What Is a Valid Email Address Format?
Definition
A valid email address format follows a specific structure that ensures emails can be sent and received correctly and without issues. Every email address must have the following essential components:
- Email username or prefix. This comes before the @ symbol and can include letters, numbers, or special characters, specifically periods, dashes, and underscores.
- @ symbol. This symbol is used to separate the prefix from the domain name.
- Domain name. This refers to the user’s mail server or email service host, such as gmail.com or yahoo.com.
Example
An example of a correct or valid address format is yourname@yourcompany.com. This example has a clear prefix (“yourname”), the @ symbol, and a domain name (“yourcompany.com”).
An email address like yourname@com (missing domain) or yourname@.com (missing domain name) is invalid. Both examples do not follow the proper format for a valid email address.
Why you need valid email address formats
Valid email address formats ensure that your messages reach the intended recipients. Making sure that your email address format is valid and correct makes it easy to remember and can leave a good impression on prospects.
When creating email addresses, these are the rules to follow to keep them valid:
- Observe the recommended minimum and maximum lengths. Email addresses must not exceed 320 characters. This includes the prefix and domain name. Your email address should not have spaces.
- Limit special characters. You can only use dashes, periods, and underscores. When adding these special characters, they must not be used consecutively.
- Follow domain rules. Ideally, your domain name (top-level domain or TLD) must have between two to 63 characters.
- Only use valid characters. You must only use characters that can be found in the ASCII control characters, such as uppercase or lowercase Latin letters (A to Z), digits (0 to 9), and allowed special characters.
Valid vs. invalid email addresses
Invalid addresses prevent you from reaching your target audience via email. These will often result in a hard bounce, which can increase your bounce rate. This, in turn, can adversely affect your sender reputation and email deliverability.
Typos and inactive domains are the common reasons behind invalid email addresses. To verify the validity of email addresses, you can opt to use an email verification tool. These tools work by assessing your email list to help you identify and remove invalid or undeliverable email addresses.
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