Email validation is one of the most misunderstood parts of email marketing. Misconceptions like the fear of losing a significant portion of your list prevent marketers from embracing it, even though accurate validation helps reduce costs, protects reputation, and improves engagement and ROI.
Invalid email accurate email validation, both for ESPs and marketers who have to pay for the storage and sending costs of each non-deliverable message. These costs are compounded by the effect that they have on your email deliverability, which lowers over time as more emails bounce. Invalid emails also waste time and money when you send emails to subscribers who don’t open or respond, and they can lead to spam reports that damage your reputation and get you blocked by ESPs.
How to Detect Disposable Emails and Protect Your Funnel from Spam
Standard email validation uses static rules to determine whether an email is valid or not. These tools check syntax, verify a domain exists, and ping the address to see if it is active. But that’s not enough in a world where fake emails are common and growing.
With a new generation of smarter validation tools, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models, email verification has gone beyond simple rules and pings. It can now categorize emails as safe, risky, or disposable. It can predict bounce rates and flag addresses likely to become spam traps.
Use a combination of batch and real-time validation services to maintain the quality of your lists. For example, set your sign-up forms up to validate emails as they are entered, and add ‘a “did you mean” check that prompts subscribers to correct their entries before they submit them. This will reduce typos and other errors that can cause invalid email addresses to enter your database.