations;
• support for Zapier integration and CSV import.

As for its drawbacks, users note the lack of advanced analytics and the inability to use deep integrations via the API.

How to Validate Email with Pabbly Email Verification

We'll now provide brief instructions to help you verify email addresses using this service. So, you need to follow these steps step by step:

1. Go to the developer's official website and click the "Sign Up Free" button. Here, you'll need to log in with your Google Account, if you have one, or complete the standard registration process.
2. After that, a general menu will open with seven different tools. Select Pably Email Verification. A dashboard will then appear. To start the verification, find the "Verify Email" option in the upper right corner and click it. Please note that this service allows you to verify a single email address or run a verification of your entire database. Payment must be made in advance via the "Upgrade" button.
3. If you want to verify a large email list at once, click the "Verify Bulk Emails" button. This will open a window where you can upload your email database file. Please note that this file must have the .csv extension and its total size must not exceed 10 MB. There is also a maximum size limit of 300,000 emails.

At this stage, all you need to do is name your email list and then specify the folder where it will be saved.

ZeroBounce

ZeroBounce is A service that, unlike similar services, not only validates email addresses but also provides useful additional information for each one. This could include the user's country or their IP-address. It boasts 99% verification accuracy, is fully compliant with GDPR and HIPAA requirements, and is extremely fast.

The main advantages of this service include:

• high-quality performance evaluation: you can check clicks and opens;
• 24/7 support, user-friendly API;
• advanced functionality: displaying geolocation, contact source, and abuse risks;
• the ability to integrate with HubSpot, Sendinblue, and Salesforce.

Among the disadvantages, we note the complexity of the interface and the rather significant cost: compared to similar services, it will be significantly higher.

How to validate emails via ZeroBounce

Checking the relevance and quality of email addresses via the ZeroBounce service requires just a few steps:

1. Go to the developer's official website and click the "Sign Up" button "Free," meaning "Register for free."
2. After this, a new dashboard will open. Click the "Buy Credits" button, review the available plans, then select the appropriate option and deposit the required amount.
3. Return to the service's main page. Here, you can verify a single address by entering it in the appropriate field or by uploading a file using the "Validate New List" button. Please note that this service works with documents saved in .csv, .txt, .xls, and .xlsx formats.

NeverBounce

NeverBounce — This is a service you can use when managing large volumes of contacts and performing regular checks before launching each new marketing campaign. This way, you'll achieve highly accurate results and efficient workflows. Among the advantages of this email validation tool, it's worth highlighting:

• Detection of temporary addresses, catch-alls, and spam traps;
• An API for automatically clearing new contacts;
• Convenient and flexible integration with Mailchimp, Zapier, and ActiveCampaign;
• Ability to configure daily email database validation.

We'd like to point out that the free plan offered here is for trial purposes only. This means you won't be able to perform bulk verifications with it.

How to Validate Email with NeverBounce

Using the NeverBounce service is also quite simple and convenient for users. Specifically, you'll need to complete the following steps:

1. Go to the official website of this service and click the "Register" button. First, you'll need to click the "Buy Credits" button and pay for your chosen plan.
2. To perform direct verification, go to the "Verify" tab. A new window with a text field will open. Here, you can add a list of contacts to be verified by entering them one by one, or you can upload a pre-prepared file with all the addresses. Mandatory conditions: Saving it in .csv format.
3. If necessary, connect NeverBounce to other services to bulk upload contacts. In this case, click "Clean" in the top menu, then "Add List." In the new window that opens, select the tool you want to use.

Hunter.io

Hunter.io is a rather interesting solution for B2B businesses in general. You can use it not only as a verifier, but also as an effective tool for searching addresses by domain. The main advantages of this product include:

• high-quality format, domain, and SMTP availability checks;
• provision of information about the source where the address was found;
• a free plan is available, allowing you to check up to 25 addresses per month;
• convenient, flexible integration with services such as Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier;

Among the disadvantages, users highlight the lack of information about user demographics and their overall email activity.

How to Validate Email with Hunter.io

If you choose Hunter.io, you will need to complete the following steps:

1. Go to the official website of this service and click the "Create an account" button. "Account." Here you can log in using your Google search account or complete the registration process.
2. Note the left vertical menu. Find the "Verifier" tab. This will open a window for checking your email address. Here you can enter a single option or upload the entire list by clicking the "Upload a list of email addresses to verify" button.
3. If you directly upload the file, the program will redirect you to another page where you will need to specify the name of your address database and paste the desired email address, or upload it as a .csv or .txt file.

Please note that if you exceed the verification limits on the free plan, the service will prompt you to pay for subsequent use.

SendPulse

SendPulse — This is a comprehensive platform that combines functionality for email marketing, launching chatbots, sending SMS messages, and sending emails to Viber messenger. Address verification is implemented directly in the interface. This means you can use it both in automated scenarios and during contact import. Basic verification allows you to quickly purge small lists of low-quality email addresses, but the depth of its functionality is somewhat limited.

