The email & data verification glossary
Plain-English definitions for everything in email verification, phone validation, deliverability and contact data. Pick a term to learn what it means and what to do about it.
The process of checking whether an email address is real and able to receive mail, without sending one.
A domain configured to accept mail for every address, so a verifier can't confirm a specific mailbox exists.
A temporary, throwaway address from a service designed to self-destruct after short-term use.
A hard bounce is a permanent delivery failure; a soft bounce is a temporary one.
A trust score mailbox providers assign to your sending domain and IP that decides inbox vs spam.
An email address used by providers and blocklists to catch senders with poor list hygiene.
An address tied to a function rather than a person, like info@ or sales@.
A DNS record that tells other servers where to deliver email for a domain.
Sender Policy Framework — a DNS record listing which servers may send email for your domain.
DomainKeys Identified Mail — a cryptographic signature that proves an email wasn't altered in transit.
A policy that tells receivers what to do with mail failing SPF and DKIM, plus where to send reports.
Whether your email actually reaches the inbox rather than the spam folder or a bounce.
Checking whether a phone number is correctly formatted, active and what line type it is.
A query against the carrier's Home Location Register to check a mobile number's live status.
Whether a phone number is a mobile, a landline or a VoIP number — which changes how you should reach it.
Adding missing context — like company, industry or location — to a contact record.
Company-level attributes — industry, size, revenue, location — used to segment and score B2B leads.
Resolving a company's name to its primary web domain, a building block of B2B enrichment.
The share of sent emails that couldn't be delivered — a key deliverability signal.
The ongoing practice of keeping a contact list clean, current and deliverable.
A programmatic endpoint that verifies an address in real time, usually at the point of capture.
Real-time verification on a signup or lead form that blocks fake, invalid or risky submissions.
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