How to Verify Catch-all Emails - An Email Marketer’s Guide

Catch-all email addresses are a frustration for email marketers.

Seated businessman verifies his catch-all emails with email verification

Catch-all emails might connect you with someone at a company. But they may put your emails and reputation at risk.

By the end of this guide, you’ll know how to define a catch-all, why companies use them, how they impact your email marketing campaigns, and how to verify them.

As a bonus, we’ll show you how to score those catch-all addresses so you don’t miss out on potentially valuable leads.

What is a catch-all email?

A catch-all email, or an accept-all email, receives all messages sent to incorrect addresses on their corresponding domain.

Users misenter addresses regularly. We may contact someone at a brand using a predicted email pattern, only to be incorrect in our entry. The server will direct the message to the catch-all inbox if the domain is correct and a catch-all email address is available.

Many brands utilize accept-all emails to ensure they don’t miss out on vital communications. Something as simple as a typo can render an address invalid and cause an email to bounce. Instead, they would place the message in a valid inbox on their server rather than the alternative.

Graphic showing how emailing three incorrect addresses can be funneled into a catch-all email inbox

Why companies use catch-all email addresses

Many brands utilize accept-all emails to ensure they don’t miss out on vital communications. Something as simple as a typo can render an address invalid and cause an email to bounce. Instead, they would place the message in a valid inbox on their server rather than the alternative.

Ideally, someone at the brand will manage the catch-all box. Once they understand the context of a message, they can forward it to the person best fit to deal with the email message.

How to verify a catch-all email

You must use an email validation service to verify your email contacts. This allows you to determine which addresses are valid and safe to message.

During the process, the service also helps you identify all types of problematic emails, including:

You should purge all of these from your list without hesitation. Doing so will immediately reduce your bounce rate, improve engagement, and maximize inbox deliverability.

An email validation API can further protect your email list. This is code you can easily install on your websites, landing pages and wherever you collect email leads. Whenever a user enters their email on a form, the API validates it. If it happens to be invalid or risky, the API will automatically reject it from entering your email list.

A flow chart showing how real-time email verification detects risky emails like catch-alls

But there’s still the dilemma of understanding your catch-all emails. Thankfully, we offer a solution with ZeroBounce Score.

With the help of artificial intelligence, our email validation service also detects recent email activity levels for each contact. It is a ten-point scale that describes each email address as follows:

Basic text graphic explaining email scoring, with 10 representing highly active users and 0 being unknown

Scoring provides you with the necessary information to adequately verify your catch-all emails. Someone is likely managing the inbox if the address has a high score. On the other hand, catch-all emails with low scores are safe to eliminate from your list.

You can then make informed decisions regarding your email list and campaigns. If you observe no activity or bounces from the catch-all address, promptly remove it from your email list.

Related links:

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Frequently asked questions

Catch-all, sometimes called accept-all, means that the receiving address accepts all incoming emails. This is useful whenever the sender makes a typo or enters an invalid email on your domain. Instead of bouncing the email back, the server redirects it to the catch-all inbox.

This status refers to a type of email known as catch-alls. Catch-alls are valid addresses that accept emails initially sent to an invalid address on a domain. These risky emails receive their own status, as they can harm your reputation if the inbox is unmanaged or dormant.

Yes - but only to an extent. An email validation tool will identify any catch-all email addresses on your list. The bigger problem is verifying whether or not the inbox receives active use.

You can gain insight into a catch-all email by using ZeroBounce Score. This gives you a score from 1-10 regarding an email user’s activity level, with 10 being the most active and zero being inactive or unknown.

Use an AI scoring tool like ZeroBounce to gauge the activity levels of a catch-all email user. Emails with low activity are likely out of use, and you should scrub them from your list immediately. If the inbox displays recent activity, you may choose to send emails to that inbox.

It’s risky to send messages to accept-all emails as it’s difficult to predict if someone is actively managing the inbox. If there is any doubt, removing an accept-all email from your list is safer.

You can send emails if you believe an active catch-all inbox is a valuable lead. Consider removing the catch-all from your list if your email bounces or goes unopened. Use ZeroBounce AI scoring to understand a catch-all email’s activity level better.

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