How can I accurately verify my email list and identify potentially harmful domains?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Neil Patel advises removing invalid email addresses, unsubscribed users, and those who haven't engaged recently. Also, segment your list and use double opt-in to improve quality from the start.
Email marketer from ZeroBounce details the importance of identifying and removing spam traps from your email list. They share that hitting spam traps can severely damage your sender reputation, and suggest using an email validation service to detect and remove these addresses.
Email marketer from Reddit suggested to use a reputable email validation service to identify invalid, inactive, or risky email addresses. Segment your list by engagement, focusing on active subscribers and gradually re-engaging less active ones. Suppress hard bounces and spam complaints immediately.
Email marketer from MailerCheck shares that improving sender reputation includes cleaning your email list to remove inactive users and invalid addresses, consistently sending valuable content, and authenticating your email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Email marketer from SenderVerify suggests that email validation improves deliverability, protects sender reputation, and boosts email marketing ROI by removing invalid or risky email addresses.
Email marketer from Reddit advises caution when using email validation services, recommending testing them thoroughly and cross-referencing results with multiple providers, as accuracy can vary. Focus on identifying hard bounces and spam traps.
Email marketer from NeverBounce shares that email verification includes syntax checks, domain validation, spam trap detection, and risk assessment. By analyzing these elements, you can identify potentially harmful domains and invalid email addresses.
Email marketer from Email Hippo recommends using a combination of real-time verification at signup and periodic list cleaning to maintain a healthy email list. They highlight the importance of identifying disposable email addresses and role-based accounts.
Marketer from Email Geeks mentions that apart from checking for common spelling mistakes and removing role accounts, validation services offer little else besides "crowdsourced" spam trap identification. However, they are useful for sanity checks on real-time online forms or OCRed text.
Email marketer from GlockApps mentions that maintaining good email list hygiene helps improve email deliverability and protect your sender reputation. This includes removing inactive subscribers, invalid email addresses, and spam traps.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks states most email validation services are scams, especially those that advertise aggressively, but there is a need for real-time sanity checking at signup.
Expert from Email Geeks says 'You don't verify domains, you verify customers' and suggests starting with gut feel, then checking list statistics, and finally, delivery metrics for a test send.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that an increasing amount of unwanted signups and subscriptions may be a list bombing attack and encourages you to reach out and ask for help.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that if you're just launching a mail flow, or if you are having problems with mail reaching inboxes, it is often useful to verify the existing deliverability, setup and reputation of your mail setup before starting to send.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from SparkPost explains suppression lists as critical for email deliverability by preventing emails from being sent to addresses that have bounced, unsubscribed, or marked emails as spam. This helps to protect sender reputation.
Documentation from RFC-1035 specifies the protocol and formats required to use the Domain Name System (DNS) including the use of MX records to specify mail exchangers for domains, enabling verification of email sending domains.
Documentation from IETF details that Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an email authentication method designed to detect forging sender addresses during the delivery of email. SPF allows receiving mail servers to check that mail claiming to come from a specific domain is submitted by an IP address authorized by that domain's administrators.
Documentation from DKIM.org explains that DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) helps email receivers verify that a message was sent and authorized by the owner of the domain. This is achieved by using a digital signature, which is linked to a domain name, thus adding a layer of trust and authentication.
Documentation from DMARC.org explains DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) enables email senders to protect their domain from unauthorized use, commonly known as email spoofing. It builds upon SPF and DKIM to add reporting and enforcement policies.