Posted by Introduction
To achieve success in your email campaigns, a database of valid email addresses is key. However, an invalid email can jeopardize your campaign and lead to delivery failures. It’s imperative to tackle this issue promptly!
Sending emails to invalid email addresses results in hard bounces, affecting your image with Internet Service Providers (ISPs). So, frequent mishaps will harm your sender’s reputation and hinder your email delivery performance. Consequently, this could lead to emails sent even to valid subscribers directly into their spam folders or fully blocked.
Aside from expanding your subscriber base for email marketing, equally crucial is the upkeep of these lists. This article discusses the problematic nature of invalid emails, the harm they bring upon businesses, the ways they sneak into mail databases and how these nefarious emails can be detected and avoided upfront.
Continue reading further. You’re then all set with tidying up your database, paving the path for a seamless communication network! Let’s begin!
Wonder what exactly an invalid email address implies?
An invalid email address cannot accommodate messages and shouldn’t receive any, either. For instance,
- It may have the wrong format, including spelling mistakes or syntax issues
- Often, such an address doesn’t exist at all
- Cases where the inbox is full, reject receiving new emails
- Sometimes service provider itself blocks the mailbox things, making it inaccessible
The issue also extends to certain unsafe kinds of emails, which can receive incoming messages but aren’t ideal for sending out emails or need careful handling.
Catchall emails that might not correspond with the actual person and role-based ones relevant to team units
Avoid temporary or Disposable addresses used by individuals as a shield against unwanted promotional content or spam accumulating in one’s inbox.
How do invalid email addresses end up on your list?
Invalid email addresses can appear in your email list due to various reasons, from intentional mistakes to unavoidable circumstances. We’ll discuss later how to spot and avoid these invalid email addresses.
Buying an email list
Purchasing an email list is the most common method of getting bad email addresses. Subscribers did not agree to be on a bought list that fills your current list with spam traps, invalid emails, and unused mailboxes.
No matter how attractive buying an email list might seem, it’s essential to avoid it completely. If you’re not convinced yet,then here are seven reasons why you should not buy an underpriced or overstocked list of emails.
Disposable emails
Frequently, individuals use temporary emails to register for services or redeem freebies that keep their main inbox spam-free. These are risky due to low engagement levels and become dormant after a while.
Mistakes made by users
Basically, we are all prone to committing errors. When populating your emailing list, there may be amiss entries beyond your control that go unnoticed. A mechanism for preventing such instances from happening will be discussed later.
Obsolete subscriber details
Typically, over time, the quality of the contact information in your emailing database dips as people change their contact information for various reasons like losing access, switching jobs or simply outgrowing their former domain space.
So, subscribers often forget to update their information, leaving you with old email addresses.
Overflowing mailboxes
Basically, personal inboxes can often become cluttered with unread messages. If these pile up and fill the mailbox, they may eventually stop accepting new emails causing any subsequent incoming mails to bounce back.
The trap of spam
No one is absolutely safe from spam traps, even if you’ve followed every email list-building rule. ISPs use inactive emails as bait to catch spammers and careless senders who don’t manage their email lists properly. There is also a risk that someone intentionally includes a spam trap in your list, intending to harm it.
The danger of an invalid email address
Sending emails to invalid domains results in a hard bounce. A high hard bounce rate (anything over 2% is an issue) increases the likelihood of damaging your sender’s reputation, which affects email delivery and leads your messages into the spam folders.
Beware of being blocked by IP if your bounce rate increases significantly. It can be quite challenging getting off some blocklists (see our guide for more information about dealing with blocklists).
A high bounce rate signals to ISPs and spam filters that you are a potential danger, perhaps because you’re sending junk or not adhering strictly to laws concerning cleaning the mailing list, like GDPR.
How to Get Rid of an Invalid Email Address
Checking manually
The simplest way to cleanse your email list is through manual checking. This method might be slow for big lists, but it works well for smaller ones. Here’s how it can be done,
Step 1:
Move your email list to a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.
Step 2 :
Look over each email address one at a time and any obvious mistakes such as spelling errors or missing parts.
Step 3:
Carry out a quick online search for doubtful email addresses to ensure they are real. Websites such as Hunter can assist you in verifying if an email address is valid.
Step 4:
Delete any addresses found to be invalid or suspicious.
If you find manual validation is too slow, especially with larger lists, automatic tools can speed up the process significantly.
Email Verification Services
Bulk email verification services are handy tools that simplify the task of erasing fake emails from your list. They use diverse methods to authenticate email addresses and confirm their usability. Here’s how they can be used,
Step 1:
Pick a trustworthy and instant email authentication service.
Step 2:
Transfer your email list to an accepted format (usually CSV or Excel), then upload it to the verification service.
Step 3:
Start the validation process. The service will review each email address for syntax errors, domain checks, and mailbox validity.
Step 4:
After verification, expect a comprehensive report classifying each address as safe, unsafe or dubious.
Step 5:
Based on the results- remove any invalid email addresses from your list.
Email validation services are time savers and very precise. They work exceptionally well with large email lists. However, picking a trusted service is key to ensuring your data remains private, and the results are accurate.
Summary on eliminating invalid email address using bulk email verifier
Keeping your email list clean and accurate is key to a thriving email marketing strategy. Eliminating invalid emails will improve deliverability, conserve resources, and refine the analysis of your campaign. Whichever method you opt for, manual validation, availing of email verification facilities, or setting up a double opt-in system, cleaning your email list regularly must be important. Pick the technique that fits you best, and make sure to follow anti spam laws. By keeping your email list in good condition, your email marketing work will prosper.