Relevant to: Demand Acceleration Platform | Content Syndication | Event Lead Management | Social Integrations | Webinar Integrations
Within the Fields tab, certain field types (Email, Phone, and Address Block) have additional levels of validation that may be added. When applied, lead processing will occur and the data within these fields will be sent to our validation provider to be evaluated.
In this article:
Additional Validations
Validation does not guarantee that the email address, phone number, or address in question belongs to the lead it is associated with - it verifies that the contact detail itself is real and functional. |
Email Validation
Validation can be applied to an Email field type by checking the box for Email Format & Mail-Server Lookup under the Validations section of the field settings sidebar. See Fields tab for complete instructions.
The email validation service provider checks the following information about each email and determines a deliverability score. During this validation, no email is sent to or from the email address in question.
- Syntax check - Confirms valid email format contains an '@' symbol, a recognizable domain and doesn't contain characters that are not acceptable in email addresses.
- Domain Name System (DNS) check - Verifies the domain exists and has a valid mail exchange (MX) record in order to relay mail.
- Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) check - Confirms ability to communicate with the email server, if it will accept mail from any address and if it will accept email from a specific address.
- Mail servers linked to spam and email-mining tools may respond in defensive ways (eg. responding very slowly, providing unhelpful or missing data).
- As such, our validation service provider was designed with this in mind.
After collecting all relevant information, the email is assigned a deliverability score that determines whether the email in question is considered valid or invalid.
An invalid email result will cause the lead to be rejected within the Demand Acceleration Platform and display the Disposition Code REJECT_LEAD_INVALID_EMAIL. See Conversions for more details on Disposition Codes.
General email validation information |
Bounced emailsMany corporate IT departments have defensive mechanisms in place for their email servers because there is an increased risk that opening spam email may cause network wide issues. As such, there are scenarios where email validation providers might consider an email valid but when an actual email is sent from your Marketing Automation or CRM system it might bounce or be rejected. Reasons for bounced emails may include:
Catch-all domainsA catch-all domain may be used by corporate IT departments so that emails using their domain are not rejected, even if an exact email address doesn’t exist within the organization. Catch-all domains are deliverable and validated though they are more likely to return a soft bounce (an alert of the status of the email address) by marketing automations. For example: If we have a catch-all that is defined as catchall@integrate.com and an email meant for firstname@integrate.com is accidentally sent to fullname@integrate.com, the email would be delivered to the catch-all mailbox of catchall@integrate.com.
Additional reading about catchall domains: |
If you encounter a rejected email or return error, speak with your Integrate Customer Success Manager. In the event the catchall domains need to be removed from your target account list, your support contact for your Marketing Automation or Email Service Provider should be able to provide further assistance. |
Phone Validation
Validation can be applied to a Phone field type by selecting the radio button option for United States or International under the Validations section of the field settings sidebar. See Fields tab for complete instructions.
The phone validation service provider checks the following information about each phone number, depending on the option selected.
United States - includes both the United States and Canada.
- Checks for a complete phone number and valid phone format.
- Most typical phone formats are acceptable (eg. 555-123-4567 or 5551234567).
- A country code is not required, just an area code.
- Identifies the phone carrier that owns the number and confirms it is valid and active.
International - works for all countries, including the United States and Canada.
- Checks for a complete phone number and valid phone format.
- Most typical phone formats will work (eg. +44 1234 567890 or +32 012-34-56-789)
- A country code is required.
- Identifies the corresponding Country field value, confirms the phone number uses a valid number sequence within the associated region and checks the number is valid and active.
- Requires the use of our Standard Country field or Address Block.
- Most country value formats are acceptable (eg. full country names or ISO Alpha-2 or Alpha-3 character country codes).
After completing all checks for the selected option, the phone number in question will be considered valid or invalid. Valid phone numbers will be passed through the Demand Acceleration Platform in the same format they were received.
An invalid phone result will cause the lead to be rejected within the Demand Acceleration Platform and display the Disposition Code REJECT_LEAD_INVALID_PHONE. See Conversions for more details on Disposition Codes.
Address Validation
Validation can be applied to an Address Block field grouping by checking the box Enable Address Validation under the Validations section of the field settings sidebar. See Fields tab for complete instructions.
The address validation service provider checks the following information about each address to determine if it is a real mailable address. It is recommended to apply this validation if you intend to send mail to leads received.
- Confirms valid address format is used including a Country field value.
- Standard Country field must be set as required to ensure a value is present.
- Most country value formats are acceptable (eg. full country names or ISO Alpha-2 or Alpha-3 character country codes).
- Checks the USPS database (United States) or the local postal service database equivalent within the associated region (if available) to confirm a valid address within that region.
- Address data can be uploaded in English or the localized language.
- Validation results are proportional to the match between the address data uploaded and the address record within the local database (which varies). To receive the most accurate results, we recommend setting these fields within the Address Block to required: Street 1, City, State, Zip.
An invalid address result will cause the lead to be rejected within the Demand Acceleration Platform and display the Disposition Code REJECT_LEAD_INVALID_ADDRESS. See Conversions for more details on Disposition Codes.
Recommended Reading