Summary
Fake email addresses being entered at checkout can lead to a significant increase in hard bounces, impacting your email deliverability and sender reputation. This issue is often a sign of bot activity or card testing attempts rather than genuine user errors.
While email service providers (ESPs) typically suppress hard-bouncing addresses automatically, the initial bounce still registers as a negative signal to internet service providers (ISPs). Proactive measures at the point of data capture are essential to minimize this issue, preventing both wasted resources and damage to your brand's sending reputation.
Key findings
- Reputation impact: High hard bounce rates can severely harm your sender score and increase the likelihood of your legitimate emails being flagged as spam.
- Bot activity: The influx of fake email addresses at checkout is often linked to automated bots attempting card testing or other fraudulent activities.
- Initial bounce matters: Even if an ESP suppresses an address after one hard bounce, that initial bounce contributes negatively to your sending metrics. Hard bounces should be removed promptly to maintain a clean list.
- Hidden damage: Beyond hard bounces, fake but deliverable email addresses (e.g., spam traps or hijacked accounts) can lead to complaints and lack of engagement, further eroding your sender reputation.
Key considerations
- Preventative measures: Implement anti-bot measures such as reCAPTCHA or honeypot fields on your checkout forms to deter automated submissions. These measures can significantly prevent fake email registrations.
- User experience vs. security: While concerns about conversion rates are valid, modern security measures like invisible reCAPTCHA are far less intrusive than older versions and are increasingly standard.
- Platform limitations: Understand the capabilities and limitations of your e-commerce platform (e.g., Shopify) regarding checkout page customization for implementing these protections.
- Backend validation: Incorporate backend validation checks to catch and reject suspicious email addresses or patterns before an email is sent. This can be critical to prevent spam at the source.
What email marketers say
Email marketers often face the practical challenge of managing fake email submissions at checkout, balancing the need for strong fraud prevention with concerns about user experience and conversion rates. Their experiences highlight the ongoing cat-and-mouse game with bots and the nuances of implementing protective measures within existing e-commerce platforms.
Key opinions
- Limited double opt-in benefit for hard bounces: While double opt-in is a generally sound recommendation, it may not significantly alter the immediate impact of a single hard bounce from a fake address at checkout, as one email is sent either way.
- User agent checks: Checking the user agent of the submission can help identify and suppress requests from outdated or suspicious versions often used by bots, potentially being easier than tracking constantly changing IP addresses.
- Honeypots and reCAPTCHA: These methods are widely supported for preventing bot submissions on forms, with reCAPTCHA (especially the invisible version) now having minimal impact on legitimate user conversion rates.
- Shopify specific challenges: Marketers on platforms like Shopify may find checkout page customization for anti-bot measures restricted to higher-tier plans (e.g., Shopify Plus).
Key considerations
- Proactive prevention: It's always better to prevent fake email addresses from entering your system rather than relying solely on post-bounce suppression, as even single hard bounces can impact your sender reputation. Consider strategies to prevent bot sign-ups.
- Beyond IP blocking: While IP blocking can be a good immediate step, bad actors can easily switch IPs, making upstream preventative measures more effective.
- Identify bot behavior: Look for patterns in fake submissions, such as gibberish in name fields, multiple submissions of the same email from different IPs, or large numbers of submissions from a single IP.
- Evaluate risk services: While some services attempt to evaluate email risk, their effectiveness can vary, sometimes flagging legitimate addresses or missing malicious ones. It's a challenging area to perfect.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests checking the user agent. Often, bots use outdated user agent versions that can be identified and suppressed. This method can be more effective than trying to track and block the wide range of IP addresses bad actors might employ, as IPs can change frequently.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Shopify Ecommerce Community advises that Shopify has spam protection available under Online Store > Preferences for various sections, including checkouts. Enabling this built-in feature can help mitigate the problem of fake abandoned checkouts caused by bots.
What the experts say
Deliverability experts emphasize that fake email addresses at checkout are a serious issue, often indicating sophisticated fraudulent activities like card testing. They offer a more technical and strategic perspective on the preventative measures, highlighting the effectiveness of modern security tools and the long-term consequences of neglecting list hygiene.
