Why are deliverable typos more dangerous than undeliverable ones?

A typo that results in a deliverable email address (e.g., johndoe@gmali.com instead of johndoe@gmail.com ) is more dangerous than an undeliverable one because it means your email, potentially containing sensitive information, is being sent to an unintended recipient, leading to a PII leak.

How can I identify sources of email typos in my signups?

Monitor bounce rates to identify problematic domains. Also, analyze your traffic sources for signups; a high volume of typos from a specific source might indicate fraud or low-quality leads that need to be addressed.

Is it important to use alternative communication channels if an email fails?

Yes, especially in Fintech. Transactional emails often contain critical information like invoices, payment reminders, or security alerts. Missing these can lead to financial consequences for users and compliance issues for your business. Alternative communication channels ensure critical information is always received.

Should I correct typos in existing email addresses in my CRM and what are the best practices for handling email typos in Fintech signups? - Compliance - Email deliverability - Knowledge base

Q: Should I correct typos in existing email addresses in my CRM?

Generally, no. Correcting email typos in your CRM without explicit consent for the new address can lead to privacy violations, spam complaints, and even data leaks, especially with sensitive financial information. It's best to respect the initial consent, even if it was for a mistyped address.

Q: What are the best practices for handling email typos in Fintech signups?

Implement real-time email validation on signup forms to catch syntax errors and suggest common domain corrections. Require users to enter their email twice for confirmation. For critical communications, establish a waterfall method using SMS or push notifications as fallbacks.

Dealing with email typos is a common challenge for any business, but it takes on a critical dimension in the Fintech sector. When a user accidentally types "gmai.com" instead of "gmail.com" during signup, or any other variation, it creates a dilemma. Should we proactively correct these errors in our customer relationship management (CRM) systems, or does that pose risks?

My experience tells me that while the intention behind correcting typos is often good—ensuring deliverability for important transactional emails—the implications for privacy, compliance, and sender reputation can be significant. Fintech, in particular, operates under strict regulatory scrutiny, making careful handling of personal data paramount.

The core issue isn't just about whether an email reaches its destination, but whether that destination is truly the intended recipient and if you have valid consent to send to them. This guide explores the best practices for managing email typos, especially within the sensitive environment of Fintech signups and ongoing customer communication.

Why correcting existing email addresses is risky

Correcting existing email addresses in your CRM without explicit user consent is generally not recommended. When a user signs up with a typo, the consent you received is for that specific, albeit incorrect, email address. Attempting to "fix" it by guessing the correct address means you'd be sending emails to an address for which you lack explicit permission. This can lead to serious privacy concerns and potentially violate data protection regulations like GDPR or CAN-SPAM, exposing your business to legal risks.

Beyond compliance, there's the practical risk to your email deliverability. Some users might intentionally provide incorrect email addresses to avoid marketing communications. If you attempt to correct these, you risk sending to unsuspecting individuals who never opted in, potentially triggering spam complaints or hitting spam traps. Spam traps are a significant threat to your sender reputation, leading to email blocklisting (or blacklisting) and impacting your overall inbox placement.

For Fintech companies, the stakes are even higher. Sending financial information or personal identifiable information (PII) to an email address with a typo, especially one that happens to be a valid address belonging to someone else, constitutes a data leak. This isn't just a deliverability issue, it's a critical security and customer protection problem that can result in significant financial liability and reputational damage. Knowing when to automatically correct email address typos is vital.

The risks of manual correction

Lack of consent: You never obtained permission to email the corrected address, leading to privacy violations.
Spam complaints: Recipients who didn't opt-in are more likely to mark your emails as spam, damaging your sender reputation.
Data leaks: Especially for Fintech, sending sensitive data to unintended recipients is a severe security breach.

Instead of fixing past mistakes, the focus should be on preventing email typos at the point of signup. Implementing a double opt-in process is a general best practice for consent, ensuring that only engaged users are added to your list. However, even double opt-in doesn't fully mitigate the risk of PII leakage if a typo leads to another valid inbox.

The most effective way to prevent typos is by integrating real-time email validation directly into your signup forms. This can catch common errors such as syntax mistakes (e.g., missing @ symbol), disposable email addresses, or non-existent domains immediately. Such a tool can also suggest corrections for common domain typos, like

gmai.com or

hotmil.com. This proactive approach helps prevent email address typos before they enter your CRM.

Another effective user experience improvement is to require users to enter their email address twice in separate fields, confirming they match. While this adds a tiny bit of friction, it significantly reduces accidental typos. For critical Fintech signups, consider an additional layer of security, such as a filter that alerts users if they enter a domain not commonly found in your database or known for typos, prompting them to double-check their entry. These are crucial elements of email address validation workflows.

Reactive correction

Consent: Relies on implicit assumptions, potentially violating privacy laws.
Deliverability: Risks hitting spam traps or unknown users, leading to blocklists.
Security: High risk of PII leakage if typo addresses are valid for unintended recipients.
User experience: Surprising emails can lead to frustration and distrust.

Proactive prevention

Consent: Ensures accurate consent from the start, reducing compliance issues.
Deliverability: Minimizes invalid addresses and spam traps, improving inbox placement.
Security: Reduces the risk of PII leakage by ensuring correct address capture.
User experience: Immediate feedback helps users self-correct, fostering trust.

