📧 Email Validation & Enrichment Engine

Professional email validation and enrichment service - verify deliverability, detect disposable emails, and enrich with person/company data.

./LICENSE

🎯 What It Does

This Actor provides comprehensive email validation and enrichment capabilities:

✅ Validation Features

• Syntax Validation: RFC 5322 compliant email format checking
• Domain Verification: DNS and MX record validation
• Mailbox Verification: SMTP-based mailbox existence check (optional)
• Disposable Detection: Identify temporary/throwaway email services
• Role Account Detection: Flag generic emails (info@, support@, etc.)

🔍 Enrichment Features (Basic)

• Extract names from email addresses
• Identify company from domain
• Determine account type (personal vs role)
• Confidence scoring

💼 Use Cases

• Sales Teams: Validate lead lists and reduce bounce rates
• Marketing: Clean email lists before campaigns (improve deliverability)
• Recruiters: Verify candidate contact information
• E-commerce: Detect fake signups and reduce fraud
• SaaS: Enrich user data for better segmentation

🚀 Quick Start

Input Example

{
  "emails": [
    "john.doe@example.com",
    "jane.smith@company.com",
    "info@business.com"
  ],
  "validateSyntax": true,
  "checkDomain": true,
  "checkMailbox": false,
  "detectDisposable": true,
  "detectRoleAccount": true,
  "enrichData": false,
  "timeout": 10
}

Output Example

{
  "email": "john.doe@example.com",
  "isValid": true,
  "status": "valid",
  "validation": {
    "syntaxValid": true,
    "domainExists": true,
    "hasMxRecords": true,
    "mailboxExists": false,
    "isDisposable": false,
    "isRoleAccount": false
  },
  "info": {
    "localPart": "john.doe",
    "domain": "example.com",
    "mxRecords": ["mail.example.com"],
    "accountType": "personal"
  },
  "enrichment": {
    "firstName": "John",
    "lastName": "Doe",
    "fullName": "John Doe",
    "company": "Example",
    "confidence": 50
  },
  "errors": [],
  "warnings": []
}

📊 Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
emails	array	✅ Yes	-	List of email addresses to validate
validateSyntax	boolean	No	true	Check email format validity
checkDomain	boolean	No	true	Verify domain and MX records
checkMailbox	boolean	No	false	SMTP mailbox verification (slow, can be blocked)
detectDisposable	boolean	No	true	Identify temporary email services
detectRoleAccount	boolean	No	true	Flag generic/role-based emails
enrichData	boolean	No	false	Extract basic person/company info
timeout	integer	No	10	Timeout per email in seconds (5-60)

🔧 Configuration Tips

For Speed (Fast Validation)

{
  "emails": ["..."],
  "validateSyntax": true,
  "checkDomain": true,
  "checkMailbox": false,
  "detectDisposable": true,
  "detectRoleAccount": true,
  "enrichData": false
}

For Accuracy (Thorough Validation)

{
  "emails": ["..."],
  "validateSyntax": true,
  "checkDomain": true,
  "checkMailbox": true,
  "detectDisposable": true,
  "detectRoleAccount": true,
  "enrichData": true,
  "timeout": 30
}

For Lead Cleaning (Marketing)

{
  "emails": ["..."],
  "detectDisposable": true,
  "detectRoleAccount": true,
  "checkDomain": true,
  "checkMailbox": false
}

📈 Output Fields

Status Values

• valid: Email passed all checks
• invalid: Email failed critical validation
• risky: Valid but disposable/suspicious
• unknown: Unable to fully verify

Validation Object

{
  syntaxValid: boolean;        // Email format is correct
  domainExists: boolean;       // Domain has DNS records
  hasMxRecords: boolean;       // Domain can receive email
  mailboxExists?: boolean;     // Mailbox verified via SMTP
  isDisposable: boolean;       // Temporary email service
  isRoleAccount: boolean;      // Generic account (info@, etc.)
}

Account Types

• personal: Individual's email (john.doe@company.com)
• role: Generic/shared email (support@company.com)
• unknown: Cannot determine

💰 Pricing & Performance

• Speed: ~1-3 seconds per email (without SMTP check)
• Speed with SMTP: ~5-10 seconds per email
• Recommended: Disable SMTP for large batches

Cost Estimation

• 100 emails: ~2-5 minutes
• 1,000 emails: ~20-50 minutes
• 10,000 emails: ~3-8 hours

⚠️ Important Notes

SMTP Verification

• Pros: Most accurate mailbox verification
• Cons: Slow, often blocked by mail servers, may trigger spam filters
• Recommendation: Use only for critical validations

Rate Limiting

• Some mail servers may block excessive checks
• Use reasonable delays for large batches
• Consider SMTP check only for high-value leads

Data Privacy

• This Actor doesn't send emails - only performs checks
• No data is stored or shared
• GDPR compliant (no personal data retention)

🔌 API Integration

Run via Apify API

const run = await apifyClient.actor('YOUR_ACTOR_ID').call({
  emails: ['test@example.com'],
  validateSyntax: true,
  checkDomain: true
});

const dataset = await apifyClient.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(dataset.items);

Webhook Integration

Connect with Zapier, Make.com, or custom webhooks for automated email validation in your workflows.

🛠️ Local Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run locally
npm start

# Build TypeScript
npm run build

📚 Resources

• Apify Documentation
• Email Validation Best Practices
• RFC 5322 Email Standard

🐛 Issues & Support

• Report issues on GitHub
• Contact: support@apify.com
• Community: Apify Discord

📝 License

Apache-2.0

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Built with ❤️ by Sanjay Balam | Powered by Apify