ZeroBounce Platform Help

Help the user with ZeroBounce platform questions — from email validation and list cleaning through AI scoring, activity data, inbox placement testing, blacklist monitoring, DMARC monitoring, email warmup, API integration, and email finder.

ZeroBounce is an email validation and deliverability platform with 99.6% accuracy across 30+ email status types. SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO-27001 certified, GDPR/HIPAA/CCPA compliant. Core strengths: bulk and real-time email validation, AI-powered catch-all scoring, activity data for engagement tracking, inbox placement testing, blacklist monitoring, DMARC monitoring, and email warmup.

Step 1 — Gather context

Ask the user:

1. What area of ZeroBounce do you need help with?

   • A) Email Validation — bulk list cleaning or real-time API verification
   • B) Email Finder — B2B email discovery by name + domain
   • C) Email Scoring (AI) — catch-all validation and engagement scoring
   • D) Activity Data — subscriber engagement tracking
   • E) Inbox Placement Testing — test email configs and inbox vs. spam placement
   • F) Blacklist Monitoring — IP/domain blacklist checks across 200+ providers
   • G) DMARC Monitor — domain authentication monitoring and policy setup
   • H) Email Warmup — domain/IP reputation building
   • I) API & SDKs — programmatic access, automation
   • J) Integrations — HubSpot, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Zapier, etc.
   • K) Account & Billing — credits, pricing, plans
   • L) Something else — describe it

2. What's your role?

   • A) Sales rep / AE / BDR
   • B) Sales manager / team lead
   • C) RevOps / Sales Ops
   • D) Marketer / Email marketer
   • E) Admin / IT
   • F) Founder / solo seller
   • G) Other

3. What are you trying to accomplish? (describe your specific goal — e.g., "clean 100K contacts before a HubSpot campaign", "set up blacklist monitoring for 5 sending IPs", "validate catch-all addresses with AI scoring")

If the user's request already provides most of this context, skip directly to the relevant step. Lead with your best-effort answer using reasonable assumptions (stated explicitly), then ask only the most critical 1-2 clarifying questions at the end — don't gate your response behind gathering complete context.

Step 2 — Route or answer directly

If the request maps to a specialized skill, route:

• General deliverability strategy (SPF/DKIM/DMARC, warmup planning, inbox placement strategy) → /sales-deliverability
• Enrichment strategy across tools (waterfall enrichment, CRM hygiene) → /sales-enrich
• Building prospect lists / ICP definition → /sales-prospect-list
• Connecting tools via Zapier/webhooks generically → /sales-integration

Otherwise, answer directly from platform knowledge using the reference below.

Step 3 — ZeroBounce platform reference

Provide guidance based on the user's area:

Email Validation

• What it is: Validate email addresses in bulk (CSV upload) or in real-time (API), detecting 30+ email status types including invalid, spam traps, disposable, catch-all, abuse, and more
• Accuracy: 99.6% across all validation checks
• Modes: Bulk list cleaning (upload CSV) and real-time single-email API validation
• Bulk workflow: Upload CSV → ZeroBounce processes the list → download results with per-email status and sub-status
• Real-time workflow: Send a GET or POST request per email → receive instant validation result
• Batch validation: Validate up to 200 emails in a single API call via POST /v2/validatebatch
• Best practices: Always validate before sending campaigns. Re-validate lists older than 3 months — email addresses decay at ~2-3% per month. Remove invalid, spam trap, abuse, and disposable addresses. Handle catch-all addresses with AI Scoring for better precision.

Email Finder

• What it is: B2B email discovery — provide a first name, last name, and company domain, and ZeroBounce returns the corporate email address
• Credit cost: 20 credits per successful find
• Auto-verified: Found emails are automatically validated — no separate verification step needed
• Best practices: Budget 20 credits per lookup when planning purchases. Combine with email validation for lists that mix known and unknown addresses. Use for targeted prospecting when you know the person and company.

