> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.clarky.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Email Validation

> Verify email deliverability with ZeroBounce so Sequences skip addresses that would bounce and your sender reputation stays protected

## What is Email Validation?

Email Validation checks whether an address can actually receive mail before you spend a send on it. Clarky verifies addresses with ZeroBounce, an industry-standard email verification service, and shows the result as a small status pill wherever emails appear: the People page, contact records, and Prospecting search results. Most importantly, **Sequences automatically skip addresses that fail validation**, so a stale contact list cannot burn your sender reputation with bounces.

<Info>
  **Plan availability:** Startup or higher. Email Validation is pay as you go: any paid plan can buy validation credits, and there is no subscription add-on. See [Plans & Billing](/features/settings/plans).
</Info>

## How credits work

Email Validation runs on **validation credits**, purchased in **Settings > Email Validation**. One credit validates one address.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Buying credits">
    Pick a one-time pack of 1,000, 5,000, or 25,000 validations. Credits never expire and are shared by everyone in the workspace. Payment goes through Stripe on the card you already use for Clarky.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What is charged and what is free">
    A credit is used only when an address is checked for the first time. Results are kept for 90 days, so re-validating the same address anywhere in Clarky during that window is free: launching a second sequence at the same list, re-importing a CSV, or viewing badges costs nothing.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens with no credits">
    Nothing breaks. Validation quietly pauses, badges stop appearing for new addresses, and emails send without a deliverability check, exactly as they did before this feature existed. Buy credits any time to switch protection back on.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## What the statuses mean

| Badge                       | Meaning                                                                                                         |
| --------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| <strong>valid</strong>      | The mailbox exists and accepts mail. Safe to send.                                                              |
| <strong>invalid</strong>    | The address failed validation (dead mailbox, spam trap, or known complainer). Sequences skip it automatically.  |
| <strong>catch-all</strong>  | The mail server accepts everything, so delivery cannot be confirmed. Sends proceed, flagged for your awareness. |
| <strong>unverified</strong> | Deliverability could not be determined. Sends proceed.                                                          |

## Where validation shows up

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Sequences" icon="paper-plane">
    The launch preview warns how many target emails are undeliverable, and the dispatcher skips them at send time. A contact stopped for a bad address shows an "Invalid email" status on the sequence detail page. Validation is on per sequence by default; the **Email validation** switch on the launch page's Sender section turns it off for that sequence.
  </Card>

  <Card title="People" icon="users">
    The People table shows a status pill next to each contact's primary email, so you can spot unreachable contacts at a glance.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Contact records" icon="address-card">
    Every email on a contact record carries its badge, plus a **Validate email** action for an instant on-demand check.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Prospecting" icon="radar">
    Search results are validated in the background, so you know which prospects have a working email before you save them or launch outreach.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Validating on CSV import

When importing contacts, tick **Validate emails after import** in the import options. Every new address in the file is checked in the background once the import finishes, so the list is fully badged before you launch a sequence at it.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Buy credits">
    Go to **Settings > Email Validation** and pick a pack. Credits never expire.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Import or prospect as usual">
    New addresses from imports (with the checkbox on), prospecting searches, and sequence launches are validated automatically.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Launch with confidence">
    The sequence launch preview shows how many addresses will be skipped, and the rest go out clean.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Validation protects the thing that is hardest to rebuild: your sending domain's reputation. If you run cold outreach from a warmed-up domain, validating a list before the first send is the cheapest insurance you can buy.
</Tip>