Cleaning a list before you send
How the list check finds typos, throwaway addresses and domains that can't receive mail, and what it can't tell you.
Every address that bounces hurts your sending reputation. Open any list and press Check this list before you send. It looks for three kinds of problem.
| Finding | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Looks like a typo | The domain is a near-miss of a popular one, like gmial.com for gmail.com. | Press Fix it to correct the address, or remove it. |
| Throwaway address | A disposable inbox from a service people use to avoid giving a real address. | Usually remove. These people are unlikely to read your emails. |
| Domain can't receive mail | The domain does not exist or has no mail server. | Remove. Every email to it will bounce. |
| Not a valid address | The text is not shaped like an email address. | Remove, or fix by hand on the person's page. |
Remove from list takes the person off this list only. They stay in your contacts. Remove all except typos clears everything the check flagged apart from typos, which you should look at one by one.
Example
You import 400 people from a sign-up form. The check finds sam@gmial.com (fix it), three mailinator.com addresses (remove) and ann@exampel-shop.de, whose domain doesn't exist (remove). You send to 395 people instead of 400 and nothing bounces.
What it cannot tell you
- Whether the mailbox exists. Checking the domain proves the company can receive mail, not that
ann@is a real person there. Some addresses will still bounce, and Vecta handles those after sending. - Whether someone wants your email. Only people who agreed to hear from you should be on a list.
- Every domain on a big list. Each run looks up 150 different domains. If the report says some were not looked up, remove what was flagged and run it again.
If something looks wrong
- A good address was flagged as a typo: some real domains look like popular ones. Leave it alone, or ignore the suggestion. Nothing changes until you press Fix it.
- The check is slow: big lists look up many mail servers. It can take up to a minute.
- "Fix it" removed the person from the list: the corrected address was already one of your contacts, so Vecta put that contact on the list and took the typo off, to avoid emailing the same person twice.
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