You wouldn’t race a car on bald tires, so why run your campaigns with a dirty email list? Every undeliverable address equals wasted budget, disappointed leads, and a ding to the sender’s reputation. Also, a stringently verified list makes email a risk-free channel for growth.
Let’s lay out the numbers, the best practices, and real-life wins that prove verification is worth it big time.
Dirty data wrecks campaigns
The internet is full of potholes that lead to email failure. Typos in sign-ups, disposable emails, and spam traps used maliciously can damage your sender’s reputation and increase your chances of getting blacklisted. Confirmation serves as a safety net, filtering out insufficient data before it becomes problematic.
Around 12% of fresh email addresses contain invalid characters, leading to immediate delivery brick walls.
Spam traps, used by ISPs to trap spammers with email addresses, are triggered if your list is dirty, risking future deliverability. Confirmed lists maintain complaint rates below 0.1%, shielding your domain from blacklisting.1
Over the last few years, a 220% increase in phishing attacks has made protecting your brand by verifying emails crucial to maintaining customer confidence. Investing in verification is an investment in your brand’s credibility.
You keep your campaigns healthy and your sender reputation in check by cutting out the toxic contacts early.2
Moreover, email lists lose value by 22.5% annually, leading to increased bounce rates and lower deliverability. The average email bounce rate is 10.4%, indicating list cleanliness issues. Spam complaints can lead to blacklisting, which underscores the need to clean the list regularly.2
Punch through the inbox
If your list is clean and well-verified, your emails will end up in inboxes, not spam folders. Verification tools do a few things in sequence:
- Syntax verification
- Domain checking
- Disposable address detection
- Recognizing known spam traps.
Delivery volumes can expand significantly when these steps are taken seriously. Authenticated lists have bounce rates of less than 1%, compared to 3-5% on unauthenticated lists. That little difference can mean your email being received or passed over.3
- Over 2.5 million domains have DMARC policies in effect to prevent spoofing, demonstrating the higher standards for email authenticity.3
- ISPs block over 265 billion spoofed emails in a year, showing just how crucial it is for a sender to have a confirmed and respected sending reputation.4
- Confirmed-list campaigns get 95% of their emails into the inbox, while unconfirmed lists get around 75%.4
- The average email deliverability rate is 83.1%, which means nearly 17% of emails never reach the inbox.4
- 10.5% get lost in spam boxes, which speaks volumes about the importance of having a clean sending reputation.4
- 6.4% go missing, which indicates the urgency of valid email verification.4
- ActiveCampaign delivers 94.2%, which is the benchmark of some ESPs.4
Without verification, your sender’s reputation is damaged. Bounce rates and spam complaints from ISPs tell them if your future mail is welcome. Purge your list to ensure your mail is delivered.
Gain more wins with less waste
Verification is more than bounce prevention; it directly impacts your bottom line. Verified lists improve targeting accuracy, cut out wasted sends, and improve engagement rates, all of which bring higher returns on your email investment.
- Verified email campaigns can deliver $36 to $40 in return for every $1 spent, beating out almost every other marketing channel.5
- Automation combined with verified emails can increase revenue by as much as 320% compared to non-verified campaigns.5
- Marketers with verified lists save an average of 25% on their email marketing budget due to fewer wasted sends and enhanced efficiency.6
- Companies report that approximately 18% of their campaigns generate over 70% ROI using verified data.6
- Segmented emails get 30% more opens and 50% more clicks than segmented campaigns.6
- Welcome emails also have an average open rate of 83.63% and a click-through rate of 16.60%.6
- Email graphics have an open rate of 43.12%, compared to 35.79% for non-graphics.6
These statistics are the reasons why marketers prioritize verification. It is not a cost, but a high-return investment that yields dividends through increased conversions and reduced wastage.
Engage harder
Engagement is the strongest sign that your email resonates with real human beings. Verified contacts open more, click more links, and convert more.
Verified lists see:
- Open rates of 24-26%, more than 2% higher than the industry standard of 21.5%.7
- Click-through rates of 3.5-4%, almost twice the average benchmark.7
- Conversion rates of about 3.5%, compared to the 1.22% average conversions.7
- Lower unsubscribe rates of 0.2-0.4%, showing higher list quality and relevance.7
- 20% of opens occur in the first hour, making timing a key factor.7
- The average open rate for the industry is 36.5%, a metric to use as an engagement benchmark.7
- Average click-throughs are 1.4%, with room for improvement with more effective targeting.7
Personalized email subject lines are 26% more likely to get opened, proving how crucial personalization is.7
This exchange doesn’t just send your messages; it opens and answers them. Clean lists keep your audience interested and open to your marketing dollars.
Own the click
Over half of emails are opened on mobile devices, making mobile optimization non-negotiable. Verification helps ensure your email lands before a real user who will appreciate your mobile-friendly content.
- 54% of emails are opened on smartphones and tablets.7
- Half of users delete emails that aren’t optimized for mobile, making it critical to get your list and content right.
- Mobile-optimized emails have 40% higher clicks, showing the power of a seamless user experience.7
- Gen Z (67%) and Millennials (59%) primarily check email through mobile, so mobile optimization is a generational necessity.7
- Embedding video in emails can increase click-throughs by 200-300%.8
- Onboarding emails with video capture 96% more clicks and 25% fewer unsubscribes.8
- Video content generates 41% more site traffic than text emails.8
- Cart abandonment emails have a 50.50% open rate, making them a potent tool for online selling.8
- Video mail can increase click-throughs up to 300%, getting people engaged.8
- Mobile email is 40% more likely to click, proving how vital responsive design is.8
Pin this somewhere:
Match verified emails with video-rich, mobile-optimized content to achieve the highest engagement with mobile, visually focused audiences.
