Email Validation and Verification
Stop non-conforming and undeliverable email addresses at the source.
Start with Standard validation, a syntax check that also confirms the domain and its mail records, then add Enhanced verification to confirm the mailbox and whether it is safe to send, cutting your bounce rate and protecting your sender reputation.
What is email validation and verification?
Email validation checks that an email address is correctly formatted and that its domain is real and set up to receive mail. Email verification goes further, confirming the mailbox itself exists and is safe to send to, without sending a message.
IQ Office from Intech Solutions offers both. Standard validation is a syntax check of the address plus a top-level domain, DNS and MX check, available by API and on-premises. Enhanced verification, available through the IQ Office API, checks the mail server and deliverability risk.
Email validation vs email verification
- How Intech uses the terms
- Across the industry the two words are often used interchangeably. At Intech, validation means checking the address is correctly formed and its domain can receive mail. Verification means confirming the mailbox itself.
- Standard validation: Syntax check (Levels 1 and 2)
- Email validation: is the address structurally possible, and can its domain receive mail?
- Enhanced verification: Deliverability (Levels 3 and 4)
- Email verification: does the mailbox exist, and is it safe to send?
Standard validation and Enhanced verification. Use one, or both.
Standard validation, the syntax check, tells you an email address is correctly formed and its domain can receive mail. Enhanced verification tells you whether the mailbox exists and is safe to send to. IQ Office offers them separately, so you can match the depth of checking to the job.
Standard validation
Syntax check
Checks the structure of the email address, returns it in a clean, consistent form, and confirms the domain is real and set up to receive email.
Features
- Email format and characters
- One @, valid local part and domain, permitted characters and no stray spaces or dots.
- Domain format
- Labels and dots shaped the way a real domain must be.
- Length limits
- Local part and full address lengths checked against internet mail standards.
- Unicode and IDN rules
- Internationalised domain names handled correctly rather than rejected.
- Normalisation
- Whitespace trimmed and the domain lower-cased so the same address is always stored the same way.
- Top-level domain check
- The domain ending (such as .com.au or .org) checked against the official list of valid top-level domains.
- DNS and MX record check
- Confirms the domain exists and has mail routing (MX) records.
Benefits
- Catches email typos and invented domains the moment they are entered
- Available on-premises as well as by API
- Consistent formatting improves matching and de-duplication
- Lowest cost per check, suited to every form field
Available: IQ Office API, hosted web service and on-premises.
Enhanced verification
Deliverability
Goes beyond the domain to verify the mailbox itself, then assesses how safe it is to send.
Features
- SMTP mailbox verification
- SMTP interaction or mailbox-provider integration to test whether the mailbox exists and accepts mail.
- Disposable email detection
- Flags temporary, throwaway addresses used to dodge follow-up.
- Role-based email detection
- Identifies shared inboxes such as info@ or admin@ that are not tied to a person.
- Safe-to-send intelligence
- Combines mailbox results with spam-trap, toxic-address and prior-activity data into one deliverability assessment.
Benefits
- Lower bounce rate and fewer hard bounces
- Protects your sender reputation and inbox placement
- Cuts send costs on addresses that can never respond
- Keeps fake and throwaway sign-ups out of your CRM
Available: IQ Office API and hosted web service.
Four levels of email validation and verification
Each level answers a harder question than the one before. Levels 1 and 2 make up Standard validation, the syntax and domain check. Levels 3 and 4 make up Enhanced verification, which assesses deliverability.
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Standard: Syntax check
Level 1: Syntax and normalisation
Method
Structure, characters, @, domain format, length, Unicode and IDN rules.
What it provesThe address is structurally possible. -
Standard: Syntax check
Level 2: Domain (top level) and DNS
Method
Top-level domain checked against the official list, then DNS lookup and MX (email routing) check.
What it provesThe domain ending is valid, and the domain exists and appears able to receive email. -
Enhanced verification
Level 3: Mailbox and server
Method
SMTP interaction or mailbox-provider API integration.
