We all know that we can’t drive if we don’t have a license. The same goes for the internet. We can’t buy an online product, service, subscription, or sign up for social media sites if we don’t have an email address.

We follow some rules to get a license. There are also some rules if we want a good email address too. If we follow these rules, we aren’t going to miss our important emails.

Some people get away with a fake license, which often results in road accidents. A fake email address can destroy all of our efforts in internet marketing.

We will discuss the short history and the do’s and don’ts while creating an email address. In the end, we will reveal the easiest method to verify correctly formatted email addresses.

The story behind the email address

In the 1970s, the first email was sent from one local server to another. The email address format followed a username, @ symbol, and the computer’s name which was receiving the email.

As the modern internet evolved, an email could be sent from one location to another distant location, resulting in Domain Name System or simply DNS.

With the advancement of technology in 21st century, a lot of Internet Service Providers (ISP) and hosting sites came into being. This is where the email providers like AOL, Yahoo, and Hotmail evolved.

Today, we have thousands of email providers and billions of email accounts.

How can someone differentiate between all the email addresses?

Thanks to different naming conventions, which help us know the identity of everyone.

Email address standards

The internet society and the Internet Engineering Task Force has published a document known as Requests for Comments (RFC). The RFC 5322 explains the standards for an electronic email address. It also helps us determine the syntax of a valid email address.

These rules must be followed in an email address order to be eligible for delivery.

  • The username can have a maximum of 64 characters. It can be a combination of letters, numbers, or special characters. Periods are only acceptable if they are not consecutive and they aren’t the first or last character and
  • The domain name can’t be longer than 255 characters. The domain name should match the name of the computer to which it is connected. The domain name can consist of Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
  • You can’t have an email address without the @ symbol. It connects the username with the domain name.
  • According to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), only the domain names ending in .com .net, or .org, are considered safe. A domain name ending in other than these is a potential security risk. A domain name outside of the USA can have extra characters after .com like .ca etc.
  • The display name of the email address can be the name of the individual, company, or the apartment, etc. It helps us determine the sender quickly.

The do’s and don’ts of an email address

  • The special characters should be avoided. The commas, apostrophes, carets, and asterisks can result in undelivered messages. Since there are so many email systems set up by the programmers, these characters should be avoided for safety.
  • Although periods in Google account doesn’t matter, it’s not the same for other email address providers. According to Google, the email address [email protected] is the same as [email protected]. However, this not the case with Yahoo, Hotmail, and others. So we should be careful about periods while setting up the email address.
  • It doesn’t matter whether you use the capital letters or the small letters for the email address. Both are considered the same. It means the email addresses are not case sensitive.

Email list building tips

Suppose you are building a list and came across the email addresses like [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected]. It’s better to leave these email addresses.

There is a misconception that these emails are assigned to the whole sales or info department. Usually, the emails sent to these addresses are managed by a single person who screens the messages according to the relevance. If you include these addresses in your list, the open rate of your campaign may be effected. So it’s always better to remove these addresses from your list.
Spam traps look like real, but they are specifically designed to avoid detection. It can hit your marketing campaign seriously. An email checker like MailTester is handy when you aren’t able to find the reason for the failure of your marketing campaign.

How to verify correct email syntax easily?

Did you know that an invalid email address is mostly the root cause of failure in email marketing? It brings a lot of troubles like increased bounce and decreased ISP rating. These factors lead your emails to spam boxes.

Usually, an email address is invalid because:

  • It has been closed by the owner or terminated by the ISP.
  • The user didn’t want to give their valid email address.
  • There is maybe a typo in the email address.
  • You received bad quality data from a third party.

The question arises on how to validate this kind of email address?

The email verifier from MailTester is the easiest way to do it. This email verifier uses multiple parameters like invalid syntax, disposable email, duplicate email, domain verifier. The real-time verification not only verifies the valid email addresses, but it also cleans the list for you.

Your emails from landing pages and forms are automatically cleaned and verified. With tools like custom API or a JavaScript, the whole process is automated. You can easily see the stats in the dashboard and download your fully verified list. And if that’s not enough, you can transfer your emails to your favorite apps by a single click.

By using this tool, not only you will save your money but also reduce email bounces. It will result in a better company reputation, which ultimately leads to more customers and sales.