validating email addresses are actual and real when they are submitted

  • 17 January 2021
  • 34 replies
  • 4785 views

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

folks - a quick question that I am trying to find answers to across the Typeform ‘estate’ of documentation but not having success in finding:

it is always an issue with asking for email addresses from respondents - easy enough to validate the format of an email but not so easy to know on submission if the email address is valid. ie joe@yeahyeahyeah.ca  - the format looks fine but is this a real email address?

is there an integration with an email verification tool that is available (i could not see one in the list)? 

I know there are several different workflows that can be used to verify and validate that yes someone did indeed complete the form (ie an email notification to the user that says thanks for message and either asks them to confirm their email address and sends a hidden field back to another typeform, etc, as per the tutorials and the help doco) but rather than have to address exceptions coming back from ‘bad email addresses’ etc., is there an integration to something like xverify, kickbox, etc??

 

just checkin’

 

picsoung 1 year ago

Hey @scifice 
While we may not be able to offer this feature right at the moment, there are probably ways to integrate this in your worfklow.

I understand that it might not be ideal, but it could be a solution for now.

Do you use anything like Zapier or Integromat/Make?
You could use tools like Hunter.io or Kickbox

Or even use a system like Twilio where an email get sent with a unique code.

Happy to help out while our Product team is working hard to build this feature.

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34 replies

I believe its downright stupid to route to external entities to get a simple yet extremely important task to be completed in the form itself. 

Again, its also dumb to think that validation = verification!! There might be endless tools out there, but they don’t mean a thing, if they are not water tight.

Any and every form SHOULD have verification built in Typeform or anything else.

You might have started the thread, but it seems that you've given in to the idea that some things cannot be done. We need to pursue/push Typeform to get some things done and if they can't, that's ok too.

But in this process they’ll remain agile and think of new ways to make the product better and not “be so lazy!”

 

 

Badge +5

I believe its downright stupid to route to external entities to get a simple yet extremely important task to be completed in the form itself. 

Again, its also dumb to think that validation = verification!! There might be endless tools out there, but they don’t mean a thing, if they are not water tight.

Any and every form SHOULD have verification built in Typeform or anything else.

You might have started the thread, but it seems that you've given in to the idea that some things cannot be done. We need to pursue/push Typeform to get some things done and if they can't, that's ok too.

But in this process they’ll remain agile and think of new ways to make the product better and not “be so lazy!”

 

 

 

@scifice I do agree this would be a great addition as a native functionality and the team is aware of the demand. I passed on your previous comment to our VP of Product and she agrees this is a really important feature, however they are also working on many more features that have higher demand from our customers. I wish we could do all at once, but that’s unfortunately not possible. 

Also, I’d appreciate if we keep the conversation here constructive and healthy. Some of the words in your previous message are unnecessary. I can see this is very important for you and I’m making sure the product team is fully aware.  

Thank you 🙏🏾  

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Hey @scifice 
While we may not be able to offer this feature right at the moment, there are probably ways to integrate this in your worfklow.

I understand that it might not be ideal, but it could be a solution for now.

Do you use anything like Zapier or Integromat/Make?
You could use tools like Hunter.io or Kickbox

Or even use a system like Twilio where an email get sent with a unique code.

Happy to help out while our Product team is working hard to build this feature.

@Gabriel Its good to see that your team, including your VP are aware of this issue and are giving it the priority it deserves.

Honestly, I would not want to dwell nor do I need to tell you how and when what words need to be used. My reply was simply befitting for the unnecessarily condescending and some loosely used adjectives.

Thanks. I would definitely keep those options close to me @picsoung 

But I truly think Typeform is a great tool and with such minor modifications, it can really carve out some ancillary revenue channels. ✌

Badge +5

Thanks for the honest feedback @scifice . It helps us trigger conversations with the product team and you can rest assured they are aware of your concerns. 

Hi, Simeon from the Support team here! - thought I’d share a workaround another Typeformer is using for this here:

 

Essentially, the idea is to split it into 2 forms and combine the hidden fields, redirect button, and respondent notifications features.

  • So for the first form - I added an email question, and enabled respondent notifications. In the content of the notification email, I included an “access code” which the user would need to access the second form. 
    • Then - on the ending screen - a button link that directs respondents to the 2nd form with their email address included in the URL as a hidden field on the second form.
  • On the second form - question one recalls the value from the hidden field to say something like “Check @email  for the verification code to continue.” 
    • Configure the logic on this form so that without entering the correct code (which they would get by having previously entered a valid email address on the first form and receiving the notification) - the respondent is unable to progress. 
    • Finally, after entering the correct code the respondent can progress to the remainder of the form.

 

 

Hopefully this can be helpful in the meantime!

Hi,

 

Just wanted to say our company would also appreciate native solution, because setting 2 other apps for this is just creating potential issue in the flow, we’d rather avoid. Also because we integrate with Hubspot the 2 forms solution doesn’t seem optimal either.  So just adding my vote for an in-house feature :)

Userlevel 5
Badge +5

I would also like to see a way to check the validity of the email while the user is filling the form.

A simple solution could be:
- to expose the email in a specific Callback onEmailEntered
- use the onQuestionChanged callback, and instead of returning only the new question, returning the previous question too, with its type and result.

Then, allow the user to send back or modify a typeform variable (could be a type of "external" variable if you don't want users to mess up with the variables used for logic), that you can then use in a logic. The variable will not be available instantly, so one will have to wait for later during the flow to make the control, but that would still be great to be able to send the user back to the email question if we detect the email is wrong, preventing him to validate the form.

By allowing this 2-way communication using onQuestionChanged callback and accepting back variables, that would open a lot more customization options for advanced users with specific needs.

Any update on this? We would like to use it as well...

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