How do I validate email addresses and maintain a clean email list?

Email marketer from Reddit shares the best practices for validating emails which is using a double opt-in method where users must confirm their subscription via a verification link sent to their email address.

Email marketer from Litmus explains cleaning your email lists is important for the fact that it can result in higher engagement, less unsubscribes and an increase in the sender reputation of your company.

Marketer from Email Geeks asks if list validation services could identify problematic addresses on a legitimate list that has become stale or hasn't been maintained, beyond just hard bounces.

Email marketer from Email Hippo Blog explains that to make the biggest impact on email deliverability and engagement metrics you should always remove invalid email addresses, remove disengaged subscribers, remove complainers, and then segment your email list.

Email marketer from ActiveCampaign explains that to maintain your email list: you need to set up automation for bounces, segment your audience based on engagement, setup sunset policies to identify inactives, suppress unsubscribes, use double opt-ins and periodically check the health of your email list.

Email marketer from Sendinblue Blog shares multiple strategies for cleaning email lists including: removing hard bounces, unsubscribes, and manual removal along with the process of setting up a double opt-in, using an email verification tool and segmenting & targeting your audience.

Marketer from Email Geeks shares insights on list validation, explaining it's not directly related to IP cleanliness. He discusses delivery metrics from bounce reporting, the impact of blacklists, and the importance of sender reputation. He advises against frequent ESP and domain switches. He emphasizes that email delivery is crucial, but deliverability (reaching the inbox) is also key, and that filters use machine learning to assess if recipients want the email. Explicit opt-in lists are more manageable, and email is not ideal for prospecting but works well further down the funnel.

Email marketer from MailerLite Blog explains that cleaning your email list involves removing inactive subscribers, those who haven't engaged with your emails in a while. They recommend segmenting your list to identify and target these inactive users with re-engagement campaigns before removing them entirely.

Email marketer from HubSpot Blog explains email list hygiene involves regularly cleaning your email list to remove inactive subscribers, bounce addresses, and spam traps. This helps to improve email deliverability, engagement rates, and overall marketing performance.

Email marketer from ZeroBounce Blog explains that proactive list cleaning involves regularly removing invalid or inactive email addresses to improve sender reputation and deliverability. They suggest using email validation tools to identify and remove invalid addresses before sending campaigns.

Email marketer from StackOverflow answers a question about email validation by explaining that you should send a confirmation email back to the email address provided and ask the user to confirm that it is actually them.

Expert from SpamResource explains the importance of identifying and removing spamtrap addresses from your email list, which can significantly damage your sender reputation and deliverability. These addresses are specifically designed to catch spammers, and hitting them can lead to blacklisting.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that a key aspect of email list management is protecting against list bombing. The expert explains this involves immediate suppression of any address generating spam complaints and monitoring for sudden influxes of subscriptions from a single source, which could indicate malicious activity and a need for robust signup verification processes.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that Email Address Validation offerings are similar and mostly enable spammers. He suggests that those using such services are unlikely to switch vendors without a compelling reason, suggesting getting a Kickbox account instead.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that doing high volume partial SMTP transactions (stopping after RCPT TO:) are inherently abusive and ISPs have been blocking this behavior since the late 1990s / early 2000s.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that if ISPs wanted people to be able to verify addresses they’d make VRFY active on their servers.

Documentation from AWS explains how to use Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) to automatically manage bounces and complaints, which is crucial for maintaining a clean email list. SES provides feedback loops to identify and remove problematic email addresses, helping to improve sender reputation and deliverability.

Documentation from RFC Editor describes the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and notes that while SMTP includes mechanisms for verifying email addresses, their reliability and availability can vary. It specifies the technical aspects of email address syntax and validation at the protocol level.

Documentation from Microsoft Docs explains how to manage and clean email lists within Dynamics 365 Marketing, including setting up subscription centers, managing bounces, and identifying inactive contacts. It highlights the importance of removing invalid or inactive addresses to improve email deliverability and engagement.

Documentation from Mailchimp explains cleaning an email list involves creating segments based on subscriber activity, sending re-engagement campaigns to inactive subscribers, and removing those who don't respond. This process helps to improve deliverability and engagement metrics.