How to Verify an Email Address Without Hitting Send

If you’re not sure that an email address is correct, you may be tempted to send a message to it and see if it bounces. Avoid doing that – there’s a better way to verify an email address without hitting send.

Have you ever hesitated before clicking “send” because you wondered if the email address you had was valid? You’re not alone. 

For some people it’s a weekly or even daily occurrence.

Email addresses are a little trickier than most people realize —typos happen, people switch accounts, or addresses expire when the owner doesn’t check their email regularly.

Why verify email addresses without sending emails

For a long time, firing off an email to someone new and then getting a bounce was thought of as no big deal. But that mindset has changed as more people become aware that every time this happens, you’re chipping away at your chances that future emails will get through. 

Here’s why: you don’t want to risk bouncing emails, because you want to protect your sender reputation. When your sender reputation starts to diminish, Internet service providers (ISPs) start to classify you as a spammer. It happens to good people, too. They are careless about their emailing habits or they test whether an email works by hitting send on a contact that has since gone extinct.

Everyone should avoid getting bounces, but if you’re managing a mass email campaign, you need to be especially careful. Is it a necessary evil, though? Do you have to try an email address to see if it’s still active? 

I’m pleased to tell you the good news: You don’t have to send an email to verify if the address is real. It’s easy to check through other methods that will save you the time of composing an email only to have it ricochet. 

Let’s dive into how you can do this and why it’s a game-changer for anyone who uses email regularly (that’s all of us, right?).

What’s the harm in sending a “test email”?

Picture this: you’re reaching out to a new client, reconnecting with an old contact, or building an outreach list. Should you send a “test email” to see if it works?

As it turns out, sending an email to find out if an address is valid is like playing email roulette. 

• What if it bounces back? 
• Are you writing an email that won’t go anywhere?
• Are you wasting your time when you could be finding the right email address?

Those are reasonable concerns. But worse, what if a potential bounce damages your reputation as a sender or lands you on a dreaded spam list? 

You don’t know that, which is exactly why it’s email roulette. Sending an email to test if it works is potentially harmful. It’s also unnecessary because there’s an easy fix.

Verifying an email address without sending any message to it is like doing a rapid background check before committing to anything. It ensures your messages go to the right place, saves time, and gets you closer to the result you wanted.

Related: The email bounce rate benchmark – see how you compare

Smart ways to verify email addresses without hitting send

If you’re just about to email a contact you’re not sure about, you don’t need to guess anymore. With today’s tools and techniques, verifying email addresses can be fast and accurate:

Check the syntax

Start with the basics. This should only take a few seconds. Don’t be intimidated by what it’s called because a syntax check is pretty simple.

A syntax check ensures the email address follows the correct format. If there’s a misplaced symbol or a typo, you can catch this immediately. 

So take a glance at the email address and you may immediately notice that it has a glaring problem. For example: paul@thepaulleslie isn’t a complete email address because the entirety of the domain isn’t there.

However, just because everything looks good doesn’t mean the email address is good. You’d still want to copy and paste the email address and proceed to the next step.

Use an email checker

This step checks whether the mailbox is genuine and the email’s domain (everything after the “@”) exists and accepts emails. An email checker should verify every issue that determines if an email is good or bad.

You can copy and paste the email address into a single email validator tool. It will tell you in seconds if it’s a keeper or not. 

Real-time email verification tools

Suppose you have online forms that allow someone to enter their email address, either to send you a message or to sign-up to your email list. You can verify if those email addresses are valid too – without sending an email. It’s called real-time email validation.

Tools like ZeroBounce take this kind of verification to the next level, which you can set up through an API (Application Programming Interface). They can ping the server associated with the email to confirm its existence — all without sending a single message. These tools also filter out disposable email addresses or ones flagged as spam traps.

A real-time email validation tool makes things very easy, and ZeroBounce even has 24/7 support to help set it up.

What’s in it for you?

When you verify email addresses without sending an email, you’re setting yourself up for success. You keep a strong sender reputation with ISPs, which determine whether you’re a trustworthy sender and whether your messages should go to people’s inboxes or the spam folder. 

Here are some of the benefits of verifying an email address without hitting send:

• Protect your sender reputation: Avoid those bounce-backs that could signal spammy behavior to email providers. When you send emails that bounce, you’re behaving like a spammer and it doesn’t matter that you’re not sending spam. Email providers don’t know any different.
• Save time and effort: No need to waste your energy crafting emails that will never be seen. Avoid the frustration of writing an email that goes nowhere.
• Clean up your email list: A well-maintained list is like a well-tended garden — it makes everything run smoother. Waiting for a garden to become overrun with weeds defeats the purpose of having a garden. You should never add an email contact to your list without verifying it. It’s no different than putting spoiled food into a pot of soup.
• Boost email deliverability: Valid email addresses mean higher open rates, click-through rates, and engagement. Every single metric that correlates with email marketing success is higher when your list is in good shape.

Check email addresses in bulk or one by one

When it comes to email verification tools, ZeroBounce offers two options to help you ensure you work with genuine, valid contacts. You can choose to:

• Check your entire email list – on average, the email verifier takes about 45 minutes to validate 100,000 contacts.
• Verify contacts in real time – you can install the API to any form that collects email addresses and have the email verifier reject invalid, fake, and risky contacts like spam traps.

ZeroBounce’s email verifier checks for:

• Syntax errors and domain validity
• Whether the email address belongs to a known spam trap list
• Disposable and catch-all emails

A sole proprietorship and a multinational company can both benefit from email verification.

The best part? Whether you’re a small business owner or managing a massive email campaign, it’s effortless to use. And as soon as you create an account, you get 100 email verifications for free. ZeroBounce replenishes those free credits monthly (1 credit = 1 email verification).

Keeping your email game strong

Email is one of the best communication tools — when used wisely. Instead of sending emails like “Is this still your address?” take control by verifying emails without sending a message. It’s smart, efficient, and protects your sending reputation.

Before you hit send, ask yourself: Is the address valid? If you haven’t emailed recently, take a moment to verify. Your future self (and your email list) will thank you.

Keep your email game strong by staying proactive and protecting your reputation. A little effort now can ensure your messages always land where they belong.