Email marketers need to know email validation best practices, which are critical to the success of their email campaigns. However, many don’t use some of the important aspects of email validation. In this blog post, I will discuss email validation best practices, and show you how to verify and clean your email list. Follow these tips, and more, to see a significant improvement in your email deliverability rates!
The Deal About Email Validation
Email validation is the process of verifying that an email address exists and is valid. There are many ways to validate an email address, but the most common and effective method is to use an email verification service. An email verification service will connect to the mail server of the email address and verify that the mailbox exists.
The email verification service will also check the syntax of the email address and verify that it is in a valid format. This is important because many email addresses are not in a valid format, and will not work.
Email validation is important because it helps to ensure that your email campaigns are successful. If you have a list of email addresses that are not valid, your email campaign will fail.
Email Validation Best Practices
There are several email validation best practices that you should follow to ensure the success of your email campaigns.
Follow Up With Verification Email for Subscribers
When you add a new subscriber to your email list, send them a verification email. This verification email should contain a link that the subscriber must click to confirm their email address.
Once the subscriber clicks the link, they will be added to your email list. This is a great way to ensure that you only have valid email addresses on your list.
Arguably, using double opt-in is a core email validation best practices feature.
Prune Your Old Email Subscribers List
Over time, your email list will become stale. Many email addresses will become invalid, and you will no longer be able to reach your subscribers.
To keep your email list fresh, you should prune it regularly. Remove all of the email addresses that are no longer valid. This will help to ensure that your email campaigns are successful.
Avoid Spam Traps and Adjust Your Email Content Strategy
Spam traps are email addresses that are created to catch email marketers who send unsolicited email. If you send email to a spam trap, your IP address will be blacklisted, and you will no longer be able to send email.
To avoid spam traps, you should adjust your email content strategy. Only send email to subscribers who have opted in to receive email from you.
Monitoring of Your Email List Database and Keep it Updated
It is important to monitor your email list database regularly. You should remove all invalid email addresses and add new subscribers as they opt in to your email list.
Sometimes people move on but don’t update you with their new email address, monitoring is a key email validation best practices activity.
If you don’t have a live / on-going email validator, you can always use a bulk validation service to help as needed.
Keep Your Email List Fresh
Email deliverability rates are improved when you have a fresh email list. You should remove all invalid email addresses and add new subscribers as they opt in to your email list.
A fresh email list will also help to improve your sender reputation, which is another important factor in email deliverability. This is a non-negotiable email validation best practices standard.
Remove Email Addresses That Belong to Frequent Spam Complainers
Email addresses that belong to frequent spam complainers should be removed from your email list. If you continue to send email to these email addresses, your sender reputation will suffer.
Have a System That Corrects Typos in Email Addresses
Typos are common in email addresses. To ensure that your email campaigns are successful, you should have a system in place that corrects typos in email addresses.
Maintain Procedures to Handle Role-Based Email Addresses
Role-based email addresses, such as info@ or sales@, are common in businesses. These email addresses are usually not monitored by a specific person. Understand that often, personal and business email addresses are handled differently.
To ensure that your email campaigns are successful, you should have procedures in place to handle role-based email addresses.
Ensure Your Email Verification Service is Working Properly
Email verification is an important part of email deliverability. You should ensure that your email verification service is working properly and remains up-to-date with industry standards.
Make sure that email addresses which fail validation are removed from your subscriber list, and that there is an option for you to receive updated notifications (for your follow up).
Maintain a Mail Relayer That Suppresses Sending to Bounced and Spam Complaint Email Addresses
While not necessarily directly related to email validation best practices, it’s important to mention: A mail relayer is a server that forwards email messages. Many email marketers use mail relayers to improve email deliverability.
To ensure that your email campaigns are successful, you should maintain a mail relayer that suppresses sending to bounced and spam complaint email addresses.
One email validation service I’ve used in the past is MyEmailVerifier, they provide a free bulk verification where you can upload your mailing list (in CSV, or TXT). Naturally they are not the only email validator available, but they might help you start.
Conclusion
By following these email validation best practices, you can be sure that your email list is clean and up-to-date. This will help to improve your email deliverability and ensure that your email campaigns are successful.
You can learn much more about how to check email sender reputation, by visiting our Small Business Email Marketing posts. As well as find out further about Email Validation.