How to Use the Email Risk Assessment Tool in Sparkforge

By Sparkforge Support Team ·Last reviewed May 3, 2026

The Email Risk Assessment tool runs bulk verification against an imported contact list and breaks results into deliverable, undeliverable, catch-all, and unknown — with high/medium/low/unknown risk levels. Use it before you send to keep bounce rates and sender reputation in good shape.

The Email Risk Assessment tool scans an imported contact list and reports on deliverability before you send. It runs Sparkforge's bulk verification against every address, sorts results into risk categories, and writes the run to a history tab so you can see how list quality trends over time.

Risk Assessment is available to Sparkforge Email (LC) users at the agency level, applied to locations on the LC email system.

Risk categories

Category	What it means
High	Highly likely to be undeliverable. The mailbox is non-existent, the domain has no MX records, or the inbox is full.
Medium	May or may not deliver. The server responded ambiguously, the domain is a catch-all, or the address looks generated.
Low	Likely deliverable. The server responded positively and the address is well-formed against a legitimate domain.
Unknown	Could not be verified due to server errors or temporary issues. Try again later.

When you'd use it

Before a marketing send: avoid bouncing a campaign and tanking your sender reputation.
After signup imports: catch typos, fake addresses, and dead inboxes before they hit your CRM.
CRM hygiene: revalidate older lists where contacts may have changed jobs.
Transactional mail: confirm order confirmations and receipts will actually land.
Surveys, recruiting, education: any time list quality drives the result.

How it triggers

When you import a CSV into the CRM and the sub-account is on Sparkforge Email SMTP without per-address email verification enabled, Sparkforge analyzes the import in the background. A popup appears in the app and an email goes to the sub-account team summarizing risk levels — both nudge you to turn on email verification.

Sample notification email

Subject: Email content for list of high risk

Hi [sub-account business name],

We scanned your latest contact import and found:
Deliverable: 71.84%
High Risk: 17.81%

Activating native email verification eliminates risk by blocking sends to invalid addresses. Once active, the system won't attempt to deliver to anything marked invalid.

[support article link]

The Risk Assessment tab

Find historical runs at Settings → Email Services → Risk Assessment. The tab tracks every import-level verification job.

Records: number of jobs displayed.
Date Range: filter the displayed runs.
Import Name: matches the bulk import action name — keep them unique.
Created at: timestamp the job started.
No. of Emails: total addresses processed.
Deliverable / Undeliverable / Unknown (%): share of each result type.
Pagination: for navigating large history.

What to do with the report

Remove or re-verify Undeliverable and Unknown addresses before sending. If a batch shows an unusually high Unknown rate, re-run the verification — that often reflects temporary server issues. Going forward, collect addresses through reliable sources (double opt-in helps), and verify lists periodically based on bounce rates and list growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are some addresses returned as Unknown?

The recipient's mail server didn't respond cleanly, was unreachable, or applied privacy restrictions. Re-run verification later — many Unknown results resolve on retry.

Can a Deliverable address still bounce?

Yes. The mailbox can be full, the server temporarily unavailable, or the message flagged as spam. Deliverable means valid and reachable at scan time, not guaranteed inbox placement.

How often should I verify my list?

Before any significant campaign, and on a cadence based on list growth and bounce rates. Active prospecting lists need more frequent checks than long-standing customer lists.

Is the Risk Assessment job billed per email?

Bulk verification consumption follows your Sparkforge Email plan's verification policy. Check the agency settings or current pricing in the help center for specifics on charges.

Does verification access the email content?

No. The check confirms whether an address is valid and reachable — it does not read or access the contents of any message.