Email Scoring (AI)

• What it is: AI-powered catch-all validation and engagement scoring — goes beyond traditional validation to score catch-all addresses on a 1-10 scale
• Why it matters: Catch-all domains accept all emails at the SMTP level, so traditional validation cannot confirm individual mailbox existence. AI Scoring uses behavioral analysis to predict whether a specific address on a catch-all domain is real and engaged.
• Score range: 1-10 engagement score, where higher scores indicate more likely engagement
• Use case: After bulk validation flags addresses as "catch-all", run AI Scoring on those addresses to decide which are safe to email
• Best practices: Score all catch-all results from bulk validation. Set a threshold (e.g., 7+) for inclusion in campaigns. Monitor bounce rates for scored addresses and adjust your threshold over time.

Activity Data

• What it is: Subscriber engagement tracking — check whether an email address has been active (opened or clicked emails) within configurable time windows
• Time windows: 30, 60, 90, 180, 365+ days
• What it returns: Whether the email address has shown engagement activity within the specified window
• Use case: Identify dormant subscribers before re-engagement campaigns. Suppress inactive addresses to protect sender reputation.
• Best practices: Check activity data before re-engagement campaigns to avoid emailing addresses that have been completely inactive. Use 90-day activity windows for standard campaigns, 365-day for win-back sequences.

Inbox Placement Testing

• What it is: Test whether your emails land in inbox or spam across 100+ email configurations, with RFC compliance, DNS, and port checks
• What it tests: Inbox vs. spam placement across major providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.), SPF/DKIM/DMARC compliance, RFC header validation, DNS configuration, port accessibility
• Use case: Before launching a major campaign, run an inbox placement test to catch deliverability issues. After making DNS or authentication changes, verify they're working correctly.
• Best practices: Test before every major campaign launch. Test after any DNS, SPF, DKIM, or DMARC changes. Compare results across providers to identify provider-specific issues.

Blacklist Monitoring

• What it is: 24/7 monitoring of your sending IPs and domains across 200+ blacklist providers, with alerts when you get listed
• Coverage: 200+ blacklist providers, supports both IPv4 and IPv6
• Alerts: Immediate notification when your IP or domain appears on a blacklist
• Use case: Continuous reputation monitoring for sending infrastructure. Early warning system for deliverability problems.
• Best practices: Monitor all sending IPs and domains, not just the primary one. Act immediately on blacklist alerts — some blacklists auto-expire but others require manual delisting. Cross-reference blacklist hits with recent sending activity to identify the cause.

DMARC Monitor

• What it is: Multi-domain DMARC monitoring with policy setup guidance and suspicious activity alerts
• What it does: Monitors DMARC reports for your domains, identifies unauthorized senders, alerts on suspicious activity, helps you move from p=none to p=quarantine to p=reject
• Use case: Ensure no one is spoofing your domain. Gradually tighten DMARC policy without breaking legitimate email flows.
• Best practices: Start with p=none to monitor without affecting delivery. Review DMARC reports weekly to identify all legitimate senders before tightening policy. Set up monitoring for all sending domains, including subdomains.

Email Warmup

• What it is: Automated domain and IP reputation building through simulated engagement — ZeroBounce sends and receives emails on your behalf to build positive sending signals
• How it works: Automated engagement simulation — emails are sent from your account, opened, replied to, and removed from spam if they land there
• Use case: New domains or IPs that need reputation before high-volume sending. Domains that have been dormant. Recovery after a deliverability incident.
• Best practices: Start warmup 2-4 weeks before planned campaign launches. Don't send high-volume campaigns during warmup — let the warmup build reputation first. Combine with inbox placement testing to verify progress.

Data Model — Validation Statuses

Status	Meaning	Action
Valid	Email exists and is deliverable	Safe to send
Invalid	Email does not exist or is undeliverable	Remove immediately — sending will hard bounce
Catch-All	Domain accepts all addresses — cannot confirm specific mailbox	Use AI Scoring to evaluate; include high-scoring addresses with monitoring
Spam Trap	Known spam trap address maintained by blocklist providers	Remove immediately — sending to spam traps severely damages sender reputation
Abuse	Address that has a history of marking emails as spam	Remove — sending risks spam complaints that hurt reputation
Disposable	Throwaway email from temporary email services	Remove — these expire quickly and indicate low-intent signups
Unknown	Could not determine status (server timeout, temporary error)	Retry later or exclude from campaigns — do not treat as valid
Do Not Mail	Catch-all for addresses you should not email (role-based, disposable, spam trap, etc.)	Remove from sending lists

