So you’re verifying your email subscriber database?

Great! Regardless of where the email subscriber database came from, whether you built it yourself or you’ve purchased it or borrowed it from a neighbour, I won’t tell. But, you’ve taken the first steps to avoid huge bounce rates and potentially upsetting your ESP (Email Service Provider – i.e. MailChimp, Vertical Response, etc.).

Now don’t get too excited yet and go emailing them all right away! Depending on the process you used to cleanse your list, you’ll need to know just what those different email statuses mean. Luckily, I just happen to have a quick review right here for you.

 

Valid

The email has a valid account associated with it.  SAFE TO MAIL.

 

Invalid

The email address is invalid. DO NOT MAIL.

 

Accept All

Email address looks good, but then again, all the emails from the domain look good. Accept-All domains have configurations that make all emails seem Valid, which is rarely the case. There will be some bounces from the Accept-All category so consider the following before mailing:

• If your ESP’s bounce threshold is 5% or less: DO NOT MAIL.
• If your ESP has given you a dedicated IP:  MAIL SLOWLY.

 

Unknown

The email address looks good but the associated domain is not responding. This could be a temporary status for domains having intermittent issues or a permanent issue for dying domains. There will be some bounces from the Unknown category so consider the following before mailing:

• If your ESP’s bounce threshold is 5% or less: DO NOT MAIL.
• If your ESP has given you a dedicated IP: MAIL SLOWLY.

 

Email Address Invalid

The email address format is incorrect. For example, alex0uwrwe#com is not in the correct email format of name@domain.com. Many of these can be prevented by applying simple regular expression to data prior to verification.

 

Email Domain Invalid

The email address is associated with a domain that doesn’t exist. For example, goooooooooooooogle.com is not a real domain capable of sending and receiving email. So alex@goooooooooooooogle.com is an invalid email since it pertains to a domain that does not exists.

 

Email Account Invalid

The email account (the inbox) does not exist at the given domain. For example, does-not-exist@domain.com results in a secondary status of email_account_invalid.

 

Disposable

Email address is disposable and the Inbox will self-destruct. Disposable addresses are created to be Valid only temporarily so their owners can sign up for promotions or services without using a primary address. Disposable addresses will not perform and typically just take up space in your database.    DO NOT MAIL.

 

Role Address

Email address was created to message a function like sales@, support@, or postmaster@. While many Role Addresses are Valid, they typically underperform compared to addresses that message individuals. Unless you’re marketing to small businesses, Role addresses will often dilute the performance of your marketing program. MAIL AT YOUR OWN RISK.

 

Risky Emails

Emails with a status of either unknown or accept_all, or a secondary status of role or disposable are considered “risky” to be on the safe side it is best not to include them in your email marketing campaigns.

Hope that helps!

 

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