Every email you send carries your sender’s reputation with it. If too many emails bounce back or get flagged as spam, your future campaigns could suffer.
Worse, your domain could be blacklisted.
Verifying an email is simple enough, though — pop it into an email validator, click a button, and get a result. “Valid,” “invalid,” or “risky.” Done.
We used Verifalia for the example above and tested them with a dud email team@contactinfo.com. It flagged it as “risky,” so good on them for catching it!
But that’s just the surface level. What about bulk email lists? What happens when you’re sourcing emails in real time for a sales campaign?
And how do you make sure your emails aren’t just valid but actually land in an inbox instead of the spam folder?
With 10.5% of emails landing in spam folders, verification isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s a must-do.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know. From quick checks to bulk email validation and real-time sourcing, we’ll show you the tools and techniques to keep your emails clean, accurate, and ready to deliver.
Because, let’s face it, sending an email that never gets delivered is worse than not sending one at all.
Why single validators aren’t enough for bulk lists
Imagine typing 500 email addresses into a validator one by one. Not only is this time-consuming, but it’s also prone to human error.
A typo while entering an address or skipping one by mistake can throw off your entire campaign. Bulk tools solve this problem by allowing you to upload a complete list in one go. They automate the process, analyzing each email for validity, formatting errors, and risky domains, saving you hours of manual effort.
Bulk email verification is needed if your use case is:
- Sales campaigns – They ensure your outreach reaches potential leads and doesn’t bounce.
- Email marketing – They keep your subscriber list clean to improve deliverability and engagement rates.
- Recruitment outreach: It verifies contact details for potential candidates to avoid wasted effort.
For example, during a sales campaign, we needed to verify 300 emails sourced from LinkedIn. Using a bulk verification tool, we imported the contact list, clicked verify emails, and were able to remove the emails that did not have a tick of approval.
Doing this without manual effort saved time and our sanity.
Choosing the right tool for bulk email verification
When deciding what tool to use, look for features like:
- Real-time verification
- Detailed reporting
- Scalability
- Integrations
We’ve tested tools like NeverBounce, ZeroBounce, Wiza, Skrapp, and Hunter.io, and they each brought something valuable to the table.
We used Hunter.io to verify emails for a recent marketing campaign targeting leads we’d sourced from various platforms.
After uploading our list, Hunter.io quickly flagged invalid, risky, and disposable emails.
With the cleaned list, our bounce rate dropped to under 3%, and our outreach hit the inboxes that mattered.
How to integrate verification tools with your workflow
If you’re already working with a CRM or email tool like Outreach, you might want to integrate your email verification tool.
We needed to source and verify contact information for a targeted sales outreach, and the combination of Wiza and Outreach made the workflow efficient and hassle-free.
- As we sourced emails on LinkedIn, Wiza automatically verified them in real-time.
- We then synced the information on Wiza to our Outreach account.
This integration drove real, measurable results. We booked two meetings with qualified leads within the first week of the campaign.
Common misconceptions about email verification
Let’s clear up some of the most common myths so you can verify smarter, not harder.
1. Verified emails are always deliverable
This is a common trap. Just because an email is verified doesn’t guarantee it will land in the recipient’s inbox.
Spam filters, server settings, or even a full inbox can still block delivery.
What you can do:
- Focus on your sender reputation by keeping bounce rates low.
- Warm up your email domain before large campaigns.
- Avoid spammy keywords and overly promotional language.
Phrases like “Act now!” or “Limited time offer!” are great terms to land your email in the spam folder. Instead, use clear, professional language.
2. You only need to verify emails once
Think your email list is good to go after a single verification? Think again. Emails can go stale as people switch jobs, domains expire, or accounts are deactivated.
Pro tip:
- Re-verify lists every few months, especially for long-term campaigns.
- Use tools with real-time verification to catch changes as they happen.
3. Catch-all domains are safe to use
Catch-all emails accept any incoming address at a domain, which sounds promising — until they bounce or get flagged during delivery.
These addresses often lead to spam traps or unused accounts.
How to handle them:
- Segment catch-all emails from verified ones and test them with low-priority messages first.
- Monitor engagement rates closely to see if they’re worth pursuing.
How to handle risky emails
Risky emails are a gray area in email verification. These are addresses flagged as “catch-all,” “temporary,” or “role-based” (like info@company.com).
While they aren’t outright invalid, they come with potential issues like higher bounce rates or low engagement. So, how do you handle them without compromising your outreach?
Assess the importance of the lead.
If you’re reaching out to a VP of Marketing and the only available email is flagged as catch-all, it could still be worth including in your outreach.
In one of our outreach campaigns, about 15% of our sourced emails were flagged as catch-all. Instead of ignoring them entirely, we created a separate segment in our CRM labeled “risky leads.”
This allowed us to test these emails without affecting the performance of our primary outreach.
That’s why we sent a low-stakes email.
Example to copy and paste:
Hi [Name],
We’ve loved the expert opinions you share on LinkedIn about SaaS products — would you be open to doing a live review of our platform?
If this isn’t the right email, could you point me in the right direction?
Your insights would bring real value, and I’d love to share more details if you’re interested!
Out of the emails we sent to this segment, about 2% were valid and opened, though only a handful responded.
The remaining bounced or didn’t engage, and we removed those addresses from our list.
While the response rate was low, it still helped us identify a few valuable connections and refine our outreach process for similar leads in the future.
Risky emails require more strategy, but they’re not necessarily a dead end. Sometimes, a little extra effort can turn a flagged email into a valuable connection.
What’s your go-to strategy for email verification? Have you tried any of the tools mentioned here?
Commonly asked questions
Is there a way to verify an email address?
Use email verification tools like Wiza, Hunter.io, or NeverBounce to check if an email address is valid. For one-off checks, online email validators are quick and easy to use.
How do you verify if an email is legit?
- Look at the sender’s domain. Does it match the company’s official website?
- Check for typos or suspicious characters in the address.
- Use an email verification tool like Verifalia to confirm if the address is valid.
How to authenticate an email in Gmail?
- Open the email and click the three-dot menu on the top-right corner.
- Select “Show original” to view the email header.
- Check the SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (“DomainKeys Identified Mail”) to ensure the email is from a verified sender.
