SendGrid Email Validation User Guide

Initial Setup:

Before using the application, Eloqua Admins will need to create the contact fields the SendGrid application will use to write data into. 

1. Log into Eloqua
2. Click the Settings gear on the top right of the page
   
3. Click 'Fields and Views' under the Database Setup section 
   
4. On the next page, click the plus sign on the bottom left and click 'Add Contact Field'
   
   
5. This will pull up edit screen for the new Contact Field. Input 'SendGrid - Verdict' in the 'Display name' field. The fields should look as follows:
   
6. Once completed, click the 'Save' button on the bottom right. 
7. Repeat steps 2-6 to create 10 additional Contact Fields for the SendGrid application. Here are names of the new Contact Fields the application will use:
   • SendGrid - Score
   • SendGrid - Suggestion
   • SendGrid - Has Valid Address Syntax
   • SendGrid - Has MX or A Record
   • SendGrid - Is Suspected Disposable Address
   • SendGrid - Is Suspected Role Address
   • SendGrid - Has Known Bounces
   • SendGrid - Has Suspected Bounces
   • SendGrid - Source
   • SendGrid - Timestamp

Eloqua is now configured to use the application.

Using the SendGrid Application in an Eloqua Campaign:

First begin by logging into Eloqua. 

1. Click the 'Create a Multi-Step Campaign' button on Eloqua's main homepage
   
2. Open up a Blank Campaign
3. Click the arrow next to 'Campaign Steps' on the top left of the page. This will collapse all campaign steps in the menu
   
4. Drag and drop a Segment Member step onto the campaign canvas
5. Choose the segment of contacts to be processed by the application
6. Drag and drop the "Sureshot Email Validation - SendGrid" application onto the campaign canvas
   
7. Drag and drop a 'Wait' step onto the campaign canvas below the Experian application. Specify a wait time.
8. Connect all three steps together, like so:
   
9. Double click the SendGrid step, and then click the 'edit' pencil icon:
   
10. This will open up a configuration screen for the SendGrid application. Title the campaign in the 'Description' field, then choose the Eloqua Credentials in the next drop-down menu. Next, map the following four dropdown menus to the designated Contact Fields previously created (these dropdowns are simply pulling a list of Eloqua contact fields). 
    
    
    
    
    NOTE: This data may be mapped into a Custom Data Object inside of Eloqua. Select the 'CDO Mapping Fields' checkbox, select the CDO where the data will be stored, and then map the fields
    
    
    
    Note: When "Use Email Address as ID" is checked, the application will write the contact's email address to this field. If left unchecked, the app will assign a unique identifier to the CDO record. 
    
    
11. Once the configuration is complete, click 'Submit' at the bottom. A green Success message will confirm the config has saved. Click out of the configuration screen. 
12. The user may now drop contacts into the campaign and have them run through the SendGrid application. As they go through the step, the application will process the email address and write the validation comment to the 'SendGrid - Verdict' contact field you created.

SendGrid Validation Responses

•  Verdict: This field will contain one of three categories: “Valid”, “Risky”, or “Invalid”. These are generic classifications based on the detailed results. You could filter off of this field if you want to go off of our suggestion, but you could also look at more detailed information like the next 2 listed.
  
  
• Score: This number from 0 to 1 represents the likelihood the email address is valid, expressed as a percentage. So for instance, a score of 0.96 could be interpreted as a 96% likelihood the email is valid. The score field allows further insight into which emails to allow in a campaign.  Sureshot recommends looking at the generic categories of the “result” field in combination with a set threshold based on this score.
  
  For example, a segment may allow contacts with a Result of "Valid" or "Risky" and the Score is greater than ".70"
  
  
• Checks: These fields will contain a list of all the checks that ran on the email address. These results may be used to determine if calculate if a contact should be included in a campaign. For instance, an email address that is a role address (e.g. admin@examplecompany.com) will come back with a “Risky” result and a maximum score of .50. A disposable email address from a service like mailinator.com would also come back with a “Risky” result and a score of .50.
  
  These granular checks will allow a user to set a threshold for addresses to be included in a campaign but allow flexibility to include lower scoring addresses that pass specific checks. As an example, a user may decide to send to all email addresses with a score of ".80" or greater, or include addresses where "Role Address" is equal to "True". 
  
  

  The SendGrid checks include:
  

  • • has_valid_address_syntax - If true, then the address is a properly formatted email address (e.g. it has an @ sign and a top level domain). If false, then it’s a malformed address.
    • has_mx_or_a_record - If true, the domain on the address has all the necessary DNS records to deliver a message somewhere. If false, the domain is missing the required DNS records and will result in a bounce if delivered to.
    • is_suspected_disposable_address - If true, the domain part of the email address appears to be from a disposable email address service, in which the addresses are only good for a short period of time.
    • is_suspected_role_address - If true, the local part of the email address (before the @ sign) appears to be a group email address such as “hr” or “admin”.
    • has_known_bounces - If true, the email address has previously been sent to through your SendGrid account and has resulted in a bounce.