Valid email addresses form the keystone for any business that’s vying for success through email marketing. This makes it extremely important to confirm if your list of email addresses is valid, error-free and if in fact, they really exist.
Errors happen from time to time and not more than often your visitors make typos with their mail addresses while subscribing to your list. This may be because they are in a hurry to get past the “Enter Email” field. They tend to misspell their name or accidently type two letters instead of one, which leads to having a nugatory email address.
Despite these issues, how exactly can one get a good volume of quality email addresses that are valid and error-free? The best solution in this case would be to opt for Email Validation.
What is Email Validation?
Email Validation is procedure that verifies if an email address is deliverable and valid. It runs a swift process which catches typos, whether they are honest mistakes or purposeful misdirects. It also confirms if a particular email address exists with a reliable domain such as Gmail or Yahoo. This tool not only helps in organising and cleaning your list of email addresses but also helps in protecting your email sender score, thus maximizing the efficiency of your email program.
How does Email Validation work?
Most of the email service providers (ESPs) will provide email validation services. There are many free tools that also validate email addresses – http://validateemailaddress.org/ and http://www.emailvalidator.co/ are two such examples.
First and foremost, you need to bulk upload your list of email IDs. Email validation tools will then make some quick checks to determine whether the entered email address are either valid, risky or invalid.
Valid: This means that the email address exists, and it is error free. This verification will be complete till mailbox level.
Risky: This means the recipient exists but there are other factors that indicate that this address could still result in a bounce.
Invalid: If an email address is marked as invalid that means it contains syntax errors, DNS errors and/or mailbox errors.
How Does Email Validation Help?
Validating your mailing list before executing email marketing campaigns have its own benefits.
1. It reduces bounce rate up to 98%, thus improving your email deliverability by removing all invalid email addresses from your list.
2. Helps you to maintain a high Sender Score.
3. By not sending mails to invalid users, you’ll save money thus increasing your revenue.
4. You’ll have a higher conversion rate, as you will be able to send your emails to the right email addresses.
Different ways in which Email Validation can be done:
1. When a customer is typing in their email address you can add an auto-complete feature that allows them to select the appropriate email address. This reduces the error of manual entry
2. Use a third party tool like neverbounce.com or returnpath.com that can give you real-time feedback of whether an email address is correct or not.
3. Double opt-in: Double opt-in is the best way to validate email addresses. If your customers sign up for your email list or newsletter, send them an email that requests email validation.