We would like to point out that SendPulse is not a full-fledged validation service, but a much larger platform that offers this option. That is, if you already use it in your work, then, in principle, it would also be useful for email verification. The main advantages in this case are:

• automatic verification of email address structure and format during import;
• the ability to manually highlight invalid addresses in individual segments;
• support for verification via Automation 360 and the API.
• the ability to use it when working with multi-channel campaigns.

As for the disadvantages, users note the lack of in-depth SMTP verification, as well as built-in analytics without integration with third-party platforms.

How to Validate Email via SendPulse

To validate email addresses using the SendPulse service, you need to follow these steps:

1. Go to the service's official website and click the "Register" button.
2. After this, a dashboard will open. Go to the "Newsletters" tab and select "Email Verification." Enter the desired address in the appropriate field and click the "Verify" button.
3. If you plan to check a large number of emails at once, you can import your address book from the service or upload a separate file in any of the following formats: .txt, .csv, .xls, or .xlsx. If your database size exceeds the daily limit, you will be asked to pay for the verification.

The table below provides a summary of all 5 validation services we discussed above.

Alternative Validator Services

Along with the services we discussed in detail above, there are other options on the market that you can consider. Let's briefly review the most reputable ones:

• Mailvalidator. A functional platform that lets you examine your subscriber database and ensure its validity. You can use express verification for addresses that already have an email history, as well as perform a full verification for all others. You can download a list of such email addresses as a file or connect via API. This service is fully localized and offers a one-month trial, during which you can verify five address lists and receive personalized recommendations aimed at improving the quality of your contact database. Conveniently, you receive reports in graph form, which is great for visual perception. The approximate price is 0.35 rubles per address. MailboxValidator. This service evaluates email addresses and assigns them a score. You can use it as an app on iOS and Android devices, or visit the website each time, verifying individual addresses. API integration is available, allowing you to verify up to 300 addresses per month completely free. They also have their own affiliate program. You receive verification results in a .csv file. Each address will be marked with its category, score, and final status: true - valid address, false - invalid. This service offers a trial period during which you can verify up to 100 addresses for 30 days completely free. Subsequently, you will be able to verify 300 addresses per month via the API without payment. If this volume is insufficient for you, you will need to purchase paid plans starting at $19.95 per month. The approximate cost of verifying one address in the minimum plan is $0.02. Other pricing plans are available for the API.
• QuickEmailVerification. The service offers a wide range of plans, and also offers a free trial period. It is suitable for checking a database with a large number of typos and without double opt-in. The permissible daily limits are 100 addresses. Choose the most suitable plan for you, with a monthly subscription or a per-address payment. API integration and support for a wide range of database upload formats (.csv, .txt, .xls, .xlsx, .ods) are also available. Basic (free) features include single email address validation, a DMARC record creation wizard, and DNS record verification. The approximate cost of verifying 1,000 addresses is $8.
• MillionVerifier. This validation service is the most affordable on the market today. It provides a fairly concise report, but with accurate address verification results. The result is a small table with a diagram. It offers a free initial verification of 10 addresses, and then, after phone number verification, an additional 200. API integration and live chat support are also available (even in the basic free plan). The cost of using this service is $29 for every 10,000 addresses.

All of these services operate in a similar way to those discussed above.

What actions should you take after verifying email addresses?

Your first step after completing this verification is to delete all invalid addresses. However, we do not recommend sending a mailing to the entire updated database immediately. The fact is, if you haven't sent a newsletter in a while, even those who signed up to receive emails from you may simply forget. Therefore, it's best to initially focus on email addresses that have been added to your database relatively recently. You can sort these addresses by their last send date, ranging from six months to a year. If you see that you have many new addresses but haven't sent any newsletters yet, it's a good idea to consider additional segmentation by subscription date.

Once the sorting process is complete, it's important to remind your audience who you are and consider how you can encourage them to engage with your newsletter. Alternatively, you could send a special offer or a bonus. The process of "reviving" your email database should be performed in the following order:

1. Sort addresses by send date that haven't received any emails in less than a year. Prepare a message for them with an interesting offer.
2. The next segment is older addresses, such as those sent in the last 1-2 years. Here, you can remind them about your company, the products and services you offer, and add a special offer.
3. Next, filter out those to whom you haven't sent emails for at least 2-3 years. This mailing should be more informative, reminding them of the products or services they ordered from you.

Following this principle, you should continue sending emails to new addresses. Don't forget to regularly check your spam complaint rates in your reports. As soon as you see these numbers increasing, your mailings are being sent to the spam folder. Temporarily stop sending to new addresses until the statistics improve. All of the emails you've managed to resuscitate—that is, where the email was received and opened—can be added to your updated database and used for future email campaigns.

Summing Up

Verifying email addresses for validity is critical for any email marketing business, helping to maintain a stable sender reputation, avoid spam, and improve the effectiveness of existing strategies. In today's review, we've detailed how to perform these checks, their purpose, the errors they can detect, and the services that can be used for these checks. We've also provided recommendations on what to do next after validation. The information provided will help you take a fresh look at email marketing as a whole and complete the upcoming work as accurately and efficiently as possible.

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