HOW DISPOSABLE TEMPORARY EMAILS CAN RUIN A SENDER’S REPUTATION?
No one can survive online without an email address these days. If you want to sign up for a service like Facebook or Amazon, you’re going to need one. Unfortunately, when you hand out your email address such as through an opt-in form online, you become vulnerable to spam. Of course, you could always create a different email address for your online interactions. But that doesn’t prevent you from getting spam. You just get it in your second email account instead. So, what can you do? Well, these days, there’s one solution being touted about – disposable email addresses.
What is the disposable email?
Disposable email addresses are similar to disposable phones or what we all know from the movies as burner phones. These are the email addresses that are usually only used for a limited amount of time. You can use several of them, using one alias for a specific service or mailing list. Now, disposable email addresses forward emails to your primary email address. This means you get to see which email addresses have become vulnerable to spam, enabling you to be more proactive against spam. You can just delete or disable the guilty email address.
Why use disposable email addresses?
Let’s see 4 main points why you need to use disposable email addresses:
Stop spamming
We’ve already mentioned that disposable email addresses have become a solution proposed to consumers who have become frustrated with spam. Because you use an alias for each sign-up form you fill in, you’re able to easily track which email addresses have started to receive unsolicited email. Then, you can delete it and stop receiving spam. All while protecting your primary email from spammers.
For example, let’s say you want to get a loyalty card from your favorite store but they want you to give them your email address. However, you’d rather not get any notifications regarding new products or promos they may be running. You can use a disposable email address to avoid getting spam.
Personal security
Disposable email addresses provide you with an additional layer of security. We all know that company databases get hacked all the time. Should this happen to one of the services you signed up for, you’re in danger of becoming a victim of identity theft and fraud attacks. With a disposable email address, you reduce your exposure to data breaches and protect you from cybercrime.
Software development
Disposable email addresses were originally used by developers as a tool for testing web apps, software processes, and the like. Software developers still use them for this purpose today. In fact, you can actually find a disposable email domains list in GitHubused by these professionals.
Online anonymity
Let’s say you wanted to send an anonymous tip to the police or the media. You can’t use your primary email for that. If you want to protect your identity online for whatever purpose, you can use a disposable email address instead. With one, you get to be anonymous AND you stay that way.
How can disposable email addresses affect your email marketing campaigns?
Obviously, disposable email addresses seem like a good thing for consumers. However, what does this mean for your email marketing campaign? What happens when your mailing list contains addresses that have a disposable email domain? Well, let’s first be clear. In the world of email marketing, disposable email addresses are risky emails that you should avoid including on your list. There are several negative effects when you send campaigns to risky emails:
Poor email marketing results
Sending campaigns to risky emails such as a disposable email address can increase your bounce rate. Remember, this type of email address is temporary; it can become inactive anytime. Not only will that affect your email deliverability, but it can also make it difficult for you to accurately evaluate the results of your campaign.
Account suspension
When you send campaigns to risky email addresses, you can negatively affect your sender reputation. If your emails get too many bounces, unsubscribes, and spam complaints, the likelihood of your future campaigns landing in the inbox becomes smaller and smaller. Worse, your account may be suspended by your email provider according to the standards set by ISPs, email protection services, spam laws, and anti-spam organizations.
Wasting time and money
Crafting an email campaign isn’t easy. It takes a lot of time and money. Sending it to a disposable email address that won’t produce any results is a waste of all that effort. Moreover, email marketing services base their pricing plans on the total number of subscribers on your list. A bloated list filled with risky email addresses will cost you with nothing to show for in return.
Why they should be removed from the list?
Keeping a clean email list is the key to successful email marketing. You won’t be wasting time and money marketing your product and/or service to people who are uninterested. You also won’t be risking your sender reputation for something that won’t provide you with any value. A clean list can help improve your email deliverability, increase open and click rates, protect your sender reputation, lower your bounce rate, and provide you with more accurate statistics.
That’s not all. You need to ask yourself, how can you build a relationship with a customer who is anonymous? How can you engage with them if you can’t even reach their inbox? Disposable emails and fraudsters have been linked before. It’s not difficult to see why. They can use a temporary, disposable email to hide a phishing scam or implant malware into your computer.
Another consideration that you should think about is that these emails are temporary. Temporary means that any transactions that occur through that email address will not be stored such as receipts or proof of purchase. Moreover, the content in temporary email addresses are usually not private; they can be viewed by other users.
How email validation handles with disposable email addresses?
As we’ve already mentioned, a clean email list is necessary if you want your email marketing campaign to be successful. This means that you need to eliminate any risky email addresses in your list, including disposable email addresses. A smart email validation tool can help you maintain a clean list.
The process of email validation involves three main steps. The first one is checking email syntax and formatting. The tool looks at all the email addresses on your list and makes sure that they are formatted according to the standardized requirements used by email providers. Then, the addresses undergo domain confirmation which checks whether the domain name is valid or not. The third step is mailbox verification where the tool uses SMTP protocol to ping the inbox in order to verify that it can receive an email.
Aside from these three main steps, an email validation tool also has extra features such as the Disposable Email Address Detection. The software utilizes an up-to-date disposable email domain list that it uses to identify any that might belong to your list and flags or deletes them.
Some email validation tools can be used in real-time, while the consumer is filling out a sign-up form. It can detect a disposable email address and prevent the form from being submitted, thereby keeping your list clean.
The disposable email domains list
If you want to be able to identify disposable email addresses by sight, below is a disposable email domain list that you can use. Take note that this list is by no means definitive. These are just some examples that you might want to be aware of. The best way to avoid disposable email addresses on your list is to use an email validation tool.
anonmails.de
anonymbox.com
antichef.com
antichef.net
antireg.ru
antispam.de
antispammail.de
armyspy.com
artman-conception.com
azmeil.tk
baxomale.ht.cx
beefmilk.com
bigstring.com
binkmail.com
bio-muesli.net
bobmail.info
bodhi.lawlita.com
bofthew.com
bootybay.de
boun.cr
bouncr.com
breakthru.com
brefmail.com
bsnow.net
bspamfree.org
dontreg.com
dontsendmespam.de
drdrb.net
dump-email.info
gotmail.org
gotti.otherinbox.com
great-host.in
greensloth.com
grr.la
gsrv.co.uk
guerrillamail.info
guerrillamail.net
guerrillamail.org
guerrillamailblock.com
gustr.com
inboxalias.com
inboxclean.com
inboxclean.org
infocom.zp.ua
kurzepost.de
lawlita.com
letthemeatspam.com
lhsdv.com
lifebyfood.com
link2mail.net
litedrop.com
lol.ovpn.to
lolfreak.net
lookugly.com
lortemail.dk
lr78.com
mail.zp.ua
mail1a.de
mail21.cc
mail2rss.org
mail333.com
mailbidon.com
mailbiz.biz
mailblocks.com
mailbucket.org
mailcat.biz
mailcatch.com
mailde.de
mailde.info
mailinator.net
mailinator.org
mailsiphon.com
mailtemp.info
mailtome.de
mailtothis.com
mailtrash.net
mailtv.net
mailtv.tv
politikerclub.de
poofy.org
pookmail.com
privacy.net
privatdemail.net
proxymail.eu
spamcannon.net
spamcon.org
trash-mail.com
xoxy.net
yep.it
zomg.info
To conclude
There’s no doubt that consumers can benefit from using disposable email addresses. It provides them anonymity, stops spam emails from flooding their inbox, and helps prevent fraud attacks and other cybercrimes. However, from an email marketing perspective, they’re bad for business. You can’t afford to leave them on your list. Your sender reputation won’t be able to handle it.
