E-commerce: 5 DECISIVE advantages of real-time email verification

Did you know that welcome emails increase engagement rates on e-commerce sites by 500%, that abandoned cart reminder emails have a 29% click-through rate, and that 35% of sales are lost due to poor user experience(source)?

Undeniably, email remains the central piece of data in the marketing efforts of e-commerce sites... but it still has to be reliable, valid and usable. In this article, Data Enso explores real-time email verification and its importance for e-commerce websites.

What is real-time email verification?

Real-time e-mail verification, validation or authentication is an automated process which consists of validating the existence, accuracy and deliverability of an e-mail address before it is integrated into a contact database. This process, which takes just a few milliseconds, is generally part of a more global Data Quality Management policy to guarantee the quality of email lists, reduce bounces, preserve the sender's reputation, optimize the deliverability of email campaigns and facilitate account creation.

Real-time email verification has greatly evolved since the mid-2000s, and now incorporates several "layers" to ensure the reliability of results:

1. Syntax check: this first step consists of ensuring that the email address complies with RFC (Request for Comments) standards 5321 and 5322, by checking the presence of a username, the "@" sign and the domain name.
   
2. Domain verification: to ensure that the domain name in the e-mail address exists and is correctly configured with valid DNS (Domain Name System) records, e.g. MX (Mail Exchanger) records.
   
3. User account verification: this step aims to determine whether the user name actually exists on the domain's mail server. This verification is generally performed using SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) to establish a connection with the mail server and issue HELO, MAIL FROM and RCPT TO commands, without actually sending any e-mail.
   
4. Detection of temporary or disposable addresses: the aim here is to identify and filter temporary, disposable or single-use email addresses that do not allow you to contact your lead or customer.
   
5. Check for blacklisted addresses: this step checks whether the e-mail address or domain is listed in known spammers' databases, public blacklists or blocked mailing lists.
   
6. Quality and risk analysis: this final step assesses the quality and risk associated with each email address, taking into account the information gathered in the previous steps, and assigning a quality or deliverability score.

Real-time email verification: 5 decisive advantages for your e-commerce business

#1 Improving the e-commerce user experience (UX)

According to HubSpot, 88% of consumers "are less willing" to return to a website with an unsatisfactory user experience (UX), and 46.7% share their bad online shopping experience with their peers and other Internet users.

The link between UX quality and e-commerce site performance is obvious, and it's up to you to do everything you can to offer your customers an impeccable experience, especially when it comes to conversion.

As we mentioned here, the contact form is a necessary evil, and your potential customers may end their purchasing journey at the first sign of difficulty, especially in the email address field.

By checking e-mail addresses as they are entered, typing errors can be detected and notified to the user immediately, saving him or her the trouble of submitting incorrect data and having to fill in all the form fields again.

#2 Facilitate account creation and boost conversion rates

Real-time email validation facilitates account creation by limiting the number of validation steps, which has a direct impact on the conversion rate. This is particularly important for e-commerce websites that allow users to fill a shopping cart before creating an account, or to create an account simply by entering their email address. Here's how it works in practice:

1. Error reduction: by identifying and suggesting corrections for input errors in real time, customers are less likely to abandon the account creation process due to the frustration that can result from an error displayed after form submission.
   
2. Instant validation: real-time email verification enables instant account validation, so customers don't have to wait for a confirmation email. This speeds up the registration process and encourages customers to finalize their account. Please note: double opt-in is still required to prevent customers from using an existing e-mail address that does not belong to them.
   
3. Improved trust: instant verification of email addresses gives customers the assurance that they will receive the information they need throughout their order process (order validation, delivery information, promotions, etc.).
   
4. Reduced cart abandonment: when customers spend less time creating an account, they are more likely to complete their purchase, which translates into a higher conversion rate and sales volume for your e-commerce site.

#3 Prevents typing errors during double identification

Real-time email verification also helps prevent typing errors during double sign-on (also known as two-factor authentication or 2FA). 2FA is a security process that requires two methods of verifying a user's identity, most often using a combination of confidential information known to the user (password) and a code sent over a separate channel (email or SMS).

When a user enters his or her email address for the 2FA, real-time verification will immediately detect any typing errors and prompt the user to correct them. This avoids potential problems associated with sending security codes to incorrect email addresses. As a result, the dual identification process becomes smoother, with a significant improvement in user experience.

#4 Preserve the quality of your databases

By detecting and correcting typing errors and invalid email addresses before they are saved, real-time verification prevents the accumulation of bad data in your databases, with several benefits for your e-commerce site:

• Marketing campaign efficiency: "clean" email lists optimize the deliverability of your email campaigns and boost your ROI 

• Cost reduction: eliminating invalid email addresses reduces costs associated with hard bounces, data storage and management
  
• Sender reputation: sending emails to invalid or non-existent addresses can damage the sender's reputation and lead to deliverability problems.

#5 Optimizing marketing automation

Welcome emails, abandoned cart notifications, post-purchase follow-up emails and re-engagement campaigns rely on accurate data to reach the right recipients. By verifying email addresses at registration, e-commerce sites ensure that marketing automations are triggered and sent to the right people, with a direct impact on engagement, sales and loyalty.

EnsoEmail: powerful data capital for your e-commerce business

Boost customer acquisition on your e-commerce site and make your databases more reliable with EnsoEmail, a Data Enso solution with a 99% reliability rate. By integrating it with your online forms via API, you can activate all the advantages of real-time email validation to boost the performance of your e-commerce site. Find out more about the EnsoEmail solution and its various use cases here.