API Quick Reference

Feature	Details
Base URL	https://api.zerobounce.net/v2/ (default)
Regional URLs	https://api-us.zerobounce.net/v2/ (US), https://api-eu.zerobounce.net/v2/ (EU)
Bulk URL	https://bulkapi.zerobounce.net/v2/
Auth	api_key query parameter on all requests
Rate limit	80,000 requests/hour on credit-consuming endpoints
SDKs	13 official SDKs (Python, Node.js, PHP, Java, C#, Ruby, Go, and more)
API version	REST v2

Key API Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	What it does
/v2/validate	GET	Validate a single email address in real-time
/v2/validatebatch	POST	Validate up to 200 emails in a single request
/v2/sendfile	POST	Upload a CSV for bulk validation (async)
/v2/filestatus	GET	Check the status of a bulk validation job
/v2/getfile	GET	Download results of a completed bulk validation
/v2/deletefile	GET	Delete a previously uploaded file
/v2/getcredits	GET	Check remaining credit balance
/v2/getusage	GET	Get credit usage statistics
/v2/activity	GET	Check email activity data for an address

Integrations

ZeroBounce integrates with 60+ platforms:

Integration	Type	What it does
HubSpot	CRM / Marketing	Native integration — verify contacts directly in HubSpot
Salesforce	CRM	Verify lead and contact emails in Salesforce
Mailchimp	ESP	Clean Mailchimp audience lists before campaigns
ActiveCampaign	Marketing automation	Verify ActiveCampaign contacts
Constant Contact	ESP	Verify subscriber lists
SendGrid	ESP	Validate emails before sending via SendGrid
Mailgun	ESP	Verify emails in Mailgun lists
Brevo	ESP	Clean Brevo contact lists
Klaviyo	ESP	Verify Klaviyo subscriber lists
Zapier	Automation	Connect ZeroBounce to 2,000+ apps
WordPress	CMS	Plugin for form validation
Shopify	E-commerce	Verify customer email lists
Pipedrive	CRM	Verify Pipedrive contact emails
Zoho	CRM	Verify Zoho CRM contacts

Pricing (as of March 2026 — verify current pricing)

Plan	Price	Credits	Notes
Free	$0/mo	100 validations/month	No credit card required
Pay-As-You-Go	From $39	2,000 credits	One-time purchase, credits do not expire
ZeroBounce ONE	$99/mo	25,000 credits/month	Subscription — includes all platform features
Enterprise	Custom	1M+ credits	Custom pricing for high-volume users

Credit economics:

• Email validation: 1 credit = 1 email validated (bulk or real-time)
• Email Finder: 20 credits per successful find
• Activity Data: Credits consumed per activity check
• AI Scoring: Credits consumed per scored email

Security & Compliance

Certification	Scope
SOC 2 Type 2	Organizational security controls, audited annually
ISO-27001	Information security management system
GDPR	EU data protection compliance
HIPAA	Healthcare data protection compliance
CCPA	California consumer privacy compliance

Step 4 — Actionable guidance

Based on the user's specific question, provide step-by-step instructions:

Bulk list validation workflow

1. Prepare your list: Export contacts as CSV with one email per row. Remove duplicates to save credits.
2. Upload: Log in to ZeroBounce → Bulk Email Validator → upload your CSV file. Or use POST /v2/sendfile via the API.
3. Wait for processing: ZeroBounce processes the list asynchronously. Check status via the dashboard or GET /v2/filestatus.
4. Review results: Download results via the dashboard or GET /v2/getfile. Review the breakdown by status (Valid, Invalid, Catch-All, Spam Trap, Abuse, Disposable, Unknown, Do Not Mail).
5. Handle catch-all addresses: Run AI Scoring on catch-all results. Set a score threshold (7+ recommended) for inclusion.
6. Download clean list: Export Valid emails (and high-scoring catch-all) for campaigns.
7. Import to your campaign tool: Upload the clean list to your ESP, CRM, or campaign platform.
8. Re-verify regularly: Re-validate every 3 months or before any major campaign.

