Email Domain Checker: Benefits and Procedure

In 2022, nearly 600 brand names were used in phishing attacks. And 1,800 Google accounts were under threat for spear phishing. 

Alarming, right?

At the moment, someone could receive emails with your initials and brand name. It’s called ‘name and email spoofing’ in which attackers use your name and domain name to steal information from customers. To avoid becoming a victim, it’s best to use an email domain checker. 

At Campaign Refinery, we take measures to protect your domain from threats.

Currently, our email experts manually review all domains added to the platform. We’re also making domain checks a necessity for all our users. To increase safety measures, we’ve outlined the benefits of a domain email checker, how to use it, use cases, and the type of tools.

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Table of Contents

• What are the Benefits of Email Domain Checker
• How Does an Email Domain Checker Work?
  • 1. DNS Look-up
  • 2. Spam Blacklist Checks
  • 3. Check Mail Server Logs
  • 4. Diagnose Email Deliverability Rates
  • 5. Check Sending History
  • Is Domain Authentication Mandatory at Campaign Refinery?
• How to Check Email Domain for Spam?
  • How to Check Email Domain for Blacklists
• How to Increase the Health of Your Domain?
• Where is the Email Domain Checker Used?
• The Best Email Address List Checkers
• How Can Campaign Refinery Help?

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What are the Benefits of Email Domain Checker

Whether you’re a company or an individual sending mass emails, your domain and sender reputation matter. If you’re regularly topping the spam charts, internet service providers (ISPs) will stop sending your emails to the recipients. In worse cases, you could be refrained from sending emails altogether. 

That’s why it’s crucial to undergo a domain check. Verifying if an email domain is valid involves a rigorous process: sender verification, checking blacklists and analyzing records. But the advantages are plenty:

• Reduced phishing: An unbelievable 3.4 billion malicious emails are sent every day. There’s a chance that your email domain could be the next target. A precautionary measure is to use a domain email checker. 

• Increased brand reputation: Checking your email domain for vulnerabilities will increase trust in your brand. Domain authentication also helps your website rank higher in search results. 

• Higher email deliverability rates: While sender reputation is integral to improving email deliverability rate, we’ve noticed significant results for clients with medium sender reputation. One of the core factors for this is domain authentication. Email delivery solutions like MxToolBox offer a comprehensive email domain health check with complete visibility in a single report.

• Lower spam complaints: The industry standard for spam complaints is 0.1% of your email volume. The ideal target rate for complaints at Campaign Refinery is 0.05%. Favorably, all our clients have achieved the perfect target rate with email health checks. 

• Better domain reputation: Domain reputation refers to the domain’s ability to reach the inbox. An authenticated domain is more likely to have higher email deliverability rates and increased sender reputation. 

Even when everything seems good, your reputation can be affected by shared email lists, shared IP addresses, and higher bounce rates. Knowing how an email domain checker works will act as a guide to preventing these issues.

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How Does an Email Domain Checker Work?

An email domain validator provides detailed information about your blocklists, MX records, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and web reputation. Here are the steps involved:

1. DNS Look-up

DKIM is a record in DNS that protects the domain by guarding the domain’s authenticity and integrity. A DKIM record is a modified version of TXT records that are added to the DNS server on the sending domain. It’s possible to do this manually. However, we encourage using an authentication tool for better optimization.

2. Spam Blacklist Checks

The email validation tool scans your domain and mail server IP addresses against many DNS-based real-time blacklists (RBL) to check for discrepancies. If your domain is found on the blacklist, you can proceed to apply for a removal request.

3. Check Mail Server Logs

Any unusual activity on one of your servers will subsequently reduce your deliverability rates and caution ISPs to flag your domain. Email domain check tools prioritize this step to look out for patterns of email delivery issues or suspicious login attempts.

4. Diagnose Email Deliverability Rates

Another important aspect of email domain check is performance tracking. The authentication tool goes through email open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints to understand your domain reputation.  

5. Check Sending History

A rule of thumb is to send email sequences to your subscribers consistently. When you don’t, an ISP is alerted for inconsistent patterns. And when your email practices are constantly fluctuating, it could be flagged as spam.

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How to Check Email Domain for Spam?

Your emails could end up in the spam list for many reasons, like lower domain reputation, sending spam-like content, and lower ISP reputation. But it certainly doesn’t have to be due to purchasing email lists. 

