Best Ways to Verify an Email Address for Campaigns

In the field of sales outreach, a well-formed and targeted email turns out to be a substantive way for getting a lead’s attention and then finally converting them to paying customers. It is said that effective communication plays a crucial role in the growth and development of businesses. Email communication channel is used for such purposes. 

Therefore, verification is important to make your email reach the right recipient. In this blog post, we will discover the significance of email verification in sales outreach and also learn about  challenges faced in the absence of email verification. In Email Marketing Campaigns, sending emails to the right clients  is the game changer. In this article, we’ll explore some techniques for verifying an email address.

Some Proven Ways to Verify an Email Address for Campaigns

1. Verify Email Syntax

Email syntax verification is an initial step  used for identifying invalid email addresses. Follow the steps to learn it: 

Rules for Standard email syntax:

A standard email address is based on the format of abc@xyz.com , along with three mandatory parts: a unique identifier (abc), with a symbol“@”, and a domain name (xyz.com).

This unique identifier comprises 64 characters, including digits (0-9), lowercase and uppercase  English alphabets (A-Z, a-z), and special symbols like ! # $ % & ‘ * + - / = ? ^ _ ` {. The  domain name exactly  matches with the business domain. 

2. Syntax Checking Tools

Some tools are used to check the syntax of email addresses, such as online email validators and software solutions that collide with the suitable email marketing platform. 

The tools mark red flags on email addresses with syntax errors. Thus, helping you  fix the errors  before sending your campaign to clients. Follow these  steps to  verify the syntax of an email:

• Firstly, try to collect the email addresses for the verification. Take use of an effective email verification tool or even software solution that involves  syntax checking.
• Check the email addresses with the help of the chosen tool, it will show a flag  for any addresses with syntax errors. Now, evaluate the flagged email addresses and then fix errors by yourself  or just connect with the recipient to confirm their accurate email address.
• To double check, run the edited  email addresses through the email verification tool to eliminate  any syntax errors from the email addresses. You can proceed with your marketing campaign  after doing the syntax check twice. 

3. Ping the Email Server

Another technique implied for the verification of email addresses without sending is pinging the email server. It includes  forming a connection with the email server and also checking whether the email address is valid or invalid. 

The process of Email server pinging indulges proper usage of a tool to interact with the email server and verify an email address. However, this procedure will not help you to send emails but it will check whether the server  is ready to accept the email address for delivery.

• Pick a tool for pinging the email server, like iTerm on Mac and PuTTY for Telnet on Windows. If  you are using Windows then equip Telnet. But for Mac users, additional setup is not needed.
• Now, Go to the command prompt (Windows) or terminal (Mac) and enter the nslookup command: nslookup –type=mx domain.com
• Multiple MX records associated with the domain will appear. Choose the one with the lowest preference number.
• Connect to the Telnet server using the command: Telnet {mail server address} 25
• Initiate a handshake with the server by typing: HELO.
• Provide your identity using a random email address: mail from: {random email address}
• Add the email address you want to verify: rcpt to {email address to verify}
• The server will respond with either an “OK” or an error message. If the response is “OK,” the email address is valid.

While this method is accurate and provides reliable results, it can be time-consuming and negatively affect your system. Therefore, using this technique sparingly or considering using email verification tools or services to perform this check more efficiently and safely is Recommended. 

4. Test with a Secondary Email Account

Taking another email account for checking the deliverability of your email campaigns can support email address verification without disrupting the image of your own email account. 

Using a secondary email account for testing purposes, helps in the identification of any issues related to email deliverability or bounce rates before forwarding your campaign. Such  practice will prevent your primary account reputation from staining and also  eliminates spam flags, and lastly assures high deliverability rates. Below are the steps to set up a secondary email account:

• Select an email service provider like   Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook and then generate a new email account. It can be called as your “dummy” account used only for testing purposes.
• You can use this secondary account to deliver test emails to the relevant clients present on your email list.
• Now,  analyse the results, look for bounce rates and responses, also try to identify any issue or invalid email addresses.
• Lastly, remove any bounced or  invalid email addresses from your primary email list  after the test. 

Once you are done with verification, use your primary account to send email campaigns. 

5. Perform DNS Lookup

The process of directing  DNS lookup to verify the legitimacy of a domain and facilitates important details  about  potential blacklists or even spam-related data.

The word DNS  stands for Domain Name System helps in storing  domain names to IP addresses, authorising devices to obtain specific  websites with the help of domain names which is easily readable for humans instead of numeric IP addresses. The DNS records comprise data related to mail servers -MX records and other important details. Follow the steps for conducting a DNS lookup:

• In your web browser, open a DNS checking  like MXToolbox DNS Check. Now in the text box, fill the recipient’s domain name and then click on “DNS check.”
• The tool will show a full list of hostnames and information of the domain’s related DNS records.
• If you see no information is given for a particular domain then, that domain can be  invalid or not unavailable at present. 

However, the DNS lookup can offer valuable information of the recipient’s domain but it takes no  guarantee  for 50% email deliverability. So, using this technique along with other email verification methods is crucial for assuring  best performance and  deliverability for  email marketing campaigns. 

6. Utilize Email Verification Tools

Some Email verification tools can contribute in rationalizing  the process of email addresses validation,  it not only saves  time but also efforts for organising  high-quality email lists.

While  choosing an email verification tool, pay special attention to elements like ease of use, combination with your email marketing platform, real- time validation,  bulk email verification, cost and accuracy of the tool. 

Some popular email verification tools on the market are enlisted below:

• Smartlead. ai: It is one of the best tools for sales email automation which utilises AI to verify  emails. Also, it uses a complete  6-step SMTP verification process for the verification of  emails in bulk.
• ZeroBounce: This tool supports spam trap detection,  email validation along with email scoring for organising a fresh  email list and upgrade deliverability.
• NeverBounce: The tool facilitates  real-time email verification and an email list checking service  for increasing email deliverability rates.
• Hunter.io: It is built to find and verify  genuine  email addresses. However, the tool is well known for the services related to B2B email marketing campaigns.
• BriteVerify: The tool delivers  real-time email verification as well as email list cleaning services for balancing clean email lists to further reduce the bounce rates.

Henceforth, with proper utilisation of email verification tools, the email validation process  will run smoothly. So, You can spend more time in making  effective cold email campaigns. Don’t forget to pick an agency which matches with your particular needs and  also blends effortlessly  with your email marketing platform. 

Challenges You Can Avoid With Email Verification

In the sales outreach efforts, you might experience obstacles without email verification. Some of the common challenges are listed below: 

• Increased bounce rate: By delivering bulk emails to non-existing or invalid addresses will create great chances for high bounce rate. Also, defaming the sender’s reputation and  affecting the email deliverability.
• Wastage of Resources: It takes time and effort for crafting an email. This, delivering them to the invalid or wrong addresses will make the resources go in vain because sending emails to invalid addresses has no chance for lead conversion. 
• Poor Engagement: The emails that fails to reach their potential recipients will not create any engagement or responses, it might bother your sales outreach campaign and ultimately  depletes the chances of conversion.
• Defames Brand Reputation: The process of  sending constant  emails to invalid or least interested recipients will increase the number of spam complaints. It will damage the brand’s image and also affect the engagement with potential customers.

Final Words

Conclusively, email verification plays a crucial role in supporting email sales outreach. However, if you try to learn from the preventions and challenges, then lead generation can be a cakewalk to boost development of your business campaigns.