Seatext library / BotRefund evidence
How BotRefund Checks for Invalid Emails in Ad Traffic Audits
BotRefund does not offer a standalone email verification tool. Instead, it flags invalid email domains as one signal within its broader bot detection and lead-quality audit for Meta and Google ad campaigns. The platform...
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Direct answer
BotRefund checks for invalid emails as part of its automated traffic audit for paid campaigns, not as a separate email validation service. When you run a BotRefund audit on your Meta or Google ad traffic, the platform examines lead contactability signals — including invalid email domains, disconnected phone numbers, repeated addresses, and unusual country-code concentrations — to distinguish bot submissions from real prospects. You install the BotRefund script on your landing pages, let it collect session data, and then review the audit report where invalid email patterns appear alongside other bot indicators.
How the email check fits into the audit
BotRefund’s detection model treats an invalid email domain as one piece of corroborating evidence. A single anomaly does not trigger a bot verdict; the system cross-checks the email signal against 100+ independent browser, network, device, and behavioral signals. If the same session also shows superhuman input speed, absent mouse tremor, grid-aligned pointer movement, or no scrolling, the combined pattern supports a high-confidence bot classification. This multi-signal approach is why BotRefund reports 99% detection confidence and an 83% refund recovery rate across 2,500+ audits.
Prerequisites before you start
- Active Meta or Google ad campaigns driving traffic to a landing page you control.
- Ability to add a JavaScript snippet to the landing page (or use Google Tag Manager).
- Access to the ad account’s click IDs (GCLID, FBCLID) so BotRefund can tie sessions to specific campaigns, placements, and creatives.
- A CRM or lead export that lets you match BotRefund session IDs to submitted email addresses for verification.
Step-by-step: running an audit that surfaces invalid emails
- Create a BotRefund account and add your domain. The platform generates a unique tracking script.
- Install the script on every landing page that receives paid traffic. Place it in the
<head>so it loads before any form interactions. - Enable click-ID capture in the BotRefund dashboard. This links each session to the originating ad click (GCLID for Google, FBCLID for Meta).
- Run traffic for 7–14 days (or until you have a statistically meaningful sample). BotRefund records 110+ signals per session, including form completion timing, pointer behavior, scroll depth, and browser fingerprint consistency.
- Open the audit report. Navigate to the “Contactability” section. You will see counts and percentages for invalid email domains, disconnected numbers, repeated addresses, and country-code anomalies.
- Cross-reference with your CRM. Export the session IDs flagged for invalid emails and match them to your lead records. Confirm whether those leads bounced, were unreachable, or never progressed.
- Decide on action. If the invalid-email cluster aligns with other bot signals (speed, no scroll, identical field structures), you can suppress those conversion events in Meta/Google, request a refund using BotRefund’s platform-formatted report, or adjust targeting to exclude the offending placements.
Key signals BotRefund evaluates alongside email validity
| Signal category | What BotRefund measures | Why it matters for email checks |
|---|---|---|
| Contactability | Invalid email domains, disconnected numbers, repeated addresses, unusual country-code concentration | Directly flags the email quality issue you are investigating |
| Timing | Burst arrivals, instant form submits, conversions at odd hours | Bots often submit forms faster than humans can type a valid email |
| Session behavior | No scrolling, no field corrections, uniform click paths, near-zero time on page | A session that never scrolls but submits an email is highly suspicious |
| Campaign patterns | Lead-quality gaps by placement, creative, audience expansion, device, landing page | Helps you isolate which traffic source produces the bad emails |
| CRM outcome | Reported leads vs. calls connected, demos booked, qualified opportunities | Confirms whether the invalid emails correspond to zero downstream value |
Verification step: confirm the finding before you act
Before pausing a campaign or filing a refund claim, take one CRM-matched sample of 20–30 leads flagged for invalid emails. Call or email each one manually. If 90%+ are genuinely unreachable or bounce, the BotRefund signal is validated and you can proceed with suppression or a refund request. If a meaningful share respond, the email domain may be unusual but the lead real — adjust your suppression rules accordingly.
Limitations of BotRefund’s email check
- Not a bulk email verifier. You cannot upload a CSV of addresses for syntax, MX, or deliverability checks. The email signal only appears for sessions that originated from your paid ads and landed on a page with the BotRefund script installed.
