What is email validation?
Email validation is an optional, paid for process where we check if an email address is valid before sending an email. This goes beyond just looking at the format of the email address and checking if it appears to be in the right format. We also check other more detailed factors that indicate if an email is likely to be deliverable or not.
Why is email validation useful?
Your email address has a “sender reputation”. Various factors affect if you have a good or bad reputation. This includes the number of spam reports from customers, the number of emails that bounce, and much more. Email validation is one factor we are able to use to help check an email is genuine before sending out an email. This helps to reduce the number of emails that you send out that might bounce and therefore helps reduce the chances of your email being seen as spammy. Fewer bounces and more accurate sending, the more likely you’ll maintain a good reputation.
The better your sender reputation, the more likely your emails end up in the inbox and not the spam box where customers are unlikely to see your emails.
Where is email validation implemented?
Quote form:
In order to help prevent customers from making a search and putting in a fake email, we check their address when they search to ensure they have to put a real email in. On pressing “Get quote” they’ll get an error message asking then to put a valid email in. Once the quote request is submitted we then validate the email. If it comes back as undeliverable, we don’t send your welcome email to protect your reputation and we display an alert under the customers details on the job record.
Manual quote page:
When saving a quote we’ll alert you if the email is returning as invalid and ask you to update it. If you know the email is correct and our check is coming back incorrectly you can override our check and save the quote anyway. However, check carefully you haven’t accidentally entered the email address correctly and not entered an I (uppercase i) instead of an l (lowercase L)!
Data feeds:
When leads are sent to Survey Booker via an API (e.g. lead generation sites or custom data feeds) we save the quote and check if the email is correct. If it returns as invalid we’ll let you know on the quote page that it has been flagged as invalid and we won’t send out the welcome email.
What happens when an email is marked as invalid?
In short, we won’t send out any emails to that lead. This is to prevent an email sending and bouncing. This might not seem like a problem, but for every email you send that bounces, this can affect your sender reputation and make you look like a spammer. Therefore, unless you are 100% sure an email is valid, you shouldn’t override our alert.
If you do override our check and send an email, emails will send out as normal. We do not regenerate the welcome email – you would need to email the customer manually advising on how to activate their account. If the email does bounce it will then be added to a blocked list to prevent further emails being sent and minimise the chance of further bounces as job updates are made.
An email was marked as invalid that was correct
It may be that sometimes a customers email server gives us false reports that an email isn’t set up and we mark it as invalid. This shouldn’t happen very often. In this case you can override the check and send out emails from then onwards.
This is better than sending out emails to everyone without checking as your sender reputation will drop if you consistently send out emails to invalid addresses. It is better to have a higher inbox rate with the odd false negative than to send emails to every lead and damage your reputation.
How do I turn it on?
Speak to the team and we’ll provide pricing based on the volume of checks you’ll need per month. Once activated you can turn it on under your email settings page (Settings > Survey settings > Email and SMS settings) where you’ll see the option to activate email validation.