Real-time API validation setup

1. Get your API key: Log in to ZeroBounce → API settings → copy your API key.
2. Choose your region: Default (api.zerobounce.net), US (api-us.zerobounce.net), or EU (api-eu.zerobounce.net).
3. Integrate: Call GET /v2/validate?api_key=YOUR_KEY&email=user@example.com for single validation, or POST /v2/validatebatch for up to 200 at once.
4. Handle responses: Check the status field — route Valid emails to your system, reject Invalid/Spam Trap/Abuse/Disposable, and flag Catch-All for AI Scoring.
5. Use an SDK: ZeroBounce offers 13 official SDKs — use the one for your language instead of raw HTTP calls.
6. Monitor usage: Check credits with GET /v2/getcredits and usage with GET /v2/getusage.

Blacklist monitoring setup

1. Add your IPs and domains: In ZeroBounce → Blacklist Monitor → add all sending IPs (IPv4 and IPv6) and domains.
2. Configure alerts: Set up email or webhook notifications for blacklist events.
3. Review initial scan: ZeroBounce runs an initial check — review any existing blacklist entries.
4. Act on alerts: When you receive a blacklist alert, identify the blacklist provider, check their delisting process, and submit a delisting request. Cross-reference with recent sending activity to find the cause.
5. Monitor continuously: Check the dashboard regularly — some blacklists auto-expire, others require manual delisting.

DMARC monitoring setup

1. Add your domains: In ZeroBounce → DMARC Monitor → add all domains you send email from.
2. Publish DMARC record: If you don't have a DMARC record yet, start with v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:your-dmarc-reports@yourdomain.com. ZeroBounce provides the correct record to publish.
3. Monitor reports: Review DMARC aggregate reports in the dashboard — identify all authorized senders.
4. Tighten policy gradually: Once you've identified all legitimate senders, move from p=none → p=quarantine → p=reject over weeks/months.
5. Watch for suspicious activity: Act on alerts about unauthorized senders spoofing your domain.

Email warmup workflow

1. Connect your email account: In ZeroBounce → Email Warmup → connect the Gmail or Outlook account you want to warm up.
2. Configure settings: Set daily send volume targets and ramp-up schedule.
3. Start warmup: ZeroBounce begins automated engagement — sending, opening, replying, and rescuing from spam.
4. Monitor progress: Check warmup metrics in the dashboard — delivery rates, inbox placement rates.
5. Run inbox placement tests: After 2-3 weeks, run placement tests to verify reputation improvement.
6. Transition to campaigns: Once warmup metrics stabilize, begin sending real campaigns at low volume and gradually increase.

Gotchas

Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about pricing, credit costs, and API behavior that may have changed.

• Don't treat Catch-All as Valid or Invalid. Catch-all domains accept all emails at the SMTP level, so ZeroBounce cannot confirm individual mailbox existence through standard validation alone. Don't blindly include them (risking bounces) or blindly exclude them (losing valid prospects). Use AI Scoring to evaluate catch-all addresses individually — it's what the feature was designed for.
• Don't underestimate Email Finder credit cost. At 20 credits per successful find, a batch of 500 lookups can cost up to 10,000 credits — equivalent to validating 10,000 emails. Budget Email Finder usage separately from validation credits. If you need high-volume email discovery, compare the per-find cost against dedicated email finder tools.
• Don't forget about regional API endpoints. ZeroBounce offers US and EU regional endpoints in addition to the default. If you have data residency requirements (GDPR), use the EU endpoint (api-eu.zerobounce.net). If latency matters, use the regional endpoint closest to your infrastructure. The default endpoint works globally but may not satisfy compliance requirements.
• Don't ignore the 80K/hour rate limit on credit endpoints. At 80,000 requests per hour, you can process ~22 emails per second via real-time validation. For large lists, use bulk upload (POST /v2/sendfile) instead of hammering the real-time endpoint — bulk is async and handles scale better. Use batch validation (POST /v2/validatebatch for up to 200 at a time) as a middle ground.
• Don't warm up and campaign simultaneously from the same account. Email warmup builds reputation through controlled engagement patterns. Sending live campaigns during warmup disrupts these patterns and can hurt rather than help. Finish warmup first (2-4 weeks), then transition to live sending gradually.

