Clean data to maximize your results

Validation Scans

All data provided to ExchangeLeads goes through an extensive and rigorous process of confirming its validity. We strive to deal with clean and valid data only and our methodology includes a 50-point data-scrub to ensure that the leads we keep are of highest quality. Through the various validation steps we ensure accuracy and deliverability;

Email Verification

Email verification confirms that all of the emails in your list are still active. This is done by actively matching each email with its related mail server to verify accuracy and deliverability. Validation is a complex system of checks and balances validating both the domains itself and the individual emails. We use both active and passive methods to confirm validity of email addresses. Even if valid, they go through various threat scans to assure deliverability and open rates.

Telephone Verification

Phone verification service is used in instances where we cannot verify the contact in any other way. This service physically confirms the contact is still active through the check with their phone system. This method is rather slow and is not used on every contact, rather, we attempt all other methods first and use it as a last resort to confirm a valid lead.

Field Validation

We make sure that each list uploaded to our service contains all the required fields including first and last name, title, email, telephone, street, unit #, city, state, country, organization and ZIP or postal code. Should any of the required fields be missing, the system will automatically and intelligently attempt to auto-correct the data using both internal sources and external public services.

In the few cases where the auto-completion is ambiguous or impossible a detailed report is produced to inform the uploader of the errors and assist in manual data correction.

Intelligent Auto-Completion

Working with data is error prone and working with huge quantities of data guarantees some percentage of errors. Human error is prevalent but programs cause errors too. From corruption and encoding differences to language and application incompatibility large databases are riddled with small and large errors and omissions. ExchangeLeads strives to intelligently and automatically fill in all the missing pieces. Whether it’s a missing field or a misspelling, our internal systems will catch it and correct it. Even if too much data is missing, we connect and look at various sources and databases online to complete it! We strive to extract the absolute most from the data uploaded to our system and provide clean, complete and accurate data for download every time.

Automatic Mapping

Not all lists are created equal and most of them differ from headers to various data fields. ExchangeLeads automatically evaluates and recognizes each column of the uploaded data for automatic
mapping assistance and to assure data integrity. Even if the data is mapped wrong by human mistake during upload – the system will auto correct it!

The mapping system recognizes over 20 fields including names, titles and phone numbers and auto validates a number of fields like addresses against the Postal Service databases. These checks allow for less work on the client side during the list upload and assure data consistency through the rest of the process.

Threat scans

What makes email marketing hard is not knowing exactly who is waiting on the other side of the wire. Regardless whether double-opt-in or single-opt-in emails are used, there are threats that can equally hurt your reputation as a sender. What makes is so hard is that almost all the emails that are potential threats are valid emails! ExhangeLeads prides itself in protecting all of our clients by performing a series of threat scans on all the lists uploaded. These scans mark the threats and allow the uploader the benefit of knowing who the potential threats are. We permanently remove these emails from our databases and guarantee all of our clients are downloading data clean and threat-free lists. The threat scans we perform include:

Delivery Threats

A number of standards govern email transmission systems and we check every list exchanged for accuracy and adherence to those standards.

• Improper RFC Rules – Invalid format via RFC rules governing global address formats.
• Invalid gTLD – Invalid generic top level domain.
• Improper Domain Rules – Email does not follow the specific rules implemented by its domain.
• Disposable Domains – Emails associated with disposable, temporary domains.
• IPM MX v2 – Domain not configured for email.

Conversion Threats

These are the emails that are known to routinely fight unsolicited emails. Though this group will contain emails that may be valid, the automated systems in place with these domains will take the “guilty until proven innocent approach” and flag your email as spam. These threats include Government and Military institutions as well as a large list of known organizations and individuals that take the above described approach.

Intl Emails – International Addresses.
Education – Addresses associated with an elementary, high school or university.
Military – Addresses operated exclusively by the United States military.
Civics – Addresses belonging to appointed local, state and federal officials.
System Usernames – Email name is a group, position, or task not a person or individual.
Complainer Emails – People who habitually report commercial email as spam.
Complainer Domains – Domains that habitually complain about receiving commercial email.
Profanity Usernames – Addresses containing obscene language.

Reputation Threats Scan

Do you know if any one of the emails on your list is on any “Do Not Mail” lists? Or if it is a valid email created by organizations for the sole purpose of reporting spam? These checks allow us to stop emails of this nature from proliferating and causing reputation harm to your mail servers.

• DMA EMPS – Emails on the DMA “Do Not Mail” list.
• SMS Domains – FCC monitored telco properties enforced by heavy fines.
• Legal Traps – Email associated with litigators known to entrap mailers.
• Intl Malicious Moles – Emails that report campaign statistics to RBL’s.
• Malicious Moles – Emails that report campaign statistics to RBL’s.
• Intl Blacklisted Emails – Emails utilized to identify spam.
• Blacklisted Emails – Emails utilized to identify spam.
• Seeded Trackers – Addresses used in marketing campaigns to track delivery rates.
• Blacklisted Domains – Organizations, associations or networks that report spam.
• Recycled Bounces – Recycled bounces used to generate traps.
• HPR Heuristic – Pattern Recognition.

Fraud Threats Scan

Fraud threats are the hardest to recognize and the most difficult to predict. These emails have generally been used in the past to perpetrate or attempt a scam of fraud. Millions of webmasters and law enforcement officers around the world report these emails through various means. ExchangeLeads taps into the databases containing these fraudulent emails and matches every list uploaded against them. This assures that none of our clients are caught in the murky web of spam emails and prevents potential legal actions from any attempted fraudulent activity.

• Numeric Usernames – Usernames consisting of only numbers.
• Forward Folders – Emails forwarded beyond the intended inbox.
• Bots – Fraudulent activity associated in forms, blogs, impression or clicks.
• Spammer – Emails Emails identified in content spamming.
• Intl Scammers – Emails associated with online scams.
• Scammers – Emails associated with online scams.
• Intl Highly Exposed Emails – Addresses discovered in locations allied with illegal activity.
• Highly Exposed – Emails Addresses discovered in locations allied with illegal activity.
• Bogus Usernames – Email is statistically improbable.

Beta Threats

Bounces happen to both good and bad emails. We algorithmically examine all bounces received to automatically determine whether the bounce was temporary or permanent. These threats are primarily
used by email providers to judge the quality of the email lists used to send email.

• GHAMY – GHAMY domains.
• Intl Soft Bounces – A test filter where any positive or negative feedback is welcomed.
• Soft Bounces – A test filter where any positive or negative feedback is welcomed.

After performing 50 scans within our validation methodology we finally can say with very high degree of certainty that the record we have is both complete, active and not a threat. How many other data companies can say the same?

Give it a try! Sign up for free and get 10 free leads today.