If you're running email campaigns—or just want your emails to actually land in inboxes—deliverability isn't a "nice to have." It's the difference between a campaign that gets results and one that gets ignored. But figuring out what's actually going on with your emails can get complicated, fast.
This guide walks you through analyzing and reporting on email deliverability metrics using Verifycatchall. It's for marketers, sales teams, small business owners, and honestly, anyone tired of guessing whether their messages are reaching real people.
Let’s skip the fluff and get to what matters.
1. Get Your House in Order: What You Need Before You Start
Before you start poking around in Verifycatchall, take a minute to get your basics covered:
- Clean up your list: If you haven’t done a list clean in months (or ever), start there. Remove obvious junk, hard bounces, and anything that looks fishy.
- Understand what you’re measuring: Deliverability isn’t just “did it send?” It’s about inbox placement, bounces, spam traps, and engagement.
- Set a goal: Are you trying to get more emails into inboxes? Reduce bounces? Prove to your boss you’re not spamming people? Be clear.
Pro tip: If you’re reporting to someone who doesn’t care about every metric under the sun, focus on what matters: did the right people get your emails, and did they open them?
2. Upload and Validate Your List in Verifycatchall
Verifycatchall is a tool for checking which emails on your list are likely to actually deliver. (If you want the sales pitch, you can read the product page, but let’s focus on getting value out of it.)
Step-by-step:
-
Prepare your email list.
- Use a CSV or TXT file.
- Include just the email addresses. No need for extra columns unless you like headaches.
-
Upload your list.
- Log in to Verifycatchall.
- Go to the “Upload” section.
- Drag and drop your file, or use the manual entry if you’re testing just a few.
-
Run the verification.
- Start the process and wait. Time depends on your list size. No need to watch the progress bar like it’s Netflix—grab a coffee.
-
Download your results.
- When it’s done, download the results file. You’ll get a breakdown of each address: valid, invalid, catch-all, disposable, role-based, etc.
What’s worth your time?
- Valid: These are ready to go. Send away.
- Invalid: Drop them. Don’t try to “fix” typos unless you’re very sure.
- Catch-all: Here’s where things get tricky. Catch-all domains accept any email address, but that doesn’t mean it’ll reach a real person. More on this below.
- Disposable & Role-based: Usually junk. Remove unless you have a reason to keep them.
Ignore: Don’t obsess over the “unknown” category. Some servers just don’t play nice. If it’s a small percentage, move on.
3. Analyze Your Deliverability Metrics
The point of validation isn’t just to trim your list; it’s to improve your odds of landing in the inbox. Here’s how to make sense of what Verifycatchall tells you:
Core metrics to focus on:
- Bounce rate: High invalids mean high bounces. ISPs don’t like that. After cleaning, your bounce rate should drop below 2%. If it’s higher, something’s wrong.
- Catch-all percentage: If more than 20% of your list is catch-all, expect some bounces or “mystery” non-delivery. If you’re in B2B, this is normal, but track it.
- Disposable email rate: If you’ve got loads of disposables, your list-building method isn’t working. Fix that upstream.
- Role-based emails: These often go ignored or are managed by a team. They’re not always useless, but don’t expect high engagement.
How to analyze the download:
Open your results file in Excel or Google Sheets. Here’s what to do:
- Filter by status: Count how many are valid, invalid, catch-all, etc.
- Calculate percentages: What % of your list is actually sendable (valid + maybe catch-all)?
- Spot red flags: If you’re seeing 10%+ invalids, you need to rethink your list sources.
Pro tip: If your “valid” percentage is low, don’t blame the tool. Blame whoever sold you that list or the sign-up form that lets anyone enter “asdf@asdf.com.”
4. Make Sense of Catch-All Results
This trips up a lot of people. A “catch-all” domain accepts any email, valid or not. That means Verifycatchall (and frankly, any tool) can’t say for sure if “bob@company.com” exists—it just knows the domain will accept it.
What to do:
- Send cautiously: Use catch-all addresses, but keep them separate from your main list. Monitor bounce rates closely.
- Segment your list: Track engagement on catch-all addresses. If you get bounces or zero opens, suppress those contacts.
- Don’t overthink it: Every B2B list has catch-alls. They’re not poison, just a riskier bet.
What doesn’t work:
- Trying to “confirm” catch-all addresses by sending one-off emails and hoping for a reply. You’ll just annoy IT admins and maybe get blocked.
5. Reporting: Show What Matters, Skip the Noise
Nobody wants a 10-page deliverability report. Focus on the numbers that actually tell a story.
What to include:
- Summary stats: How many emails are valid, catch-all, disposable, etc.
- Trends: Are your invalids going up or down over time?
- Recommendations: E.g., “Remove 1,200 invalids before next campaign. Monitor engagement on catch-alls.”
- Action items: What’s next? Clean list, update forms, tweak acquisition, etc.
Sample report template:
Email List Verification Results – [Date]
- Total emails checked: 10,000
- Valid: 7,400 (74%)
- Catch-all: 1,500 (15%)
- Invalid: 900 (9%)
- Disposable: 200 (2%)
Bounce rate after cleaning: (should be <2%)
Action Steps: - Remove invalid and disposable emails immediately. - Monitor engagement on catch-all addresses. - Review lead sources to reduce junk sign-ups.
Pro tip: If you’re reporting up the chain, use charts. A simple pie chart of “Valid vs. Not Valid” gets the point across faster than a spreadsheet.
6. What Matters—and What’s Just Hype
What works:
- Regular list cleaning: The single best thing you can do for deliverability.
- Ongoing monitoring: Don’t wait six months between validations.
- Segmenting by risk: Keep catch-alls and role-based addresses in their own lanes.
What doesn’t:
- Blindly trusting validation tools: No tool is perfect. Use them as guides, not gospel.
- Chasing a 100% valid list: It’s not going to happen. Aim for “good enough” and keep improving.
- Getting distracted by vanity metrics: Open rates are skewed by privacy changes. Focus on deliverability first.
7. Keep It Simple—and Iterate
The best way to improve deliverability? Make list cleaning and reporting a habit, not a one-time event. Use Verifycatchall to give you a clear picture, take action on what you find, and don’t chase perfection.
Start small. See what works for your list. Adjust as you go. That’s it.