0

We're trying to reduce our email bounce rate and often we get people mashing their keyboards. Here's a few example "email addresses" on our suppression list:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa5@hotmail.com
aaaa_a@hotmail.com
991022865@gmail.com
725668844@gmail.com
82665@gmail.com
81c3988a@mailna.me

I wonder if it's possible to write some sort of php function to tell how likely the first part of an email is to be "mashed"?

Edit: We do send confirmation emails and run them through a 'validator'. Having a confirmed email is not necessary to use the site though and I'd rather not send them a confirmation email if it's super-likely to be mashed. Trying to reduce the bounce rate on confirmation emails, so we can reduce our costs of sending emails to those that are confirmed!

Amy Neville
  • 10,067
  • 13
  • 58
  • 94
  • it would be better to use an captcha , all those addresses look like automated scripts submitting the form. – Gntem Apr 18 '17 at 09:43
  • What do you mean ?? I am unable to get, Do you want to make sure email id exist before sending mail so you can prevent mail bouncing – M A SIDDIQUI Apr 18 '17 at 09:44
  • @Mr.Phoenix as far as I know there is no way to check that? All we can do is filter them for suspect addresses. – Amy Neville Apr 18 '17 at 09:48
  • @Mr.Phoenix possibly, but we also get normal users just mashing the keyboard often. Captcha has its own disadvantages. – Amy Neville Apr 18 '17 at 09:49
  • you could work with client side code to prevent users from typing too fast inside an input , as for checking if an email exists http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14448649/check-if-email-exist-php – Gntem Apr 18 '17 at 09:51
  • Honestly, I think the best thing to do would be to just verify a users email address by sending a verification email. The last thing you want to do is prevent a valid user who just so happens to have a "suspect" email address from registering. – RobFos Apr 18 '17 at 09:53
  • @Rawb92 we do send confirmation emails. But we want to reduce the bounce rate of confirmation emails :) – Amy Neville Apr 18 '17 at 09:54
  • @AmyNeville To validate if an email ID exists or not you can use Email validator Library, https://merajsiddiqui.github.io/email-validator/ – M A SIDDIQUI Apr 18 '17 at 09:54
  • might be [this](https://www.phpclasses.org/package/6650-PHP-Check-if-an-e-mail-is-valid-using-SMTP.html]) can help you. – TIGER Apr 18 '17 at 09:56
  • @MASIDDIQUI we do run through a validator but I believe some still leak through, particularly when they have valid domains like the examples above. Confirming emails isn't essential to using our site so I'd rather not send them an email at all if it's very likely mashed. – Amy Neville Apr 18 '17 at 09:59
  • 1
    Ok You can never have 100% ideal machine there are people who can always mess with your system all you need to do is take major steps to reduce. And email validating through SMTP is best as far as i know. – M A SIDDIQUI Apr 18 '17 at 10:02
  • @MASIDDIQUI yes always :) – Amy Neville Apr 18 '17 at 10:04
  • I suppose one way to potentially reduce "mashed" emails is to try and prevent it in the front end. have 2 sections of the form the user fills out. Part 1: Is exactly how your form is now. The user then click continue, all the current fields are hidden and part two shows Part 2: Asks them to confirm their email address again. Due to the fact they are unable to see what they already typed, if it is a genuine email address they will be able to pass this. if it is a fake "mashed" email they are going to have to start again and fill in a new form. This will deter some people but not all – RobFos Apr 18 '17 at 10:08

2 Answers2

3

Rather than trying to fight against your users, ask yourself why users are mashing their keyboard rather than providing a real e-mail address. Are you making the e-mail address mandatory, even though the user gets no value from giving it to you? Do people think they're getting no value, because you haven't explained why you need it? Is it already optional, but it's not clear to the user that they can skip that field on the form?

Bear in mind that the users who are mashing the keyboard probably also have a negative impression of your site: "Why am I being asked for an e-mail address? Are they going to spam me? I'll just fill in junk!"

You say "having a confirmed email is not necessary to use the site", so maybe you just have a UX problem here: users think they must enter an e-mail address in order to proceed, so enter junk. Either your validation is wrong (marking the field mandatory when it should be optional) or your labelling is poor (not making clear which fields are mandatory and which are optional).

IMSoP
  • 89,526
  • 13
  • 117
  • 169
  • 1
    This is **the right question to ask**. More often than not, users ending up providing false email address is because they do not see the need of providing a real one (or that they have genuine concerns that you are going to misuse their email). – Terry Apr 18 '17 at 11:22
0

This sounds like a case for using a service such as this one if hard bounces are becoming a cost issue. Obviously you need to weigh up the costs to you to find out if it is worth it.

Benjamin
  • 1,221
  • 11
  • 28