Verify and clean your email list

Email verification checks whether the addresses in your list are technically valid and reachable before you send. A clean list reduces avoidable bounces, protects your sender reputation and gives future emails a healthier basis for delivery.

Why email verification matters

Old, mistyped or abandoned addresses can produce hard bounces. The difference between hard and soft bounces determines whether an address should be removed from sending or watched as a temporary problem. A high bounce rate signals poor list hygiene to inbox providers. It can affect not only the current campaign but also whether future emails reach the inbox.

Run a free bounce test first

A bounce test measures risk before you pay to verify every address. MailGraf evaluates addresses it already knows instantly, then live-tests a random sample of the rest. The test is free and does not use verification credits.

1. Open Reports and select Validation

2. Click Run a bounce test under Bounce tests

   Choose the list you want to check and click Start bounce test.

3. Review the estimated bounce rate

   The result shows the estimated bounce rate and its calculated margin. If the rate is above 5%, run a full verification before sending.

Verify the full list

Full verification checks every address in the list. Addresses checked before can be answered instantly; only new addresses need a live check.

1. Click Verify a list under Bulk list verification runs

2. Choose the list and click Start verification

   The screen shows your remaining verification credit balance. You cannot start another run while the same list is already being checked.

3. Open the completed result

   MailGraf groups the results as Valid, Risky, Invalid and Unknown. Invalid addresses are added to the block list and removed from the sendable total.

A risky result means the mailbox could not be confirmed with confidence. The address can still be sent to, but delivery is not guaranteed. You can check unknown results again later.

Buy verification credits

If you run out of credits, select Buy credits in the warning. You can also find the available packs under Settings > Billing > Email verification credits. Once the purchase is complete, return to Reports > Validation and start the verification straight away.

The time required depends on the list size and how many addresses need a live check. Most lists finish in 5-10 minutes. Larger lists, or lists with many addresses that have not been checked before, can take around 15 minutes.

What happens after verification?

Invalid addresses stay on the block list and are automatically excluded from campaign sends. Nothing is sent to those addresses, so they cannot produce a bounce. Continue building your campaign with the cleaned list, then monitor the results in Monitor delivery health.