B2B email finders: found, guessed or proven

Q: What is a guessed email address?

It is an address built from a pattern, such as first.last@company.com, that has not been confirmed by the mail server.

A B2B email finder returns an email address for a named person at a company. The important question is not whether it returns an address, but how it came to be sure of it. There are three very different answers.

Three kinds of result

Only the last one is safe to send to without more care. A guess may be wrong, or may belong to someone else.

Found: the address appears in a source, such as the company website or a published page.
Guessed: the tool noticed a pattern at that company, such as first.last@, and applied it to this person.
Proven: the company's mail server confirmed that the mailbox exists.

How proving works

A mail server can often be asked whether a mailbox exists, without sending a message. If it says yes, the address is real. If it says no, the address should not be used. Some servers accept every address and decide later. These are called catch-all, and a check cannot tell whether a given mailbox exists there. Such an address is unproven rather than bad.

How to avoid bounces

Prefer proven addresses and send to them first.
Treat guessed and catch-all addresses as unproven. Send to a few at a time and watch the bounce rate.
Never send to an address you guessed and did not check.
Re-check addresses that are old, because people move on.
Stop and investigate if a send produces more bounces than you expected.

Name the right person first

An email finder starts from a name. If the name is wrong, the address will be perfectly real and still useless. Confirm the person's role at the company from a current source before you look for the address.

How Accumen does it

Accumen finds the decision-maker and then checks the address against the company's mail server. It labels the result as verified, inferred or not found, and only verified addresses are exported as verified. You pay for contacts that were checked, and you can try it with 25 verified contacts free, with no card.

Frequently asked questions

How does an email finder work?

It looks for the address in public sources or applies the address pattern a company uses to a person's name, and the better tools then check with the mail server that the mailbox exists.

How accurate are email finders?

It depends on whether the address was found, guessed or proven. Proven addresses are the most reliable, and no tool can prove every address, because catch-all servers accept everything.

What is a guessed email address?

It is an address built from a pattern, such as [email protected], that has not been confirmed by the mail server.

Can I trust an address labelled inferred?

Treat it as unproven. Check it before you send, or send in small batches while you watch for bounces.