Learn what a disposable email is, why you shouldn’t contact them, and how to spot them on your email list.
You'll find disposable emailsⓘ in almost any email list. They're free, easy to create, and offer users some anonymity in a less private internet world. But they wreak havoc on businesses’ email deliverabilityⓘ. Here’s how to avoid them.
In this guide, you'll learn the following:
A disposable email, also known as a “temporary email,” “fake email,” “throwaway account,” or “burner account,” is an email address deliberately designed to expire after a set period. They can last from 30 minutes to a few days, depending on the site that created them.
A disposable email address can receive mail just as a standard email account would while it’s active. Some temporary email services allow users to send outgoing messages, too. However, after the timer expires, the address self-destructs and is no longer valid.
People generally use three types of disposable emailsⓘ in place of their primary email addresses.
Throwaway email accounts are fake emails you can create using a third-party service. These sites randomly generate a unique address with random words or numbers, which deactivates after a set period.
While it's active, incoming messages reach the inbox successfully. After the address expires, it becomes invalid, and future emails will bounce.
An alias is a temporary email you can create using your primary email provider. This alternate version of your email address allows you to point certain types of messages to different folders. They help users filter their inboxes while still using their primary email account.
Users can create a temporary email address but forward all incoming mail to their primary email inbox. Unlike disposable email addresses, forwarding doesn’t expire as long as the user keeps it and the primary email inbox active. Users can keep on receiving emails without the sender ever knowing their primary email address.
People use disposable email addresses for many reasons, most often to protect their privacy or keep unwanted marketing emails out of their primary inbox. Someone may use a temporary address to download gated content, claim a promotional offer, sign up for a free trial, or create an account with a website they don’t yet trust.
Unlike a fake or invalid email address, a disposable address may work normally for a short period. However, because many of these inboxes expire or are abandoned quickly, they can become a problem for businesses trying to maintain a healthy email list. In ZeroBounce’s Email List Decay Report, more than 5 million email addresses were disposable.
Disposable emailsⓘ offer people privacy and convenience. But they are bad news for email marketers. They’re harmful to your email marketing and sender reputation.
“A disposable email address is the equivalent of a ‘burner’ phone but it has a $0 cost associated with it. Anyone can create a disposable email address. The email will send/receive mail just like any other normal email box. So it can complete a two-step verification or double opt-in process, but soon after that, it’s gone,” says Brian Minick, Chief Operating Officer at ZeroBounce. Our COO concluded, “You don’t want to send emails to these addresses. They’ll bounce and ruin your reputation along with it.”
Here's what can happen when disposable emailsⓘ linger on your email list.
Even if a disposable email address initially shows as "valid," it will eventually self-destruct. After that, all of your future emails to it will bounce.
The general rule is to keep your bounce rate below 2%. Your bounce rate will climb rapidly if your email list contains invalid or deactivated burner emails.
Every email domain has a sender scoreⓘ that tells their Internet Service Provider (ISP) about their sending practices. A high score indicates a trusted sender, whereas low scores indicate spam-like behavior.
Factors like your bounce rate and email list health directly impact your sender scoreⓘ. So if you're emailing disposable addresses, bounce rates climb, and your reputation will suffer. You'll start noticing more bounces and spam placements as ISPs are less likely to trust you.
If your sender scoreⓘ keeps going down, your ESP may delete your account. You need to maintain a strong sender scoreⓘ to continue using your ESP. Each service has guidelines regarding acceptable sending practices. This includes your allowed bounce rate, sending frequency, and email list hygieneⓘ. So, a drop in performance should always be taken seriously.
The impact isn’t immediately obvious, but disposable emailsⓘ affect revenue.
How disposable emailsⓘ dent your revenue:
The only way to block disposable email addresses is to identify them before you publish your email campaign. An email validationⓘ API is the best way to stop disposable email signups altogether.
Email validationⓘ API is a tool you can install anywhere on your favorite platforms, websites, landing pages, and anywhere else you collect email leads. Here's how it works:
If you already have a list, you can quickly identify a disposable address with an email validationⓘ service. An email validator can process all of your contacts and determine which are valid, invalid or harmful, including:
Disposable emailsⓘ fall under the "do not mail" category as they are exclusively harmful. You'll be able to check the sub-status of the result to see precisely how many people use burner accounts when registering on your forms.
ZeroBounce’s email validationⓘ API detects disposable email addresses as part of its 99.6% accuracy guarantee.
ZeroBounce uses proprietary technology, including anti-greylisting, to help reduce unknown validation results. With this tool, you have a reliable method of disposable email filtering in your marketing arsenal. It's by far the most effective strategy you can use to protect your email reputationⓘ.
Related Links:
You can't stop users from signing up with burner accounts. But you can help prevent disposable email registration on your forms by building trust.
To ease privacy and spam concerns of new potential customers, review the following:
Disposable emailsⓘ offer people some privacy online, but they offer businesses nothing but trouble. Routinely contacting disposable emailsⓘ will tank your sender scoreⓘ and reputation. This guide covered what to look out for, so you can spot disposable emailsⓘ and keep them off your email list for good.
Get 100 free monthly email verifications when you sign up with a business/premium domain
A burner email account is a temporary address that only functions for a short period. They can last from 30 minutes up to a few days. People use them to receive incoming mail while protecting their privacy by not using their personal email addresses.
Users create disposable email addresses using third-party websites or tools. These sites generate a unique address containing random words, characters, and numbers. While the address is active, users can receive and sometimes send email messages. After a determined amount of time, the email address self-destructs. Afterward, all future messages sent to the fake email address bounce as it’s no longer active or valid.
You can detect disposable email addresses by using an email validation service or API. They can identify active or expired throwaway accounts so that you can delete them or block them from entering your email list.
You can block them from your list by implementing an email validation API. Connecting it to your registration forms lets the validator assist you with disposable email blocking. If an email is valid, the registration form will accept it. If it is invalid or harmful, it will reject the address and block it from entering your email list.
