What is email validation and why is it important?

Valid email addresses are essential for any company hoping to succeed with email marketing and customer communication. It’s critical to double-check your email address list is correct, error-free, and that the emails actually exist.


People make mistakes, it happens, it’s not uncommon for your customers and subscribers to make typos in their email addresses during input. And if these typos go unnoticed and uncorrected into your database, you will not only lose contact with that customer, but also have an overall bad effect on your overall deliverability score as more of your emails bounce.


We’ve put together a handy guide advising how to check if an email is valid, why it’s important for your marketing strategies and sales communications, and how Fetchify could make life so much easier for you.


What is email validation?


Email validation is a method of determining whether or not an email address is reachable and valid. It executes a quick process that detects typos, whether they are honest errors or deliberate misdirection. It also verifies whether a specific email address is associated with a reputable domain. This tool not only checks email addresses at point of entry into your database, it also protects your email sender score, allowing you to get the most out of your email software.


It’s not enough to simply be checking for an @ symbol in your email field, or for a full stop and a standardised suffix. These only verify that a customer’s email address is properly formatted. Just identifying correct format doesn’t check if an email address works and is linked to a valid, frequently used inbox. This means you won’t realise it’s invalid until you try to contact the customers or prospect. Whether it’s for signup confirmation or an email campaign, if too many of your emails bounce back, you could end up automatically being filed into junk folders.


Why is email validation important?


Email marketing is essential for eCommerce firms because it allows you to connect with customers instantly without depending on social media algorithms or search engine results. It has a significantly lower risk than social media advertising. Your subscriber list is yours to keep and your communications are delivered directly to them, even if you switch platforms. That implies you can’t lose your ability to interact with them due to an algorithm change, a failure of an external firm, or an arbitrary ban.


Here are some great benefits of email marketing:


It boosts brand recognition – consumers who follow you indicate that they are interested in your business.


  • It is incredibly measurable, allowing you to diagnose issues and identify areas where you can improve
  • It’s cost-effective
  • Because some purchasers are in the research, comparison, or ready-to-buy stages, personalised messaging is possible, customised to their stage in the buyer journey.


Whether email marketing is your main method of communicating with clients or just one of several different channels, verifying customer email addresses at the time of entry/capture is a primary priority in order to maximise your campaign’s contactable audience and readability. Having verified email addresses could reduce your bounce rate by up to 98%, which is a staggering statistic. It can also help with increasing your conversion rate as you can be sure your campaigns are going to the correct email addresses every time.


How Fetchify can help with email validation


We are experts in data validation with over 13 years of experience. When you choose us for your email address validation, you can expect immediate results and enhanced engagement. Our systems work worldwide, checking the email that your subscriber has entered is active and deliverable. As incorrect formatting or addresses are rejected in real time, users are prompted to correct the information immediately, allowing for quick and easy corrections to take place and deterring deliberately wrong information.


But what about the emails already in your database?


Don’t worry, we’ve got your back there too, with our data cleansing service. We can cleanse your existing contact list to reduce bounces caused by old, bad data, as well as ensuring only clean data is added to your database moving forward. Get in touch with our helpful team of experts to find out more about how our email validation and suite of data services can benefit your business.

About Fetchify


Fetchify’s address lookup and data validation platforms cover more than 250 countries, and increases customer conversion with the fastest, most accurate customer data capture. Fetchify’s flagship products – Address Auto Complete and Postcode Lookup – reduce friction at the checkout, and also significantly increase the number of successful deliveries. Founded in 2008, Fetchify processes millions of data transactions every day for clients ranging from startups to established high-street names, and offers a full suite of data validation tools, including phone, email and bank, too.

June 30, 2025
An article in Ecommerce News recently put a number to something every online retailer dreads: lost parcels. In Q4 2024 alone, European ecommerce retailers lost €500 million in revenue due to 3.72 million undelivered parcels. That’s roughly €145 per parcel in direct and indirect logistics costs. And while the official rate of “lost” parcels is just 0.06%, the reality – accounting for misdelivery, theft, and reporting gaps – is likely closer to 0.7%. That’s 1 in every 143 parcels. The Hidden Costs of a 'Lost' Delivery For enterprise-scale ecommerce operations, the implications scale fast: Lost product and packaging costs Repeat fulfilment and reverse logistics Customer service team time and refunds Increased churn and checkout abandonment Damage to brand reputation and online reviews So Why Are Parcels Going Missing? Many issues originate in the last mile of the delivery process. The root cause is often poor data quality: Incomplete or inaccurate delivery addresses captured at checkout Manual amendments to address fields by warehouse or courier staff Ambiguous delivery locations (e.g., "front porch") Lack of precise geolocation data for drop-off Inadequate or unverifiable proof of delivery Some losses are unavoidable, but most stem from gaps in ecommerce data validation and fulfilment process transparency. What Retailers Can Control with Smart Logistics Data While you can’t eliminate theft or accidents, you can reduce missed deliveries and failed first attempts through better data validation and delivery insights: Real-Time Address Validation at Checkout Fetchify’s ecommerce address validation tools connect directly with official data sources including Royal Mail PAF and the Multiple Residence dataset. This ensures accurate delivery details for apartment blocks, HMOs, student housing, and more. Unlike generic autocomplete tools, this is verified delivery point data. Rooftop-Accurate Geocoding for Pinpoint Delivery Fetchify’s Rooftop Geocodes assign precise latitude and longitude to verified addresses – helping carriers reach the exact doorstep, not just the postcode centroid. Proof of Delivery with Location and Time Stamping Our data solutions integrate seamlessly with POD technologies, supporting timestamped, geo-tagged delivery images. Customers can also submit geo-located photos during disputes, enabling faster, fairer resolutions. Map-Based Address Confirmation for Shoppers By embedding a zoomed-in map in the checkout process, ecommerce brands allow customers to visually confirm their delivery location. This prevents ambiguous or misentered addresses from the start. Audit Trails and Address Change Tracking Fetchify tracks address field edits and changes across the fulfilment chain, helping to pinpoint where a delivery went wrong and maintain data accountability. Marginal Gains. Major Ecommerce Impact. Smart logistics and address data validation might only reduce parcel loss by fractions of a percent – but the impact is huge: A 0.1% improvement = thousands of saved parcels = millions in recovered revenue Fewer failed deliveries = less pressure on customer support teams Accurate addresses = better first-time delivery success and lower last-mile costs Conclusion: Delivery Accuracy is a Data Challenge Lost parcels aren’t just a logistics challenge. They’re a symptom of poor data validation in ecommerce. From checkout to doorstep, the journey must be powered by precise, verified data. Fetchify helps online retailers solve this problem with address validation, geolocation, and enhanced fulfilment transparency. If you want to stop asking “Whose front door is this?” – start with smarter ecommerce data. Want to improve delivery success and reduce failed parcels? Contact Fetchify to book your free address data health check.
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