Richard Kahn
When it comes to email marketing, it’s important to clean up your lists regularly, especially if you’re collecting emails from outside sources. After all, campaign performance is only guaranteed if real people read your messages.
Email address verification services are popular list hygiene tools, but unfortunately, they don’t always catch everything. These services determine an email’s legitimacy based only on static data taken from the address itself, like syntax or domain connectivity. It doesn’t actually verify if the email connects to an actual person.
To better verify your email list, try taking a different approach by using an ad fraud solution that verifies the user both sending and opening the email, not the address. An ad fraud solution designed to spot bad behavior in real-time gives you more power to verify your email list at any stage, no matter how you’re building it.
Cleaning Out Bad Emails with Ad Fraud Solutions
Let’s say you’re building your email database using a subscription sign-up form on your website. Sure, it’s an easy way to grow your mailing list, but it’s also highly susceptible to bot attacks. Bots really love filling out forms, for some reason.
1. Embed a Trackable Code
To stop bad bots and bad actors in their tracks, you could embed a trackable code provided by the fraud solution into the web element. The code records each visiting user’s basic information, like IP address, browser type, and geographic location. That data is passed to the fraud solution which analyzes in real-time if the user is valid or not.
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If the user doesn’t pass the test, you can put checks in place to prevent them from submitting the form, in turn blocking a bad email from entering your database. Likewise, if the user is genuine, then they can submit their information as needed.
2. Examine Email Opens
If you already have a mailing list or if you bought one from a third party, you’ll verify emails by examining who actually opens your messages. There are two ways to do this, both of which involve the same trackable code from the previous example.
Tracking Pixel
When sending an HTML email, you can embed the solution’s code within its contents as a single pixel. As someone opens your email, the code records the recipient’s basic data and sends it back to the fraud solution for analysis. Any bad users interacting with your email will be flagged, letting you know which addresses probably shouldn’t stay on your list.
Landing Page Tracking Code
In case you’re sending plain text emails or if another party is responsible for your mailing, you’d place the trackable code onto any landing pages associated with your campaigns.
That way, when users click links in your emails, the code identifies them as valid or not once they’re on the page. Based on the fraud solution’s findings, you can isolate bad users, determine where they originate, and cut out the source.
Boosting Email Campaign Performance
Real email addresses are compromised every day by bad actors who only want to do harm. That’s why simply verifying email addresses isn’t enough to maintain top-notch campaign performance. The best way to reach people with genuine intent is to confirm that actual users see your messages.
Regularly cleaning your mailing lists with an ad fraud solution gives you better campaign protection than regular email verification services alone. By taking a data-focused look at the users on your list, you can make more informed decisions about your email campaigns and maintain your reputation as a sender.
