This is a quick reference guide for all verification statuses and sub-statuses returned by EmailKit.
Status | Color | Action |
|---|---|---|
Deliverable | Green | Safe to send |
Undeliverable | Red | Remove from list |
Risky | Yellow | Review before sending |
Unknown | Gray | Retry later |
What it means: The email is valid and the mailbox can receive messages.
What to do: Add to your sending list. These are good, verified addresses.
What it means: The email cannot receive messages. Sending to it will result in a hard bounce.
What to do: Remove from your list immediately. Continuing to send to undeliverable addresses damages your sender reputation.
Common causes:
The user deleted their account
The email was never a real address
The company changed their email domain
Typo in the email address (e.g., gmial.com instead of gmail.com)
What it means: The email might work, but there's a reason to be cautious.
What to do: Review the sub-reason and decide case by case.
Sub-Reason | Risk Level | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
Catch-all | Medium | Usually safe for transactional email. Higher bounce risk for marketing. |
Disposable | High | Remove. These are temporary addresses that will stop working. |
Role-based | Medium | OK for transactional email. Remove from marketing lists. |
Low quality | High | Consider removing. These addresses have low engagement potential. |
What it means: EmailKit couldn't complete the verification. This is not a reflection of the email's validity.
What to do: Wait a few hours and try again. If the result persists, the mail server may be consistently blocking verification attempts.
Why it happens:
The recipient's mail server was temporarily down
The mail server rate-limited our verification attempts
Network connectivity issues during the check
The mail server has aggressive anti-verification measures
Verify before every campaign — Email addresses go stale. People change jobs, abandon accounts, and delete emails. Re-verify lists older than 3 months.
Remove hard bounces immediately — If you send to an undeliverable address and get a bounce, remove it right away.
Monitor catch-all domains — A catch-all server accepts all mail, so even fake addresses appear deliverable. These can still bounce after acceptance.
Watch for disposable emails — If you see disposable emails in your sign-up flow, consider adding verification at the point of collection.
