How Email Verification Service Works

January 31, 2019

How Email Verification Service Works

Within a year 20 – 30% of email addresses go bad. If you have a mailing list of around 100,000 records, approximately one fifth of those are undeliverable by the following year That is where an email verification service is needed. Email verification services help you clean up your mailing list to eliminate the inactive, risky and fake email addresses that can ruin your email deliverability statistics. And also to protect the reputation of your outgoing mail server or ESP.

There are four steps in an email verification service: syntax, formatting check, domain server confirmation, and mailbox admission.

Steps 1 & 2: Syntax & Formatting

In this step email verification service instantly check your mailing list and subject it to the standard email formatting requirements, and the provider-specific formatting requirements for several email providers. The complexity of email formatting rules makes it impossible for an extensive list to be check manually. Issues such as invalid characters and missing @ symbols are identified within a fraction of a second in both the local and domain part of an email address.

Step 3: Domain Server Verification

The email verification service makes sure that the domain name is valid and active by checking the DNS records and test the mail exchanger (MX) to ensure that it can receive mail from the postmaster.

Step 4: Mailbox Confirmation

Finally, verifying if the specific mailbox exists is the most crucial step of the email verification process. The verification service utilizes an SMTP protocol to contact the mail server and confirm that the mailbox can receive messages. Every legitimate email validation service does all of this without sending a single email message.

Unverified email lists lead to poor deliverability and will result in a statistically unsuccessful mailing campaign. Verifying your email list regularly at least once or twice a year or before sending big email campaigns will keep you away from those issues and will get you ahead in your marketing efforts.