Step 5 — Related skills

• /sales-deliverability — Email deliverability strategy across tools (SPF/DKIM/DMARC, warmup planning, inbox placement, bounce management)
• /sales-enrich — Enrichment strategy across tools (waterfall enrichment, CRM hygiene, credit optimization)
• /sales-prospect-list — Build targeted prospect lists with ICP definition and segmentation
• /sales-integration — Connect ZeroBounce to CRM and other tools via Zapier or direct integrations
• /sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skills sales-do

Examples

Example 1: Cleaning an email list before a HubSpot campaign

User says: "I have 50,000 contacts in HubSpot and want to verify them before sending a product launch email." Skill does:

1. Recommends exporting the HubSpot contact list as CSV
2. Walks through uploading to ZeroBounce for bulk validation (50,000 credits needed)
3. Explains how to interpret results — remove Invalid, Spam Trap, Abuse, Disposable, and Do Not Mail
4. Recommends running AI Scoring on Catch-All results (set threshold at 7+ for inclusion)
5. Points to the native HubSpot integration as an alternative to manual export/import Result: Clean, verified list re-imported to HubSpot with invalid and risky addresses removed, catch-all addresses scored and filtered

Example 2: Setting up blacklist monitoring for sending infrastructure

User says: "We send from 3 IPs and 2 domains — I want to know immediately if we get blacklisted." Skill does:

1. Walks through adding all 3 IPs (IPv4 and/or IPv6) and 2 domains to Blacklist Monitor
2. Configures email and webhook alerts for immediate notification
3. Explains the 200+ blacklist providers covered and the difference between auto-expiring and manual-delist lists
4. Recommends pairing with DMARC Monitor for complete domain authentication monitoring
5. Advises cross-referencing any blacklist hits with recent sending activity to identify the cause Result: 24/7 blacklist monitoring across 200+ providers for all sending IPs and domains, with immediate alerts

Example 3: Using the API to validate emails in real-time at signup

User says: "I want to add email validation to our signup form so fake emails don't enter our database." Skill does:

1. Recommends the real-time validation endpoint GET /v2/validate or batch endpoint for form submissions
2. Shows authentication setup with the api_key parameter
3. Advises blocking Invalid, Disposable, Spam Trap, and Abuse statuses at the form level
4. Recommends using the regional API endpoint closest to the user's infrastructure for lowest latency
5. Suggests an SDK (13 available) for the user's backend language rather than raw HTTP calls
6. Calculates credit usage based on expected signup volume Result: Real-time form validation preventing invalid, disposable, and risky emails from entering the database

Troubleshooting

High percentage of Catch-All results

Symptom: A large portion of your list comes back as Catch-All, making it hard to judge list quality. Cause: Many corporate domains configure catch-all mail servers that accept all addresses — standard validation cannot confirm individual mailbox existence on these domains. Solution: Run AI Scoring on all Catch-All results. Set a threshold score (7+ recommended) for inclusion in campaigns. Monitor bounce rates for scored addresses and adjust your threshold over time. If most of your list is catch-all, it likely skews toward large enterprises — this is normal.

Bulk validation job stuck or slow

Symptom: Uploaded a CSV for bulk validation but the job status shows "processing" for an extended period. Cause: Large lists take longer to process. Network issues during upload can cause incomplete file transfers. Malformed CSV formatting can slow processing. Solution: Check job status via the dashboard or GET /v2/filestatus. For large lists (100K+), processing can take hours — this is normal. If stuck for more than 24 hours, delete the file with GET /v2/deletefile and re-upload. Ensure your CSV is properly formatted with one email per row and no special characters in the email column.

API returning "Unknown" status for many emails

Symptom: Real-time validation returns "Unknown" status for a significant percentage of emails. Cause: The receiving mail server timed out or returned an ambiguous response. Greylisting by the recipient server can cause temporary Unknown results. Network issues between ZeroBounce and the recipient server. Solution: Retry Unknown emails after a few hours — greylisting typically resolves on subsequent attempts. If Unknown rates remain high for a specific domain, that domain's mail server may be aggressively blocking verification attempts. Do not treat Unknown as Valid — exclude from campaigns or retry before sending.