This article was originally posted on our RPG-XML Suite product website.
Recently we were approached by a bank with a business need to validate their customer email addresses.
Experian is widely known and utilized by financial institutions as a primary source of consumer credit data. Yet did you know they provide a broader suite of solutions that can be utilized to enhance your overall contact data quality? From mailing address data, to phone numbers, to email addresses, Experian Data Solutions ensures your data retains its accuracy and ongoing usability.
For a moment, I’m going to pretend you’re a geek and interested in specifics on the email address validation service Experian provides.
It’s a web service known as the QAS EmailValidate API.
This API is used to quickly and accurately determine whether an email address is valid and deliverable. If invalid, the service offers suggestions for a replacement address enabling users to select a more accurate and verified email. This service provides a solution in the event email addresses may have been incorrectly keyed with misspellings into your core company business database.
How important is successful delivery of your business email communications?
Marketing staffs work hard to create targeted communications that result in the surfacing of new prospects. Sales staffs work hard to follow up with new prospects to illustrate a given business need can be met. So not only is accurate customer data key, accurate prospect data can mean the difference between a good sales month and a bad one.
Back to geek-dom.
The QAS EmailValidate API facilitates both synchronous and asynchronous communication. Using the RESTful API, you initiate a request to Experian via an HTTP post. Experian provides a response which contains the following data elements:
- The submitted email address
- A “certainty status” that contains one of the following: Verified, UnDeliverable, UnReachable, Illegitimate, Disposable, Unknown
- Message (validation status message like “OK” or “Mailbox Full”)
- Corrections – a list of possible replacement email addresses, if unverified
Here’s more detail on the certainty status definitions returned:
- Verified: Mailbox exists, is reachable, and not known to be illegitimate or disposable
- Undeliverable: Mailbox or domain does not exist; mailbox is full, suspended or disabled
- Unreachable: Domain has no reachable mail exchangers
- Illegitimate: Seed, spamtrap, black hole, technical role account or inactive domain
- Disposable: Domain is administered by a disposable email provider (e.g. Mailinator)
- Unknown: We were unable to conclusively verify or invalidate this address
As an IBM Business Partner, our customers run on the IBM i server with business applications written in the RPG programming language. RPG-XML Suite provides the bridge to easily facilitate web service communications with business partners like Experian who deliver real-time benefits for your business.
What’s your current data quality challenge?
Chat with our Sales or Support team here.
And if you want to lead with “How’s the weather?”, be prepared for an unpleasant response. It’s freezing in Minnesota