Email Verification

Blacklisting occurs when an IP address or domain is added to a real-time database of known spam sources, causing emails from that sender to be blocked or filtered to spam. These lists are maintained by organizations like Spamhaus, Barracuda, and SpamCop, and are used by email providers to protect recipients from unwanted messages.

A bounce occurs when an email fails to reach the recipient's inbox and is returned to the sender. Email servers generate bounce messages containing error codes that explain why delivery failed, such as invalid addresses, full mailboxes, or server rejections. Understanding and managing bounces is essential for maintaining sender reputation and email deliverability.

BounceShield is an automated email protection service that verifies every address in your contact list before campaigns are sent. It identifies invalid, inactive, and risky email addresses to prevent bounces and protect your sender reputation from damage caused by undeliverable emails.

A burner email is a temporary, disposable email address created to avoid sharing personal information with websites or services. Users typically abandon these addresses after short-term use, making them problematic for businesses building email lists.

A catch-all email (also called accept-all) is a server configuration that accepts all emails sent to any address on a domain, regardless of whether that specific address exists. This makes it impossible to verify if individual email addresses are valid through standard SMTP verification methods.

A disposable email address (DEA) is a temporary, self-destructing email account designed to protect user privacy and avoid spam. These addresses are created through specialized services and typically expire after a set period or number of uses, making them popular for one-time signups but problematic for businesses seeking genuine customer engagement.

An email checker is a tool or service that validates email addresses to confirm they are properly formatted, exist, and can receive messages. Email checkers perform syntax validation, domain verification, and mailbox-level checks to identify invalid, risky, or undeliverable addresses before you send campaigns or add contacts to your database.

Email hygiene refers to the practice of maintaining clean, valid, and deliverable email lists. It involves regularly removing invalid addresses, spam traps, duplicates, and inactive subscribers to ensure optimal deliverability. Good email hygiene protects sender reputation and improves campaign performance.

Email reputation is a score assigned to your email address, domain, and sending IP by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and email providers. This score reflects your email sending behavior, engagement rates, and compliance with email standards. A high reputation ensures inbox placement, while a low reputation leads to spam folder delivery or outright blocking.

Email validation is the process of verifying that an email address is properly formatted, exists, and can receive messages. It combines syntax checking, domain verification, and mailbox confirmation to determine deliverability. Email validation tools process lists or individual addresses to identify invalid, risky, or undeliverable emails before you send campaigns.

Email verification is the process of confirming that an email address is valid, deliverable, and safe to send to. It checks whether an address exists, can receive emails, and is not associated with spam traps, disposable email services, or other risky attributes. Email verification is essential for maintaining list quality, protecting sender reputation, and improving email deliverability.

A honey pot (or honeypot) is a decoy system or email address designed to detect and trap malicious actors, spammers, or unauthorized data collectors. In email marketing, honey pot addresses are hidden trap addresses planted in websites or forms that legitimate users never see, but automated bots and scrapers collect. Sending to these addresses identifies the sender as a spammer and can result in blacklisting.

An inbox is the primary folder in an email system where incoming messages are received, stored, and organized until the recipient reads or acts upon them. It serves as the central hub for email communication, filtering legitimate messages from spam, and providing the foundation for email deliverability metrics that marketers and businesses rely on to measure campaign success.

Phishing is a type of cyber attack where attackers impersonate legitimate entities to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information such as login credentials, financial data, or personal details. These attacks typically use fraudulent emails, messages, or websites designed to appear authentic, exploiting human trust to bypass technical security measures.

The Return-Path is an email header field that specifies the address where bounce notifications and delivery failure messages should be sent when an email cannot be delivered. Also known as the envelope sender or bounce address, it functions as the technical return address for the email delivery system, separate from the visible 'From' address that recipients see.

A role-based email address is associated with a job function, department, or group rather than an individual person, such as info@, support@, sales@, or admin@. These addresses typically route to shared inboxes monitored by multiple team members, making them problematic for personalized marketing communications. While technically valid and deliverable, role-based emails carry higher spam complaint risks and lower engagement rates compared to individual addresses.

A valid email address is one that is properly formatted, exists on a real mail server, and can successfully receive emails. Validity encompasses multiple factors: correct syntax following email format rules, a domain that exists and has mail server (MX) records, and a mailbox that exists and is not full or disabled. Knowing whether an email is valid before sending prevents bounces and protects sender reputation.