Why email address validation at the top of the sales funnel is critical for your business

The sales funnel is a critical component of any b2c (and D2c) as it’s the first step in converting website visitors into customers. One important aspect of the sales funnel is email address validation which can help ensure that potential customers are able to successfully complete the signup process and become paying customers.

What is validation in this context?

When speaking about email addresses, email address validation means the following:

• ensuring the email is structured correctly (user@domain.tld)
• ensuring the mail server is alive and connected, and can receive mail.
• checking to see if the user really has an inbox at that domain

Without any of these, it’s very likely your email won’t get delivered.

But Why is this so important? There are several key reasons:

1. Ensures a positive user experience. Nothing is more frustrating for a user than entering their email address incorrectly, not getting their welcome email or order confirmation, and then being unable to complete the sign-up or purchase process
2. Increase conversion rates. Users who complete the sign-up process in a positive and seamless way are far more likely to become paying customers
3. Improving your CAC to LTV ratio. A straightforward and seamless onboarding signup results in a lower Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and increases your Lifetime Value (LTV). Both of these mean a far better LTV: CAC ratio, which is a crucial metric – just ask any product manager!
4. Reducing spam and fraud. Fake customers love to use fake email addresses! Don’t waste your time and resources on these.

According to a study by Return Path, up to 20% of all email addresses entered into online forms are not entered correctly. This means you could be missing out on 20% of potential leads at the top of your sales funnel!

Email address validation can also prevent other catastrophes that can be costly to fix later. What happens when your customer correctly signs up but with the wrong email address, and their goods get sent to someone else? Then you might be forced to send the goods twice, or worse, issue two refunds! You’ll also be likely forced to manually step in and fix the issue. If you’re a start-up growing, or an established organisation, can you really afford either of these?

Or what happens when your customers miss out on critical notifications, like a system outage or a billing issue?

You can see how this could be catastrophic for your bottom line and your NPS scores. So what can you do?

Here are a few tips:

1. Make sure your email validation rules are up to date. This means that poorly formed email addresses are rejected before the problem becomes an issue. E.g. user@startup@!.com
2. Check for typos. A common issue we see is popular domain names like Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook, etc spelled incorrectly even if the format is correct. E.g. bill@hotmail.con, larry@gmali.com, steve@icluod.com
3. Validate all email addresses using validation software! Thryv Data provides a simple and easy-to-use REST API that you can easily integrate into your customer signup form that will instantly check your email addresses before your customer has a chance to submit the form!