What a verified email really means
A green tick next to an email address sounds like a promise. Here is what it proves, what it doesn't, and why we show four labels instead of one.
A green tick next to an email address sounds like a promise. It isn't one. It's a statement about what a mail server said at one moment, and it's worth knowing exactly what that is.
What the check does
When we check an address, we ask the business's mail server about it, the way a sending server would, without sending a message. The server answers in one of a few ways, and we put each answer into plain words:
- Verified. The server accepted the address.
- Catch-all server. The server accepts every address, so nothing can be proven either way.
- No answer. The server never replied.
- Will not deliver. The server rejected the address.
What Verified doesn't tell you
It tells you the mailbox exists. It doesn't tell you the person still works there, reads that inbox or wants your email. A verified address for a director who left in March is a perfectly deliverable address that nobody opens.
So we keep two questions apart. Whether an address will deliver is one question. Whether a detail is true and current is another, and we answer it with a different set of labels: Proven, Claimed, Contested and Unknown. An email can be Verified and still only Claimed. The one you want is a director's own mailbox that two independent sources agree on.
Why we don't hide the rest
Plenty of tools drop any address that isn't a clean pass. We don't. A catch-all server accepts everything, which means no check can ever show an address is wrong, and plenty of small businesses run on exactly that kind of server. If we hid those addresses you'd lose real contacts. So we keep them, label them and leave the decision with you.
Today 365k of the 1.5m emails we hold are Verified. The rest carry one of the other labels, and you can see the split on the UK book page.
What to do with each label
| Verified | Safe to send. Still read who it belongs to. |
|---|---|
| Catch-all server | Send in small batches, watch your bounces, and try another route as well, such as a phone call. |
| No answer | Try again later, or use another route. |
| Will not deliver | Don't send. |
A fair question for any provider
Ask any data provider two things. What does your verified mean? And what happens to the addresses that aren't? If the answer is that they quietly disappear, ask how many.
More on the labels in the help centre.
More from the blog.
A catch-all server says yes to every address, including ones that don't exist. Here is what that means for your list, and how to send to them safely.
A practical walk-through: from a blank search to a saved list and a first campaign, with the checks that stop you wasting your time.
Who you are writing to decides which rules apply. A plain-English guide to companies, sole traders and what PECR asks of you.
See it in the book.
Start free and search the UK, with every field labelled.