If you send emails for a living—marketing, sales, newsletters, whatever—catch-all domains are probably messing with your deliverability. They look real, but often eat your emails or bounce them back later. This guide is for anyone who wants to actually reach people, not just pad their “total sent” numbers. I’ll walk you through catching and cleaning catch-all domains using Emaillistverify without the fluff.
Why Catch-All Domains Are a Headache
Let’s clear up what a catch-all domain is: It’s a domain set up to accept email sent to any address, even if that mailbox doesn’t exist. For example, if you email thisdoesnotexist@company.com and it doesn’t bounce, that’s a catch-all.
Sounds great, right? Not really:
- You can’t trust them. Just because your email didn’t bounce immediately doesn’t mean it ever gets read. Most catch-all addresses go to a black hole.
- They tank your sender reputation. ISPs hate seeing lots of undeliverable or ignored emails. It’s a red flag.
- They inflate your list. Looks like you have a bigger list, but it’s mostly ghosts.
So, if you want to avoid wasted sends and keep your emails out of the spam folder, you need to spot and remove catch-alls.
Step 1: Prep Your Email List
Before you even start with Emaillistverify, get your house in order.
- Export your list as a CSV or TXT file. Most email platforms (Mailchimp, HubSpot, etc.) make this easy.
- Remove obvious junk. If you see addresses like
test@domain.comorasdf@xyz.com, delete them now. - Separate your list by source if you can. If you have lists from different sources (website signups, conference leads, scraped data), keep them apart. Some sources are dirtier than others.
Pro tip: Smaller batches are easier to manage and spot issues in. Don’t dump 2 million addresses into a verifier and hope for the best.
Step 2: Upload to Emaillistverify
Now, upload your cleaned list to Emaillistverify.
- Sign up or log in. It’s a paid tool, but you can usually test with a few emails for free.
- Find the “Bulk Email Verifier.” This is where you upload your CSV or TXT.
- Start the verification. It’ll chew through your list and sort addresses into buckets: valid, invalid, disposable, catch-all, and so on.
What to ignore: Don’t bother with “syntax only” or other half-measures. You want the full verification run; otherwise, you’ll miss the catch-alls.
Step 3: Understand the Results—Don’t Just Download and Go
When Emaillistverify spits out the results, you’ll see a column for “catch-all” or sometimes “accept all.” Here’s what you’ll get:
- Valid: These should work, but still not a 100% guarantee of response.
- Invalid: Dead addresses. Remove these, no exceptions.
- Catch-All: Looks valid, but could be a black hole. This is what we’re focusing on.
- Disposable / Role-based (info@, support@): Remove or segment these too; they rarely convert.
Honest take: Some vendors will tell you to “just send to catch-alls and see what happens.” That’s a good way to end up on a blocklist. Treat catch-alls as risky—especially if you care about deliverability.
Step 4: Decide What To Do With Catch-Alls
There’s no single “right” answer—it depends on your risk tolerance and how much you care about list quality. Here’s what actually works:
- For high-stakes sends (product launches, cold outreach, etc.): Remove all catch-alls. It’s not worth the risk.
- For less critical sends (newsletters, soft re-engagement): You can keep catch-alls in a separate segment and monitor them closely, but don’t mix them with your main list.
- If you have a small list and every lead counts: Consider a double opt-in re-confirmation for catch-alls. If they open/click, keep them. If not, drop them.
What not to do: Don’t just “trust” catch-alls because they didn’t bounce. Most will never be seen by a human.
Step 5: Remove or Segment Catch-Alls
Here’s where you actually clean your list.
- Download your “catch-all” results separately. Emaillistverify lets you filter and export just these.
- Delete, archive, or move them to a separate segment. Whatever your ESP (Mailchimp, SendGrid, etc.), import just the “valid” addresses back into your main list.
- Keep a backup. If you ever want to try re-engagement, you have the catch-alls saved elsewhere. But don’t keep them in your active list.
Step 6: Monitor and Repeat
List hygiene isn’t a one-and-done deal.
- Set a schedule. Run your list through Emaillistverify or a similar tool every 3-6 months, or before any major campaign.
- Track bounce rates and spam complaints. If they spike, check if more catch-alls are slipping through.
- Don’t chase perfection. You’ll never have a 0% bounce rate, but every bit helps.
Pro tip: ISPs and spam filters get smarter every year. What worked last year might not work now. Keep your process nimble.
A Few Real-World Notes (What Works, What Doesn’t)
- Don’t obsess over single bounces. Even “valid” addresses go stale. Focus on patterns, not perfection.
- Don’t buy lists. Bought or scraped lists are loaded with catch-alls and traps. They’ll burn you.
- Don’t trust “free” verifiers for big lists. Most can’t reliably detect catch-alls, and some resell your data.
- If in doubt, segment. If you’re not sure about a chunk of addresses, keep them out of your main sends and watch engagement.
Keep It Simple, Keep It Clean
Catching and cleaning catch-all domains isn’t rocket science, but it’s easy to skip or overthink. Use a tool like Emaillistverify, trust the results, and err on the side of being ruthless with risky addresses. Your sender reputation will thank you. And if you’re not sure? Segment, test, and iterate. No list is perfect, but cleaner is always better.