Throwaway email addresses are on the up. We know, because we keep a list of them and it is growing.
Throwaway email addresses are on the up. We know, because our systems automatically detect them. In the last 12 months we’ve identified a rise of over 70% in disposable email addresses.
So far, so good
When emails are created, sent, viewed and stored they help build a digital fingerprint. You can keep special emails and read them over again, like old fashioned love letters and birthday cards. Junk email is a pain though. Amongst the emails you want to keep are emails you never asked for. They clutter up your inbox, steal time and add confusion and “noise.” Junk email is a primary reason for people to create throwaway email addresses.
Wouldn’t it be good if you never had to delete unwanted emails from your inbox, or if you didn’t have to bother unsubscribing from email newsletters that you don’t remember signing up to? That’s why people use email addresses that are temporary, created just to deal with online interactions that aren’t going to be important in the long term. Think of a throwaway email address as a spam bucket.
When throwaway email addresses don’t work
If you use a temporary email address for online transactions, you don’t have the irritation of receiving emails you don’t want. That’s good. But what about when you buy something from a store you love. You want those emails right? So you have to use your proper email address, because some emails aren’t for throwaway.
If you use a throwaway email address for all your transactions, you can lose information that you need to refer back to. When a product goes faulty, or a delivery doesn’t show up, or you love it so much you want to buy another one but can’t remember where you got it. On top of not remembering where you got it, you can’t remember what email address you used for the transaction. That’s bad. All those minutes you saved by not cluttering up your inbox have become nothing when compared to the time spent trying to find lost details.
Emails stored well will save you time
What you need is a way of keeping the emails you need, and filtering the ones you don’t. A throwaway email address can help with this, but it can also add complication and future hassle. You could just set up email inbox filters and a simple email filing system to help you store your emails in a way that makes sense.
When throwaway emails are bad
Your throwaway email addresses might be just a bit of email housekeeping in your eyes. A way to keep your real inbox clutter free and to help you store and share the special, important stuff. The bad thing is that in the eyes of banks, credit card issuers and security systems, your harmless, simple throwaway email address is like a poker tell. Your address gives you away as being someone more likely to commit fraud, so when you sign up for newsletters, shop online, ask for insurance quotes or check whether the furniture store gives free delivery, you are unwittingly telling them not to trust you. You might find your transaction blocked, or your sign up refused, your request left hanging or your query left unanswered.
Find out how throwaway email addresses can harm your business.
Throwaway email addresses are good, bad and ugly. Here at Email Hippo it’s not for us to tell you how to manage your email fingerprint. Just like other email validation companies we will always flag throwaway email addresses as risky, and encourage companies not to transact with people using them. It’s up to you whether the good outweighs the bad and whether you want to risk ugly.
Ready to see for yourself how Email Hippo can help you filter out the bad actors in your email list? Get a free trial and validate your first 100 email addresses today.
