ZapBounce and Brevo
Brevo reviews new accounts before allowing sends, and the review looks at where your contacts came from. A large imported list on a fresh account is the pattern that attracts attention.
Verifying before the import means the review sees a clean list and you have an answer ready for the question about provenance.
The account review happens before your first campaign
Brevo asks new accounts about the source of their contacts and can hold sending until satisfied. A list imported wholesale from another platform is exactly the case that triggers the question.
After the review, bounce rate remains a live constraint. Brevo suspends sending on rates that suggest an unmaintained list, and their support process for reinstating is a conversation rather than a button.
Brevo also offers its own verification as a paid add-on, which tells you how seriously they take the input. Verifying before import means you arrive with the problem already solved.
How the data moves
Export contacts as CSV
Brevo exports contacts with their attributes intact. Those attribute columns come back untouched in the verified file, so nothing needs re-joining.
Verify before the import, not after
Importing then cleaning leaves a window where a scheduled automation could fire at the unverified contacts. Verifying first closes it.
Use an attribute for the verdict
Brevo attributes are usable in list conditions, so the verdict becomes a filter rather than a note nobody reads.
Check at the form for ongoing hygiene
Brevo forms post to its API. A verification call in front of that keeps the list from degrading between cleans.
Setting it up
- Export the contact list from Brevo as CSV, keeping all attribute columns.
- Upload the file for verification and wait for the completion webhook.
- Create a text attribute in Brevo for the verdict and one for the check date.
- Import the verified file, matching on email so existing contacts update.
- Create a list condition filtering on the verdict attribute for your sending list.
- Blocklist the invalid contacts in Brevo rather than deleting them, so the record of the decision survives.
Brevo: common questions
Will verification get my account through the Brevo review?
It removes the deliverability objection. The consent question is separate and needs documentation about where the contacts came from.
Brevo sells verification too. Why use this?
Compare them on the same sample and look at the unresolved count rather than the valid count. That is the number that shows what each one is actually doing.
Should invalid contacts be blocklisted or deleted?
Blocklisted. It prevents any future automation sending to them, and the contact record stays available if someone asks what happened.
Check a Brevo export today
100 free checks a month, no card. Unknown results and duplicates are never billed.