Precision beats volume
Segmentation based on verified data turns generic mass emails into personalized, context-specific dialogues.
Segmented campaigns deliver:
- 760% more revenue than non-segmented campaigns.8
- 65% higher levels of engagement on verified segments.8
- Automated streams of emails on verified behaviors achieve 320% more sales and 69% more orders.8
- Confirmed transactional emails produce 6x the revenue and 8x the engagement.8
- 63% of marketers dial back email frequency based on confirmed levels of engagement for optimal customer experience.8
- Segmented campaigns generate 760% more revenue than non-segmented campaigns, emphasizing the significance of relevance.8
- Automated email campaigns generate 320% more revenue than non-automated campaigns, demonstrating automation efficiency.8
- Transactional emails generate 6x more revenue than other email types, highlighting their value.8
Automation, segmentation, and verification set your campaigns to work more profitably.
Clean lists. Zero excuses
Verification is not a one-time fix. It’s a continuous process of repeated checks to confirm list hygiene.
- Cleaning lists daily can raise deliverability by up to 20% so your message reaches the inbox.
- Double opt-in methods can also reduce spam complaints by 50%, increasing the sender’s reputation.
- Collaborating with email verification tools can reduce bounce rates by 90%, improving overall campaign performance.8
Some best practices include the following
- Syntax validation and domain checking are used to avoid typos and invalid domains.
- Screening of disposable, temporary, or role-based email addresses.
- Periodic batch verification complemented with real-time sign-up time checks.
- CRM and ESP integration for easy, automated verification processes.
- Double opt-in is applied to enhance data quality.
- Improve GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and other privacy laws to respect user consent.
Read our glossary to learn more about outreach privacy laws so you don’t land in hot water.
Big brands, larger comebacks
- Companies using real-time email verification noticed that open rates increased by 20%.
- Enterprises using email validation tools noticed a 15% reduction in unsubscribe rates.
- Firms that prioritized list hygiene saw their ROI through email marketing increase by 25%.8
Case studies to remember:
- The Zebra, an insurance comparison platform, saw high bounces and uneven engagement in their campaigns. They implemented real-time email verification upon sign-up, cutting bounces and spam complaints by a large percentage. The cleaner data allowed for better targeting, higher open and click rates, and ROI on auto-flows went through the roof.
- IGN, a well-known entertainment brand, used email validation to filter out inactive and fraudulent addresses. The purer list allowed for better segmentation and targeting, leading to higher ad engagement and reduced churn. Email marketing became an even more powerful revenue driver for IGN, generating a noticeable increase in engagement metrics.
- A UX researcher, Nick Lim, applied email verification to solve onboarding issues with incorrect email inputs. That simple step had a 100% task completion rate in the user flow and enhanced overall satisfaction.
Ready to clean up your act, I mean list?
Don’t let insufficient data ruin good marketing. Whether building automated campaigns or nurturing loyal subscribers, verified emails will always be your best bet.
Just remember: clean lists = real people + maximum results.
Frequently asked questions and answers
What types of email addresses should be removed during verification?
During verification, it’s best to remove addresses that are:
- Invalid or misspelled (e.g., gmaill.com).
- Temporary or disposable (e.g., mailinator.com).
- Role-based (like info@, sales@, or support@).
- Known spam traps.
- These addresses either don’t engage or actively harm your deliverability.
Is double opt-in still necessary if I verify my list?
Yes. Email verification and double opt-in work best together. Verification ensures the email is valid; double opt-in confirms the person wants your emails, reducing spam complaints and boosting engagement.
Will verification affect my existing subscribers?
No. Verification doesn’t send emails or disturb your subscribers – it runs a ‘behind-the-scenes’ check to validate email syntax, domain status, and mailbox availability. Your list stays intact, just cleaner.
Can email verification improve open and click rates?
Yes. A clean list means you’re sending to real, interested users. It translates to higher open and click rates, sometimes increasing engagement by over 25% compared to unverified lists.
Do verification tools integrate with email platforms?
Most email verification tools integrate directly with CRMs and ESPs like Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Salesforce. It makes it easy to automate list cleaning before each campaign or during sign-up.
Sources
- F5: https://www.f5.com/company/news/features/phishing-attacks-soar-220–during-covid-19-peak-as-cybercriminal
- Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/15fkdeb/how_to_keep_ses_under_1_complaint_rate/
- Valimail: https://www.valimail.com/blog/dmarc-growth-data/
- Identity Management Institute: https://identitymanagementinstitute.org/dangers-of-email-spoofing/
- Email tool tester: https://www.emailtooltester.com/en/blog/email-marketing-roi/
- Campaign Monitor: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/how-to-increase-email-revenue-guide-for-beginners/
- Porch Group Media: https://porchgroupmedia.com/blog/100-compelling-email-statistics-to-inform-your-strategy-in-2023/
- Optin Monster: https://optinmonster.com/10-proven-ways-to-reduce-email-unsubscribe-rates/
- Kickbox: https://kickbox.com/case-studies/the-zebra/
- Kickbox: https://kickbox.com/case-studies/ign/
- Medium: https://medium.com/nick-lim-ux-portfolio/case-study-how-fixing-email-verification-issues-restored-our-100-task-success-rate-be79693c752b
