AI-Powered Confidence Scores

Email Scoring That Tells YouWhat “Valid” Never Will.

Binary verification stops at valid or invalid. Verifox gives every address a 0–100 email quality score built from 40+ behavioral signals, so the 20 to 40% of B2B addresses hiding behind catch-all domains get a real confidence score instead of a shrug.

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Verifox fox mascot winking after revealing an email score

Every email gets a confidence score · Not just valid/invalid


SCORING SIGNALS FROM 2.1 BILLION+ VERIFIED EMAILS

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Accuracy on catch-all domains

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Behavioral signals analyzed

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Cached scoring latency (sub-50ms)

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Bulk scoring throughput, standard tier


The keyword, answered

What is email scoring?

Email scoring assigns every address a 0 to 100 confidence score instead of the flat valid-or-invalid verdict you get from a standard checker. The number answers a more useful question: how likely is it that a real, active person reads mail at this address? A brand-new corporate mailbox and a mailbox abandoned in 2022 can both pass an SMTP check. Scoring tells them apart. Classic email verification runs the deterministic checks first: syntax, MX records, the SMTP handshake, disposable and role detection. Scoring then layers 40+ behavioral signals on top, things like engagement recency, domain-level bounce history, and address-pattern analysis, and compresses them into one number you can sort a spreadsheet by.

The score earns its keep on catch-all domains. A catch-all server says “accepted” to any address you throw at it, which is why 20 to 40% of B2B email lists fail there and why most free tools quietly mark the whole domain “unknown.” Verifox resolves those addresses to a concrete score with 98.2% accuracy, so a list you checked with a free email checker or built with the email finder stops carrying a gray zone you have to guess around.

In practice, teams score a list, then act by tier: send to 85+, slow-play the middle, cut everything under 20. That single sort keeps bounce rates under the 2% threshold mailbox providers punish, protects the sender reputation you are building with email warmup, and shows up directly in the results of your next inbox placement test. One number per address, one clear action per number.


Fox nervous about unscored email campaigns

The price of guessing

One unscored campaign can wreck your sender reputation for 72 hours.

2%+

Bounce Rate Threshold

Most ESPs start throttling or suspending your account when your bounce rate exceeds 2%. A single campaign to an unscored list can cross this line.

20-40%

Catch-All Exposure

20 to 40% of B2B email lists fail at catch-all domains, the one check most free tools skip. Without scoring, that whole slice of your list is a blind spot.

72hrs

Reputation Recovery

Once sender reputation drops, it takes 72+ hours for ESPs to re-evaluate your domain. During that window, even good emails land in spam.


The catch-all problem

What is a catch-all email?

A catch-all domain accepts mail sent to any address, whether the mailbox exists or not. The mail server responds with “250 OK” to every RCPT TO command. Traditional validators mark every address as valid, and you are left guessing.

How a catch-all server responds

RCPT TO: sales@acme.com 250 OK (Accepted)

RCPT TO: asdf123xyz@acme.com 250 OK (Accepted)

Both get the same “accepted” response. Only one is a real person.

Fox thinking about catch-all emails

The industry gap

Why other validators fail at catch-all domains

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Traditional Validators

  • SMTP handshake returns “valid” for every address on the domain
  • Cannot detect abandoned or never-used mailboxes
  • Label entire catch-all domains as “accept-all: unknown”
  • Force you to guess which addresses are real
Fox raising eyebrow at bad validation
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Verifox AI Scoring

  • Goes beyond SMTP to analyze behavioral engagement data
  • Detects inactive and abandoned mailboxes on catch-all domains
  • Returns a confidence score (0–100) instead of “unknown”
  • Gives you a clear action for every address
Happy fox with good validation

How it works

AI scoring that goes deeper than SMTP

CATCH-ALL DETECTION

See through catch-all domains that fool every other tool

When a mail server is configured to accept everything, traditional validators give up and label the entire domain 'unknown.' Our behavioral engine analyzes engagement signals behind the SMTP response to separate real inboxes from black holes.

  • Behavioral fingerprinting on 40+ engagement signals
  • Historical bounce pattern analysis per domain
  • Real-time confidence scoring even on accept-all servers
  • Works on enterprise catch-all configurations (Google, Microsoft 365)
See through catch-all domains that fool every other tool

ENGAGEMENT INTELLIGENCE

Know if the person behind the address is actually active

A valid email address means nothing if the owner hasn't opened a message in 6 months. Our scoring engine detects dormant, abandoned, and secondary inboxes before you waste sends on them.

  • Open/click recency detection across multiple ESPs
  • Device diversity analysis (active users check email on multiple devices)
  • Reply cadence modeling to estimate engagement likelihood
  • Send-receive ratio analysis to spot dead or bot-managed accounts
Know if the person behind the address is actually active

RISK CLASSIFICATION

Every address gets a clear action, not an ambiguous 'unknown'

Binary valid/invalid leaves you guessing on the 20 to 40% of B2B addresses that sit in the catch-all gray zone. Our 4-tier scoring system gives you a specific recommended action for every single email on your list.

  • Safe (85-100): send with full confidence
  • Worth a Look (50-84): segment into slower cadence
  • Risky (20-49): exclude from primary campaigns
  • Do Not Send (0-19): remove immediately to protect reputation
Every address gets a clear action, not an ambiguous 'unknown'

Behind every score

What happens in 50 milliseconds

Four stages, 40+ signals, one score.

01

Behavioral Fingerprint

Cross-reference 40+ engagement signals: open timestamps, click recency, reply cadence, device diversity, and send-receive ratios to build a behavioral profile for each address.

