Trestle offers Email Deliverability for our Real Contact API. This check determines if there is an inbox associated with the provided email address and whether it can receive messages. This article will cover how the data is sourced, its costs, and the response.
API Documentation:
How do I use the Email Deliverability Add-on? #
To include the Email Deliverability Add-on in a Real Contact API query, you’ll need to add a parameter to your request and capture the attribute for the deliverability check in your response.
Add “add_ons=email_checks_deliverability” to your query. For example, a full Real Contact API query with the deliverability check add-on would look like this:
https://api.trestleiq.com/2.0/real_contact?name=firstnamelastname&phone=3333333333&email=email@sample.com&add_ons=email_checks_deliverabilityA sample response looks like this, with the highlighted area containing the email deliverability check part of the response.
{
"phone": {
"contact_grade": "A",
"is_valid": true,
"activity_score": 90,
"line_type": "Mobile",
"name_match": true
},
"email": {
"contact_grade": "A",
"is_valid": true,
"name_match": true
},
"address": {
"is_valid": true,
"name_match": false
},
"ip_address": {
"trust_score": 40,
"ip_distance_to_address": 43
},
"email_checks": {
"email_is_deliverable": true,
}
}
}How is the data sourced? #
Multiple things are checked in real time whenever the Email Deliverability Add-on is included in a query. This includes domain and MX record validation and pinging the email servers to determine if the inbox exists and if it can receive emails.
Does this check have additional costs? #
Yes, Email Deliverability is priced as an add-on to Real Contact API. Our list rate is +$0.005 per query, but discounts are available on our Enterprise plans.
What are the possible responses, and what do they mean? #
When the Email Deliverability Add-on is activated, the “email.is_deliverable” attribute in the response will indicate whether an email is deliverable.
- “True” indicates the email is deliverable and can receive mail.
- “False” indicates that the email is not deliverable, and messages will not be received.
- “Null” indicates that the request timed out, so Trestle did not receive a response from the inbox in time to indicate deliverability.
Recommended Rules #
If the check returns a true value, this is a good email to send emails to, as the likelihood of a bounceback is very low.
If the check returns a false value, we’ve validated that the inbox cannot receive mail. We recommend you filter any of these emails out of marketing campaigns to maintain your domain’s reputation. If you require a valid/working email address for your use case, you may want to reject this contact/signup entirely.
If the check returns a null value, Trestle could not determine the deliverability of an email inbox during this check in a reasonable amount of time. Without additional context around deliverability, you must decide how these are handled based on your use case.
- For example, if you use Trestle’s email deliverability check to run marketing campaigns, you may opt for certain types of emails depending on the campaign’s needs. Alternatively, if you need to ensure an email is valid and can receive mail for user signup, you may opt to add additional verification checks into your workflow.
Why isn’t this check included in the email validity attribute? #
Email Deliverability checks pose a unique challenge with our Real Contact API. This is because pinging an inbox’s server requires additional waiting time for a response. This can add up to three seconds to the response time, and it’s important that this API is available for real-time use cases, but not all of our customers need this type of feature.
Adding this feature for all Real Contact queries would dilute the flexibility of this service, so it’s being maintained as an add-on feature with an additional response attribute for the customers who need access.
Will this flag impact Email Contact Grades? #
Yes, Email Contact Grades are affected by Email Deliverability. If the Email Deliverability Add-on is enabled and the email is found to be undeliverable, the contact grade is downgraded to an F.