Learning Objective
By the end of this guide, you'll understand the three email deliverability statuses (Deliverable, Risky, Undeliverable) and how to use them to improve your email campaigns and protect your sender reputation.
Why This Matters
Not all email addresses are equal. Sending to invalid or risky addresses damages your domain reputation and wastes your time. Without understanding deliverability statuses:
❌ You send to addresses that don't exist (hard bounces)
❌ Your bounce rate increases, hurting your reputation
❌ ISPs flag your domain as a spammer
❌ You waste sends on temporary or fake emails
Using deliverability statuses helps you:
✅ Avoid hard bounces by filtering undeliverable emails
✅ Protect your domain reputation
✅ Focus on real, engaged prospects
✅ Improve reply rates by targeting valid addresses
Prerequisites
Before using deliverability statuses:
You have leads imported into a lemlist campaign
Email verification enabled (lemlist automatically verifies emails during enrichment)
Access to campaign leads section to view statuses
Understanding of bounce types (optional, but helpful)
Step 1: Find Deliverability Statuses in Your Campaign
Go to your campaign in lemlist
Click Leads tab
Look at the leads list
Hover over the "enrich stats" icon (envelope icon) next to each lead's email address
A tooltip will display the email's deliverability status.
Step 2: Understand the Three Deliverability Statuses
✅ Deliverable
What it means: The recipient's email provider confirmed that the email address is valid and active. It's safe to send messages to this address.
What to do: ✅ Send to these addresses—they're verified and safe.
Example:[email protected] → Verified by the email provider, inbox is active.
⚠️ Risky
What it means: This email address may lead to a bounce or low engagement. Risky addresses require caution.
Three types of risky addresses:
1. Accept All
What it means: The inbox accepts all incoming emails, regardless of whether the address actually exists. The email server doesn't verify if the specific mailbox is valid.
Risk: You won't know if the address is real until you send—it might bounce.
What to do:
Send cautiously (or skip if your bounce rate is already high)
Monitor bounce rates closely
Example:[email protected] → Server accepts all emails, but the mailbox might not exist.
2. Full Mailbox
What it means: The recipient's inbox is full and cannot receive new messages.
Risk: Your email will bounce (soft bounce) until they clear space.
What to do:
Skip this address for now
Retry after a few weeks (they may clear their inbox)
Example:[email protected] → Inbox is at capacity.
3. Disposable
What it means: This is a temporary or throwaway email address, often used for short-term purposes (e.g., signing up for free trials, avoiding spam).
Risk: Low engagement—these addresses are rarely monitored and often expire quickly.
What to do:
Skip these addresses
They're unlikely to engage or convert
Example:[email protected] → Temporary email, not a real prospect.
Undeliverable
What it means: The email address is either incorrectly formatted or does not exist. Sending to this address will result in a hard bounce.
Risk: Hard bounces directly damage your domain reputation. Avoid at all costs.
What to do: ❌ Do not send to these addresses. Remove them from your list immediately.
Example:john.doe@companycom (missing .) → Invalid format. [email protected] → Domain doesn't exist.
Step 3: Filter Leads by Deliverability Status
Use lemlist's filtering options to manage leads based on their status.
Filter for Deliverable Only
Go to your campaign → Leads tab
Click Filters (top-right)
Select Deliverability Status → Deliverable
Click Apply
Now you see only verified, safe-to-send addresses.
Remove Undeliverable Leads
Go to Leads tab
Click Filters
Select Deliverability Status → Undeliverable
Select all filtered leads (checkbox at top)
Click Remove from campaign
This protects your bounce rate and domain reputation.
Step 4: Decide What to Do with Risky Leads
Option 1: Send cautiously
If your domain reputation is strong and bounce rate is low (<3%), you can try sending to "Accept All" addresses. Monitor closely.
Option 2: Skip risky leads
If your bounce rate is already high (>5%) or your domain is new, skip risky addresses entirely. Focus on "Deliverable" only.
Option 3: Manually verify
For high-value prospects, manually verify risky addresses (e.g., LinkedIn, company website) before sending.
How You'll Know It Worked
✓ You see deliverability statuses when hovering over the enrich stats icon in the Leads tab
✓ Bounce rate drops after removing undeliverable and risky addresses
✓ Campaign metrics improve (higher open rates, fewer bounces)
✓ Domain reputation stays healthy (check Google Postmaster Tools)
Troubleshooting
Issue: I don't see deliverability statuses on my leads
Root cause: Email verification not enabled, or leads not enriched yet.
Fix:
Go to campaign → Leads → select leads → click Enrich
Wait for enrichment to complete (a few seconds per lead)
Deliverability statuses will appear after enrichment
Issue: All my leads show as "Risky" or "Undeliverable"
Root cause: Poor quality email list (scraped data, outdated addresses, incorrect sources).
Fix:
Use lemlist's Email Finder to find verified emails
Import leads from trusted sources (LinkedIn, company websites)
Avoid buying email lists, they're usually low quality
Issue: I sent to "Deliverable" addresses but still got bounces
Root cause: Email verification isn't 100% accurate (addresses can become invalid after verification).
Fix:
Accept that some bounces are normal (aim for <5%)
Clean your list regularly (remove bounces after each campaign)
Use lemwarm to protect your domain reputation
Optimization Tips
Prioritize "Deliverable" addresses: Focus your outreach on verified emails to maximize reply rates and protect your reputation.
Remove "Undeliverable" immediately: Don't risk sending to invalid addresses—they hurt your domain reputation.
Test "Accept All" carefully: If you decide to send to "Accept All" addresses, do it in a separate campaign and monitor bounce rates closely.
Skip "Disposable" emails: These are low-quality prospects with near-zero engagement. Not worth your time.
Re-verify old lists: If your email list is more than 6 months old, re-verify addresses before sending. Email addresses change frequently.
Use enrichment strategically: Enrich leads before launching campaigns to catch undeliverable addresses early.
Monitor bounce rate: Keep it below 5%. If it rises above 5%, pause your campaign and clean your list.