02

Catch-All Intelligence

Probe the mail server beyond a simple RCPT TO check. Analyze domain-level patterns, historical bounce data, and known catch-all configurations to distinguish real mailboxes from black holes.

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Pattern Analysis

Compare the address against millions of known patterns: role accounts, disposable providers, sequential generators, and common fake-address templates.

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Score Synthesis

Aggregate all signals into a single 0-100 confidence score with a tier assignment: Safe, Review, Risky, or Do Not Send. No ambiguous 'unknown' bucket.


What your score means

Every email gets a verdict.Click a tier for the action.

No more ambiguous “unknown” buckets. Each address receives a 0–100 confidence score mapped to a clear tier with a specific recommended action.


Your team, your workflow

Marketers score before campaigns.Sales scores before outreach.


Email Marketers

Email Marketers

  • Segment lists by score before every campaign
  • Send high-value offers only to 85+ addresses
  • Reduce bounce rates below 2% consistently
  • Protect domain reputation from catch-all traps
Sales Teams

Sales Teams

  • Score prospect lists before cold outreach
  • Prioritize leads with high-confidence emails
  • Avoid wasting sequences on dead addresses
  • Increase reply rates by filtering noise
Developers

Developers

  • Real-time scoring via the email scoring REST API
  • Webhook callbacks for batch processing
  • Build smarter signup validation flows
  • Integrate with any CRM or ESP


Scores update in real-time · Works on catch-all domains · API access included · No credit card required

Common questions

Email scoring, answered

What teams ask before they trust a number over a “valid”: how the score is built, what counts as safe, and what to do with the middle of the list.

What is email scoring?

Email scoring rates each address on a 0 to 100 scale that estimates how likely a real, active person reads mail there, instead of the binary valid/invalid verdict a standard checker returns. Verifox builds the score from 40+ behavioral signals layered on top of the deterministic checks that email verification runs, then maps it to one of four tiers with a recommended action.

How is an email quality score calculated?

Four stages run in sequence: a behavioral fingerprint built from engagement signals like open recency, reply cadence, and device diversity; catch-all intelligence that probes the mail server beyond a simple RCPT TO check; pattern analysis against millions of known role, disposable, and generated-address templates; and a final synthesis that compresses everything into one 0 to 100 number with a tier assignment. Cached results return in under 50ms.

What is a good email score to send to?

85 and above is safe to send: the mailbox is active and accepting mail. 50 to 84 is worth a look, so segment it into a slower cadence or re-engagement flow. 20 to 49 is risky and should sit out your primary campaigns. Anything under 20 is dead, fake, or a spam trap; remove it immediately. That one sort keeps bounce rates under the 2% threshold most mailbox providers punish.

How does email scoring handle catch-all domains?

Catch-all servers accept mail for any address, which is why 20 to 40% of B2B lists fail there and most validators return “unknown.” Verifox analyzes domain-level bounce history, known catch-all configurations, and behavioral engagement signals behind the SMTP response to resolve those addresses to a concrete score with 98.2% accuracy, including on Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 catch-all setups.

What is the difference between email scoring and email verification?

Verification answers “does this mailbox exist?” with deterministic checks: syntax, MX records, the SMTP handshake, disposable and role detection. Scoring answers “should I send here?” by adding behavioral evidence on top. You can try the binary checks free on the free email checker; scoring matters most where those checks stall, on the catch-all domains the 9-point verification engine flags.

How accurate is AI email scoring?

The underlying verification engine measures 99.99% accuracy on a 1,000-address benchmark list, and the AI scoring layer resolves catch-all addresses at 98.2% accuracy, the segment where binary tools simply give up. Scores are probabilistic by design: a 92 is not a guarantee, it is a measured confidence level. The tier thresholds are calibrated so that acting on them keeps bounce rates below the 2% line.

Can I score emails in bulk or through the API?

Both. CSV upload handles bulk jobs at roughly 10,000 emails per minute on the standard tier, and the REST endpoints documented in the API reference return single scores at a median of ~380ms, sub-50ms when cached. AI agents can call the same engine through the native MCP server with no glue code.

How should I segment my email list by score?

Sort once, then act by tier: full sends to 85+, a slower nurture cadence for 50 to 84, suppression for 20 to 49, and immediate removal under 20. Teams running email warmup point early sends exclusively at the top tier to build reputation fast, then confirm the effect with an inbox placement test before opening up the middle of the list.

Does email scoring protect my sender reputation?

That is its main job. Bounces and spam-trap hits are what land senders on blocklists, and scoring removes both before you press send. One unscored campaign can push you past the 2% bounce threshold, and recovery takes 72+ hours once providers throttle you. Pair scoring with blacklist monitoring so that if something does slip through, you hear about the listing within minutes instead of weeks.

Is email scoring free to try, and does Verifox keep my data?

Sign up free and you get 1,000 credits, or 2,500 with a work email, no card required. Credits are pay-as-you-go, never expire, and the pricing page shows volume rates for your region. Addresses are processed in memory and discarded once scoring completes: nothing stored, logged, or sold, backed by SOC 2 Type II.

Verifox fox mascot celebrating a clean, scored email list

Score your list before your next send.

Sign up and 1,000 free credits land in your account, 2,500 if you use a work email. Upload a list or hit the API, and every address comes back with a 0 to 100 score and a recommended action. Volume rates for your region are on the pricing page.

No card required · Credits never expire · Emails processed in memory, never stored