What it provesWhether the actual mailbox exists and accepts mail. -
Enhanced verification
Level 4: Deliverability and safe-to-send
Method
SMTP plus history, disposable lists, role accounts, spam-trap and toxic data, and prior activity.
What it provesThe probability of successful, safe delivery.
Email validation and verification by API or on-premises
Email validation and verification run alongside address validation, geocoding and data cleansing in the IQ Office suite. Choose how you run it.
API and hosted web service
Call IQ Office from your website, app, CRM or back-end over a secure web service operated by Intech. Because Enhanced verification needs live mail-server lookups and reference data that Intech maintains, it runs here.
On-premises
Install IQ Office inside your own environment. Standard validation runs inside your own environment, so customer records stay on your network.
Email validation and verification use cases
Real-time validation in forms
Run Standard validation as each address is submitted in sign-up and checkout forms, then Enhanced verification before the account is created so the confirmation email lands.
Email list cleaning before a campaign
Run Enhanced verification on a list through the API ahead of a send to remove bounces, disposable addresses and spam traps that damage your sender score.
CRM data cleansing and migration
Normalise and validate records before merging systems, so duplicates match and dead addresses are retired.
Email validation and verification API Guide for developers
Add real-time email validation and verification to websites, apps, CRMs and back-end systems with the IQ Office API. The API Guide takes developers from first call to production.
- Getting startedA step-by-step path from access key to your first validated email address.
- Validation grammars and data formatsThe rules IQ Office applies to email addresses, and every field in the response.
- Built-in test harnessTry requests in the browser and check results before anything reaches production.
- Error handling guidanceWhat each response and error means, and how your code should handle it.
Try the email validation demo
Check an email address yourself in the live demo. Each demo opens in a new window.
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Try It NowEmail validation and verification FAQs
What is the difference between email validation and email verification?
The terms are often used interchangeably across the industry. At Intech, validation means checking the format and domain, and verification means checking the mailbox itself. In IQ Office, Standard validation is the syntax check covering format, top-level domain and DNS/MX records, and Enhanced verification covers mailbox and safe-to-send checks for deliverability.
How can I check if an email address is valid without sending an email?
IQ Office Standard validation checks the syntax, the top-level domain and the domain's DNS and MX records. Enhanced verification then queries the mail server or mailbox provider to see whether the mailbox exists. No message is sent to the address.
Can I buy Standard validation (syntax checking) on its own?
Yes. Standard validation and Enhanced verification are offered separately. Many organisations run Standard validation on every form field and Enhanced verification only where deliverability matters, such as account creation or before a campaign.
Can you detect disposable and role-based email addresses?
Yes. Enhanced verification (Level 4) flags temporary or throwaway addresses and shared role accounts such as info@ or admin@, alongside spam-trap and toxic-address screening.
Why is Enhanced verification not available on-premises?
Enhanced verification depends on live mail-server lookups and on reference data that Intech maintains, such as disposable-domain and spam-trap lists. Those run in the IQ Office hosted service. Standard validation needs none of this, so it runs inside your environment.
Can the on-premises version of Standard validation check that a mail server exists to receive mail?
Yes. On-premises installations of Standard validation have an optional configuration that goes beyond the DNS and MX check to confirm that a mail server exists and can receive email for the domain.
Does email verification guarantee an email will be delivered?
No passive check can guarantee delivery. Some mail servers accept every address during a check and decide later (catch-all domains), and mailboxes can be closed at any time. Enhanced verification (Levels 3 and 4) gives the strongest indication available without sending a message.
How do I add email validation to my website or CRM?
Through the IQ Office API. The API Guide includes getting-started steps, data formats, a browser-based test harness and error handling guidance.
Who provides IQ Office email validation?
IQ Office is built and supported by Intech Solutions, an Australian-owned data quality company founded in Sydney in 1996. Intech serves federal, state and local government and enterprise organisations across Australia and New Zealand, alongside its address validation, geocoding and single customer view services.
Ready to clean up your email data?
Talk to our data specialists about Standard validation, Enhanced verification or both.