Data Model
The Email Validation API checks that an email address is valid and messages can be delivered correctly to that address. The first section, Email Fields, gives you enough background on the data model to understand input and output of the API. The second section, Quality of an email address, describes how to interpret the result in order to perform appropriate actions (e.g. automatic processing or manual post-processing).
Email Fields
The following table describes the input and output fields.
The following icons are used in the table to classify the fields:
-
This is an input field
-
This is an output field
| Field | Length | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
256 |
string |
Email address |
Quality of an email address
Two fields provide information about the quality of the entered email address.
-
deliverable: Describes if the email address is valid and messages can be delivered.
-
reason: Reason why an email address is not valid or messades can not be delivered.
Deliverable
The following table describes the possible values of the field 'deliverable'.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
yes |
Email to the entered email address can be delivered. |
uncertain |
Email may be an Accept All, Full Mailbox or Disposable address. |
no |
Email to the entered email address can not be delivered. |
unknown |
The email provider did not send a response. (Such a request does not count as a billable transaction.) |
Reason
The following table describes the possible values of the field 'reason'.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
invalid-syntax |
Syntax of the email is incorrect. |
non-existing-mailbox |
Email address does not exist, so the SMTP server rejected it. |
low-deliverability |
The deliverability cannot be guaranteed. |
non-existing domain |
The Domain does not exist. |
low-quality |
Email address has low quality, in most cases the email is disposable or temporary. |
dns-error |
The DNS records could not be resolved or the domain is misconfigured. |
unavailable-smtp |
The request could not be processed because the SMTP server was unavailable. |
unknown |
An unexpected error has occured. |
Retry-After
The retryAfter parameter can be given in case of an unknown status.
Its value indicates the number of seconds after which a new request can be executed.
The response can then be more detailed.
In case of an unknown status the request does not count as a billable transaction.