How To Check If Email Is Valid: Best Methods

Imagine you called an old friend and got a message saying, “This number does not exist. “Would you call on this number again? Of course not!

You would delete the contact number instantly and look for the correct number to reach the person.

Sending cold emails to invalid addresses will be a similar experience for sales reps. Getting no results will even be time-consuming, costly, and more frustrating at a time. After all, you spend hours collecting the email accounts of your potential leads.

As per a study, 16.9% of emails never reach the target prospect’s inbox.

Thus, email validation should be the foundation of your marketing and sales campaigns if you want to be successful. Whether searching for investors or wanting to increase the outreach for your B2B product, you don’t want your email to bounce.

When you check if email is valid, you won’t be leaving your B2B email marketing on a cliffhanger.

Significance of Verifying Email Addresses

Prospecting will make or break your B2B outreach campaigns. 

A Reddit user suggests cleaning the email list is the industry standard to improve email deliverability.

Thus, checking email addresses will take you one step closer to generate leads from cold emails.

Let’s know the Why behind this email validation process.

Reduced Bounce Rate

Sending a message to invalid email addresses leads to a hard bounce. The higher your hard bounce rate, the more likely your email will land in the recipient’s spam folder.

Besides, a high bounce rate indicates a need for more relevancy and engagement. If neglected, you could even end up on an IP blocklist. 

This Reddit user also flagged a lack of engagement as an indicator of a high bounce rate.

So, validate your outreach email list beforehand to lessen your bounce rate.

Maintains Sender Reputation

Sender reputation plays an integral role for email marketers for a reason.

Repeatedly sending emails to an invalid address will indicate you’re a malicious sender. It’ll impact your business and email reputation. Eventually, you’ll be unable to send mail to the prospects.

ISP (Internet Service Provider) uses a sender score to decide whether your emails are spam or legitimate. The ISPs may consider you a risky sender if you fail to follow the best emailing practices. The key metrics include:

• quality of email addresses
• bounce rate
• the number of emails sent
• content quality
• included on a blocklist
• level of engagement from recipients, i.e., open rate, click-through, messages forwarded, and others

So, removing invalid email accounts from your lead list will improve your email deliverability while protecting your reputation.

Campaign Effectiveness

An email campaign’s success also hangs by a thread if your sender’s reputation and bounce rate are at risk.

Email validation lets you clean up your existing lead list by removing fake, outdated, blocked, spammy, and disposable addresses. When you find email address that’s valid, your message will drop in the lead’s inbox, not the spam folder.

This process enhances the impact of your email marketing campaigns as you reach your valuable target audience more often.

Boosts ROI

Your marketing campaigns will provide a better Return on Investment (ROI) with a clean lead list.

According to Gartner, only 23.9% of sales emails have an open rate. So, email validation is a must-do for your outreach plan.

Your open, click-through, and conversion rates boost when you send messages on valid email IDs. On the contrary, you spend more on email campaigns while achieving low ROI when the leads don’t convert.

Improved deliverability = more conversion and revenue.

11 Methods to Check If Email is Valid

Now, let’s explore key techniques to check if email is valid.

Verify the IP Address

Don’t worry—it’s not as technical as it sounds.

Every email has an IP address hidden in the source code. This IP address allows you to track the sender server’s geolocation.

It’ll help you reach the lead in your target area. This email validation technique is ideal for marketing your B2B product or service to a specific demographic.

Check out the method to perform IP address lookup.

• Find the IP address by clicking the options in the email, such as “Show Source” or “Show Original.”
• It’ll extract all the email’s metadata.
• The IP address will be a string of numbers. For example, IP XX.XXX.XXX.XXX.
• Copy and paste the IP address into an IP search tool.
• Press the “Search” button.
• You will get the origin server location details.

Hover the Mouse Over the Email Address

Something as easy as hovering the mouse over an address will help you check if email is valid.

Don’t believe it?

Check out the step-by-step guide to validating email accounts using two ways and see for yourself.

Gmail

• Open your Gmail account.
• Click Compose to open the New message window.
• In the recipient section, add the email address you want to verify.
• Move your cursor over the email address.
• You’ll see the account holder’s full name and photo.
• That’s it! You just verified your lead.

Google Sheets

• Open Google sheet.
• Paste all the email IDs of the leads you collected in the cells.
• Now, hover your mouse over each email address.
• You’ll see the person’s full name and picture if it’s a valid account.

The addresses without details might be red flags. Either remove them from your list or research further using other methods, such as email validation tools.