Key opinions
- Card testing: Fake abandoned checkouts and hard bounces are frequently a sign of bots attempting to validate stolen credit card numbers against an e-commerce site.
- ReCAPTCHA evolution: Modern reCAPTCHA versions (like invisible reCAPTCHA) are effective against bots and should be standard on all forms, as they no longer significantly impact conversion rates.
- Confirmed opt-in value: Even with automatic suppression, confirmed opt-in remains a crucial tool. Mailbox providers can differentiate between confirmation emails and regular traffic, and it helps prevent negative impacts from non-bouncing fake addresses.
- Securing entry points: Proactively securing all email entry forms is becoming a baseline standard in deliverability, making concerns about minor churn less valid than the risks of poor list quality.
Key considerations
- Beyond hard bounces: It's critical to acknowledge that not all fake emails hard bounce. Those that don't can still lead to complaints, lower engagement, and contribute to spam trap hits, severely damaging your domain reputation.
- Management education: Educating C-level executives about the modern realities of email deliverability and the importance of anti-fraud measures is essential, as outdated beliefs can hinder effective prevention strategies.
- Leverage platform anti-fraud: Platforms like Shopify are expected to have built-in anti-fraud measures that can automatically block originating IPs, reducing the burden on individual businesses.
- Sophisticated bot behavior: Bots are constantly evolving, attempting to mimic human behavior to bypass detection. Therefore, a multi-layered approach to security is advisable.
Expert view
Deliverability expert from Email Geeks observes that fake abandoned checkouts likely indicate card testing against the Shopify site. They anticipate that Shopify should have robust anti-fraud measures in place that automatically block originating IPs, preventing such activities at their source.
Expert view
Deliverability expert from Word to the Wise advises that confirmed opt-in is crucial. While a single hard bounce from a fake address might seem minor, continued attempts to deliver to invalid emails, even if suppressed, degrade sender reputation over time. Confirmed opt-in ensures that only genuinely interested subscribers are added to the list, which is fundamental for long-term deliverability.
What the documentation says
Official documentation and industry best practices consistently emphasize the importance of maintaining a clean email list to ensure strong deliverability. They highlight that hard bounces signal permanently undeliverable addresses and stress the need for proactive validation and removal to protect sender reputation.
Key findings
- Hard bounce definition: A hard bounce indicates a permanent failure to deliver an email, typically due to an invalid or non-existent email address.
- Immediate suppression: Many email marketing platforms automatically suppress email addresses after a hard bounce to prevent further sending to invalid contacts.
- Sender score impact: Consistently sending to invalid addresses lowers your sender score and increases the likelihood of being flagged by ISPs, affecting your overall email deliverability. This can even cause emails to go to spam.
- Preventing bounces: Key strategies to prevent email bounces include using confirmed opt-in and ensuring accurate data collection at the point of entry.
Key considerations
- Validation at source: Implement robust email validation at the point of signup, whether it's a newsletter subscription or a checkout form, to minimize invalid entries.
- Immediate removal: Hard bounces should trigger immediate removal or suppression from your active sending lists to protect your sender reputation.
- Authentication standards: Properly configured email authentication records like SPF and DKIM are fundamental. They help mail servers verify your domain's legitimacy, improving overall deliverability and reducing the chances of bounces due to authentication failures.
- Spam protection features: Utilize any built-in spam protection features offered by your e-commerce platform or email marketing service to prevent malicious submissions. Shopify, for example, offers spam protection in its preferences.
Technical article
Documentation from WPFunnels states that consistently sending to invalid email addresses will lower your sender score. This action increases the likelihood of being flagged by internet service providers (ISPs), ultimately impacting your email deliverability and potentially causing emails to land in spam folders.
Technical article
Documentation from AtData emphasizes that hard bounces must be removed from your email list upon their first occurrence. Sending to unknown users is identified as a primary factor ISPs use to assess and determine a sender's reputation, making prompt removal critical for maintaining good standing.
Related resources
6 resources
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