Handling transactional email issues in Fintech

In Fintech, transactional emails are often critical, encompassing invoices, payment reminders, security alerts, and account notifications. If a user's email address contains a typo, they could miss essential communications, leading to missed payments, account access issues, or even security vulnerabilities for the user. This directly impacts both the user's financial well-being and the company's operational efficiency and compliance.

When an email fails to deliver, especially due to a typo, consider a multi-channel fallback strategy. You might reach out to the user via alternative contact methods they've provided, such as SMS or push notifications, to prompt them to update their email address. This approach respects their initial consent while ensuring they receive crucial financial communications. Mailgun provides a guide on how to send correction emails, which can be adapted for transactional contexts.

For US state regulatory compliance, particularly in Fintech, a "waterfall method" for critical communications is often required. This means if an email fails, you escalate to SMS or another digital channel. If that also fails, the final fallback is often physical mail. Building such a robust process from the ground up is essential for ensuring that critical information reaches your users, regardless of initial email accuracy. This highlights why it is important to understand strategies for email list validation.

Example of client-side email validation logicjavascript

function validateEmail(email) {
  // Basic syntax check using a regular expression
  const syntaxValid = /^[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}$/.test(email);
  if (!syntaxValid) return { isValid: false, reason: "Invalid syntax" };

  // Domain check (simplified for example, would involve MX record lookup)
  const domain = email.split('@')[1];
  const commonTypos = {
    "gmaii.com": "gmail.com",
    "hotmil.com": "hotmail.com",
    "yaho.com": "yahoo.com"
  };

  if (commonTypos[domain]) {
    return { isValid: false, reason: `Did you mean ${commonTypos[domain]}?` };
  }
  
  return { isValid: true, reason: "Email seems valid" };
}

Email type	Impact of typo	Suggested action
Marketing emails	Low engagement, increased bounce rates, risk of hitting spam traps, potential blocklisting (or blacklisting).	Prevent at signup with email verification. Remove non-engagers.
Transactional emails	Missed critical information, financial or security implications for users, compliance issues (especially Fintech).	Implement real-time validation and multi-channel fallbacks (SMS, push, postal mail).

Monitoring and ongoing data hygiene

Continuous monitoring of your email metrics, particularly bounce rates, is essential. High bounce rates for specific domains or common typo patterns can indicate significant issues. While an MX record check confirms a domain's ability to receive mail, it doesn't guarantee the email address is correct for your intended recipient. Some highly engaged typo domain email addresses might even be repurposed by others, posing a security risk.

Be aware that typos aren't limited to the domain part of an email. Errors in the local part (before the @ symbol) can also occur and, if they lead to a deliverable address, are arguably more dangerous as they directly facilitate PII leakage. It's crucial to regularly identify misspelled email domains in your database and understand the full scope of potential misdeliveries.

Investigate the sources of traffic leading to typo-ridden signups. If a particular affiliate channel or marketing campaign generates a disproportionate number of invalid addresses, it could indicate fraudulent activity or poor lead quality that needs addressing. Proactive data cleansing and verification are key components of a robust email database cleansing strategy.

Warning: Deliverable typos are worse

You cannot assume that email typos only occur in the domain part of an address or that they always result in undeliverable mail. Typos that lead to a valid, but unintended, email address (e.g., someone typing john.doe@gmail.com instead of jon.doe@gmail.com) are far more dangerous. They constitute a direct leak of potentially sensitive information, a severe breach in data privacy, and a significant security risk for your customers and your organization.

Views from the trenches

Best practices

Implement real-time email validation at every signup and data entry point.

Require users to confirm their email address by typing it twice on forms.

Use a double opt-in process for marketing communications to ensure explicit consent.

Establish a multi-channel fallback strategy for critical transactional emails.

Common pitfalls

Automatically correcting email addresses in your CRM without user permission.

Assuming that all email typos result in undeliverable mail, ignoring PII leakage risks.

Relying solely on MX record checks, which don't identify all typo domain issues.

Neglecting to investigate traffic sources for typo-ridden signups.

Expert tips

Prioritize user experience by providing clear, immediate feedback on email format errors.

For Fintech, ensure your typo handling complies with all relevant state and federal regulations.

Consider a warning pop-up for highly unusual or suspicious email domains entered by users.

Analyze engagement data to identify genuinely inactive or typo'd accounts that need action.

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks says you are not allowed to correct existing email addresses because consent was given for the specific, even if incorrect, address.

2022-10-21 - Email Geeks

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says correcting typos risks surprising users, leading to spam complaints and potential spam traps, as those addresses never truly opted in.

2022-10-21 - Email Geeks

Maintaining email list integrity

For Fintech businesses, the best approach to handling email typos is clear: prioritize prevention over correction. Retroactively fixing email addresses in your CRM can lead to significant privacy and security vulnerabilities, particularly regarding the accidental disclosure of personal financial information.

Focusing on robust real-time validation at signup, implementing user-friendly confirmation steps, and establishing comprehensive multi-channel fallback procedures for transactional emails are paramount. This proactive stance not only safeguards customer data and maintains trust but also ensures optimal email deliverability and compliance with stringent industry regulations. By embracing these best practices, you can effectively manage email typos and reinforce your commitment to security and customer service.