Search the Address on Google

Your Google browser also helps validate a lead’s email account. One simple search query will reveal information linked to a specific email account.

The process is as simple as searching for details about your favorite movie star. Simply, add the entire email address to your browser’s navigation bar. Hit the enter!

The search result will include information about the person’s company websites, job titles, social media channels, blogs, or public databases. Search engines continuously crawl the internet and index everything they find online.

However, there’s a catch.

Sometimes, the details are only available if a person has an online presence. Such a scenario will make this method vague.

Check the Domain Age

Using domain age checker tools is a handy way to verify the authenticity of professional email addresses.

Well-established companies usually have email IDs that were registered many years ago. For example, a 20-year-old firm will never have an email address registered last month.

Domain checker software lets you identify email accounts with long-standing domains and newly created, spammy emails.

Test Email Trick

Validating the email address won’t be easier than this technique.

You’ll send a message to one of the leads’ email addresses. Your mail will bounce back if it’s an invalid or fake ID. You’ll even receive an automated alert – “the address wasn’t found” or “the email wasn’t delivered.”

Not to forget, it isn’t a safe email validation method to use repeatedly. Frequent test mail to check various email accounts might hurt your sender score due to a higher bounce rate.

You don’t want to impact your B2B sales campaign by ending up in the spam list. Right?

Using a dummy account is the best Alternative to test emails in bulk.

Password Recovery

Yes, you read it right. The password recovery option isn’t just for re-accessing your personal email account. There’s more to your benefit.

That instant alert – “We’re sorry, this account does not exist” when you mistakenly add the wrong email address will help you detect the spoof.

This solution will work with Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Outlook accounts. So, go to the email provider’s recovery page and enter the email ID to see if the account exists.

However, this method will only tell you if the email ID is real. That said, you won’t be able to identify inactive accounts. Besides, avoid this process for bulk email verification; otherwise, the service provider will block your IP address.

Ping Test

This solution is ideal for tech-savvy people to validate email accounts using command prompts.

It’ll allow you to confirm that the email account is active and receive messages. Think of it this way – You’re saying “hello” to an email address to see if it responds with “hello,” too.

Follow these steps to run the email address ping test.

• First, install a ping test tool on your desktop, such as iTerm (Mac) or Telnet (Windows)
• Next, connect to the SMTP server.
• Once connected, run the email verification check to know whether the server exists.
• When you ping an email, it’ll check the Mail Exchange (MX) records for its domain.
• You’ll see the “OK 250” prompt if the email is valid. However, the server will show “User Unknown” or “Disabled” for an invalid email address. 

This technical method is lengthy and manual, as you’ll repeat these steps for each email lead on your list. So stick to it only if you’re comfortable with running commands.

If not, move on to our other suggestions to check if email is valid.

Double Opt-in Method

You can opt for a double opt-in process to eliminate invalid emails or spam during signup. So, what’s the trick?

This method sends a unique link to a new signee’s email address added to the registration form. The account is verified once users click that email ID verification link. If not, it means the email doesn’t exist or doesn’t belong to the person.

Thus, your emails will only drop into the inboxes of the interested users.

Use DNS Lookup

DNS (Domain Name System) is a directory that links IP addresses and domain names. It triggers whenever someone enters a URL in their browser.

Simply put, a DNS lookup will verify if there’s an active email service on this mail server.

You’ll check if email is valid using the domain name from the address, like @xyzcompany. If so, your B2B outreach message will be delivered to the target lead’s email account.

As suggested by Alex Howansky on Stackoverflow, this method will remove all email accounts created on fake, non-registered domains.

Integrate WordPress or JavaScript Plugin

Javascript and WordPress plugins allow you to check if email is valid directly from your forms and landing pages in real-time.

From detecting typos and fake addresses to invalid entries, the plugins will automatically validate every email account in your database. Without any laborious steps, you’ll automatically receive accurate and reliable contacts.

Leverage Email Verifier Tools

The fastest way to check if an email is valid in bulk is by using verification software. These tools allow you to download the list of hundreds or thousands of qualified addresses simultaneously. They’ll provide a clean lead list while ensuring your messages land in the right inbox.

As a manual task is out of the picture, B2B marketers will be more productive in running cold outreach and promotional campaigns. Thus, the hyper-personalized targeted list will enhance engagement and ROI optimization for B2B brands.

How Does Email Validation Tool Work – Key Features

Automated validation tools simplify the life of B2B marketers when they have to verify email addresses in bulk.

According to a Statista survey, 58% of respondents prefer email marketing automation software to streamline their process.

