Check email legitimacy is one of the most important steps in any email marketing campaign. It ensures that your emails will reach the intended recipients and boosts engagement and profitability. However, email validation is time consuming and can be difficult to get right.

The most basic way to check if an email address is legitimate is by performing a syntax check. This checks that the email includes an @ symbol, proper placement of dots and that it doesn’t contain illegal characters (such as underscores and ampersands). While passing a syntax check does not guarantee that the email is valid or reachable, it’s a good first step.

How to Verify Email Legitimacy to Reduce Phishing Risks

Another way to check if an email is valid is to perform a domain lookup. This looks up the domain name using a DNS server and will tell you whether or not there is an active mail service associated with it. This will also reveal other information, such as the date that the domain was registered and whether it has any authentication methods set up.

Finally, you can also check if an email is valid by viewing the full email header. This will give you clues about the email’s origin and may reveal spoofing or forgery. For example, if an email contains a generic greeting such as “Dear Customer” or “Dear User” this is often a sign that the email isn’t from a legitimate source.

Email addresses change over time, so it’s important to keep your email lists up-to-date. If you don’t, your email campaigns could be hampered by bounces and spam traps and your users could receive messages that weren’t meant for them.