At Campaign Refinery, we prohibit the use of purchased email lists and cold emailing under our Acceptable Use Policy. Also, with genuine email lists, we use an advanced email list-cleaning feature that increases deliverability rates. Our clients have successfully seen an upward 30% deliverability rate. 

How to Check Email Domain for Blacklists

To get there, we recommend you check your email domain for blacklists frequently. Here are a few ways to do it:

1. Use online tools: Smart marketers know that online tools like MXToolbox and SenderScore can do a much better job in less time. It results in less wasted energy and more accurate knowledge. 
2. Review spam complaints: To increase deliverability rates, it’s helpful to keep an organic email list, validate your domain, and employ a trustworthy IP address. 
   While many ESPs play along, we terminate accounts with a spam complaint rate of more than 0.1%. That’s how much we value the safety of your business and subscribers!
3. Check blacklists: People often ponder this question — can someone blacklist my email? The answer is a resounding yes. Once you tick off everything on the RBL’s checklist, you’re in (for at least a while). 
   Sometimes, shared IP addresses lead to blacklists too. That means your emails are in the virtual prison for no fault of yours. To steer clear of it, look up your domain on a blacklist tool. 
4. Set up feedback loops: Use a feedback loop with your ESP to have more control over the spam data. If you use Google, you can use Google Postmaster Tool to perform checks. Soon, users will be able to view the Google Postmaster Tools results directly at the Campaign Refinery dashboard.

The health of your domain is a primary focus for many ESPs, especially us. We take a proactive approach to ensure your domain is valid and trustworthy so you can focus on the quality of your campaigns.

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How to Increase the Health of Your Domain?

Several free tools offer domain checks. However, we recommend using the paid version or doing it manually. To do it yourself, follow the steps below:

1. Implement proper email authentication: As the first step, set up the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for your domain. This protects the domain from malicious attacks and identity theft. 
2. Manage bounce rates: Clean your email lists regularly and distinguish between hard bounces (permanent failure) and soft bounces (temporary issues).  
3. Use double-opt-in: Sometimes, users are in a hurry and must provide the necessary information. For this reason, use an extra layer of consent (email confirmation) to avail access to your content. 
4. Provide unsubscribe options: If you want more open rates and fewer spam complaints, let the subscribers go when they want to. Make it easy for them to unsubscribe by adding the unsubscribe button at the top and bottom of your emails. 
5. Use a dedicated IP address: If you send email campaigns, it’s best to use your own IP address for better control and deliverability. 

There are many ways email domain checker is used in marketing. Below, we’ve listed a few of the common use cases.

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Where is the Email Domain Checker Used?

Nearly 58% of people check emails first thing in the morning. That means your emails are more likely to be opened and read. But only when you follow email best practices, using an email domain checker. This tool is helpful for:

• Email marketing 
• Lead generation
• CRM (customer relationship management)
• Preventing fraud 

Talking about leads, we’re happy to share a piece of our knowledge with you! We want to gift you our Lead Magnet Short Course, a valuable source that will help you increase lead magnet clicks by up to 756%. The only caveat is that you finish the course — and it’s yours to keep!

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The Best Email Address List Checkers

Now that you’re aware of the applications for an email domain checker, let us help you choose the best tool for your business.

TOOLS	FEATURE	RESULTS
Hunter	Accurate and fast email checking.	Noticeably reduces bounce rates.
ZeroBounce	Real-time API integration, batch processing, and comprehensive reporting.	Increase in open rates with accurate email validation.
MailGun	Higher click rate through email verification.	Significant increase in unique click rate.
KickBox	Prevents fake account sign-ups.	Increases campaign engagement and sender reputation.
Campaign Refinery	Premium service – manual review of every domain accepted on the platform.	Immediately increases Stats by 4x,Open rates from 2x to 6x,Enhanced deliverability rate and guaranteed inbox placement,Increase in revenue. As reported by our clients.

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How Can Campaign Refinery Help?

We know that email marketing provides the highest ROI when done correctly. And it’s critical that your domain is active and verified. 

Whatever direction you choose for your email marketing, we hope the best practices we outlined will help you stay vigilant in your domain verification process. 

Happy and safe emailing!

Written by Divya Shakhti