Check out the critical features of email verifier tools and how they ensure high-quality data.

Error Detection

An email will be invalid even with minor mistakes, such as “abc@gmail.coym” or “example#yaho.com.” As all email accounts have a standard set of patterns and rules, identifying these errors is straightforward for the verification tools.

Bulk email verification tools perform syntax checks to detect such addresses with typos, including spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, extra spaces, period placement, and incorrect use of @ symbols.

So, don’t miss out on conversions simply due to typos.

DNS Check

Katy_Roberts@outlook.com looks like a legitimate email ID, but is it an actual, active account?

A DNS check feature confirms the validity of a domain’s MX records and its configuration to accept mail. Domain name validation ensures the removal of non-existent and inactive email addresses.

So, fret no more about email bounce back.

Identify Spam Traps

Some tools also feature a spam trap to evaluate the authenticity of emails. Spam traps are invalid email accounts that catch malicious senders.

Statista estimated that around 48.63% of global emails were identified as spam in 2023.

Email verifier software will wipe out such email IDs by comparing the address against a list of known spam traps from the database.

SMTP Check

SMTP check filters out most disposable email addresses. It’s an automated version of the ping test you learned above.

This feature automatically contacts the mailbox server handling the prospect’s email ID. During this check, the tool sends a ping to an email address. If it responds successfully, the email account is valid for cold outreach.

So, get a list of verified email addresses in bulk without hurting your sender score.

Catch-all Domain Verification

A catch-all or unverifiable domain even accepts a non-existent and random email with some gibberish written in its local part. However, it’ll decrease your email engagement rate.

Imagine the catch-all domain is “yourdomain.com.” However, you sent a mail to “pamy@yourdomain.com” instead of “pammy@yourdomain.com.” Your message will get through the incorrect email address but end up in the “contact@yourdomain.com” catch-all mailbox. 

An automated verification tool will detect those catch-all domain emails and help you send outreach messages only to valid email accounts.

B2B Contact Enrichment

The B2B contact enrichment software directly checks and rejects email addresses at the point of capture. In a few seconds, this real-time tool catches errors and verifies the existence of an email account by running addresses against various metrics.

So, enrich your database to send more targeted emails with the possibility of higher conversion.

Send Personalized Messages

Email verifiers even have an add-on personalized message feature. Once the software generates the valid email list, it’ll also help create personalized text and video content based on the prospect’s details.

The tool will allow the sales team to track engagement and schedule a follow-up email tailored to the recipient’s behavior.

So, enrich your valid leads and grow sales with precise campaign scheduling.

Seamless Integration

Email verification tools are user-friendly and compatible with your existing systems. The software usually connects with various tech stacks, like Salesforce, Google Sheets, Slack, Zoho, and many more.

The automated integrations will allow you to maintain your sales and marketing workflow.

FAQs

1. What is email validation?

Email validation is a process for checking email addresses before sending marketing or outreach messages. It checks a mailbox, syntax, domain, and server to scan your existing email lists for errors. A verified email list is free of spammy, fake, incorrect, or invalid addresses, which improves email deliverability.

2. What is the best way to validate a legitimate email vs phishing mail?

Phishing emails don’t have legitimate domain names. You’ll also find syntax or spelling errors in the brand names. Ensure to run the email validation test to remove phishing emails from your email list.

3. Is there a tool to check valid emails?

Yes, there are many reliable tools to check valid emails. The key players in the market include Clearout, Bouncer, Snovio, Hunter, and ZeroBounce.

4. How to check if an email exists in Gmail?

If an email exists in Gmail, you’ll see the user’s profile name and image by hovering a mouse on the address. You can also send a test email to check whether it bounces back.

5. How do I check if an email address is valid in bulk?

Use automated validation tools for bulk emails to avoid a high bounce rate that will impact your sender’s reputation. The easy-to-use software validates emails against various parameters, such as syntax, domain, spam traps, mailbox servers, and others.

Final Words

Any sales team would prefer to validate email addresses to avoid a high bounce rate. So, improve your validation game to achieve better email deliverability.

A B2B lead list with no fake, non-existent, disposable, and bad email addresses will take your marketing campaigns one step ahead. Discard the anxiety before you launch your next cold outreach initiative.

Get a list of valid email addresses using an automated contact enrichment tool like GrowMeOrganic’s B2B contact database. This software builds accurate, up-to-date sales lead lists from a global industry database.

You’ll also find complete employee contact information about the prospect, like full name, region, social profile, company name, job profile, and much more.

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