You have 8,000 email addresses you need to validate before a campaign. You can't check them one by one. You don't write code. Here's how to validate in bulk without any programming.
What Email Validation Actually Checks
Basic format validation checks whether the email address looks like a valid email — has an @ symbol, a domain, and a valid top-level domain. This catches typos like "johngmail.com" (missing @) or "john@gmailcom" (missing dot).
More thorough validation also checks:
- Whether the domain actually exists (DNS lookup)
- Whether the mailbox exists on that domain (SMTP check)
- Whether the address is a known disposable email domain (Mailinator, TempMail, etc.)
- Whether the address is role-based (info@, admin@, noreply@)
Sohovi lets you set up validation rules for any column and instantly see which rows fall outside them — no code or SQL required.
For most small business use cases, format validation plus basic domain checking is sufficient.
Bulk Validation Without Code
Option 1: Sohovi — Upload your CSV and get an immediate analysis of your email column including format validity rates, duplicate counts, and pattern anomalies. Works for any size file, runs in your browser, no data sent to servers.
Option 2: Excel formula — For format checks only, use: =AND(ISNUMBER(FIND("@",A2)), ISNUMBER(FIND(".",A2,FIND("@",A2)))). This checks for @ and a dot after the @. Simple but effective for catching obvious format errors.
Option 3: Google Sheets add-ons — Several free add-ons in the Google Workspace Marketplace perform email validation on spreadsheet columns without requiring code.
What to Do With Invalid Emails
Obvious format errors (missing @, no domain): Correct if the right email is known; otherwise remove from the list.
Disposable email addresses: Remove. These never produce real engagement.
Role-based addresses (info@, noreply@): Evaluate by use case. For marketing campaigns, typically remove. For transactional emails, keep.
Addresses from defunct domains: Remove. The domain doesn't exist; the email will bounce.
The Deliverability Math
A list with 5% invalid emails will have a hard bounce rate of at least 5% on first send. Industry best practice is to keep hard bounces below 2%. After two or three sends with high bounce rates, your sending domain's reputation is damaged — and deliverability for your valid addresses also suffers.
Sohovi validates your email list for invalid formats, duplicates, and missing fields before you send — protecting your sender reputation.
Validation before send is not optional for list health. It's the difference between a deliverable campaign and a reputation-damaging one.