- Domain-level only. BotRefund flags obviously invalid domains (e.g., “gmail.con”, “yahooo.com”, disposable domains). It does not verify mailbox existence or catch valid domains with typoed local-parts (e.g., “john.smith@gamil.com”).
- Requires paid traffic. Organic, direct, or referral visits are not analyzed unless you explicitly tag them.
- Attribution dependency. If your landing page strips click IDs or uses a redirect that drops parameters, BotRefund cannot tie the session to the ad campaign, and the email signal loses its refund context.
When BotRefund’s email signal is most useful
- You see a steady cost-per-lead in Ads Manager but sales reports rising bounce rates and unreachable contacts.
- You suspect a specific placement (e.g., Audience Network, Instagram Explore) or creative is attracting form bots.
- You need refund-ready evidence formatted for Meta or Google review — BotRefund exports click IDs, timestamps, session recordings, and signal-by-signal reasoning in the exact structure platform reviewers expect.
- You want to protect your conversion pixels from “pixel poisoning” so the ad algorithm optimizes for real humans, not bot submissions.
Common mistakes to avoid
| Mistake | Why it hurts | Better approach |
|---|---|---|
| Treating every invalid email as fraud | Real users make typos; disposable domains are sometimes used by privacy-conscious buyers | Require at least two corroborating bot signals (e.g., speed + no scroll) before suppressing |
| Installing the script only on the thank-you page | Misses the pre-form behavior that distinguishes bots from humans | Place the script on the landing page and every step of the funnel |
| Pausing campaigns before preserving attribution | Lost click IDs make refund claims impossible | Export the BotRefund report first, then adjust targeting |
| Expecting mailbox-level validation | BotRefund does not ping SMTP servers | Pair BotRefund with a dedicated email verification API if you need mailbox checks |
FAQ
Can I use BotRefund to clean my existing email list?
No. BotRefund only analyzes live sessions that come from paid ad clicks on pages where its script is installed. It does not accept uploaded lists or perform syntax/MX/deliverability checks on stored addresses.
Does BotRefund catch temporary or disposable email domains?
Yes. The contactability signal includes known disposable domains as part of the “invalid email domain” flag. The domain list is updated continuously.
How long until invalid email data appears in the dashboard?
Sessions appear in near real time, but the contactability summary becomes statistically meaningful after several hundred paid visits — typically 3–7 days depending on volume.
Will BotRefund automatically block form submissions from invalid emails?
No. BotRefund is an audit and evidence layer. It does not intercept or block form posts. You use its report to suppress conversion events in the ad platform or to add exclusion rules in your form handler.
What if my CRM shows the email is valid but BotRefund flagged the domain?
Check whether the domain is a known alias (e.g., “googlemail.com” vs. “gmail.com”) or a corporate domain that resembles a typo. BotRefund’s domain list is conservative; false positives are rare but possible. Manually verify a sample before taking action.
Can I get a refund for leads with invalid emails?
Only if the invalid email cluster is part of a broader bot pattern that meets Meta’s or Google’s invalid traffic policies. BotRefund’s refund-ready report packages the email signal with click IDs, behavioral evidence, and session recordings so the platform reviewer can see the full picture. Across 2,500+ audits, 83% of clients recovered funds.
Does BotRefund work with lead forms hosted on Meta (Instant Forms) or Google (Lead Form Extensions)?
BotRefund’s script must load on the page where the user interacts. Native platform lead forms do not allow third-party scripts. For those placements, you rely on the platform’s own invalid traffic filters and cannot collect BotRefund’s behavioral signals.
Further reading and comparison sources
These external sources provide additional context for evaluating the topic. Their inclusion is not an endorsement.
How BotRefund can help
BotRefund installs a lightweight script on your landing pages and captures 110+ signals per session — including the contactability checks that surface invalid email domains. The platform then builds a refund-ready report with click IDs, timestamps, session recordings, and signal-by-signal reasoning formatted for Meta and Google reviewers. Across 2,500+ audits, 83% of clients recovered ad spend. The email signal alone is not a verdict; it gains weight when combined with speed, pointer, scroll, and timing anomalies. You need paid traffic, a page you control, and click-ID passthrough to use it. BotRefund does not verify mailbox existence or accept uploaded lists.