Email verification for class-action settlement notices
Settlement administrators run email notice on class lists that nobody built for email. ZapBounce checks each address with its own SMTP handshake before the notice date and hands the file back with your original columns intact, plus a result, a reason and a timestamp on every row.
Since the December 2018 amendment to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(2)(B), notice can go by electronic means, and email is now the first channel on many programs. That makes the class list's email column a working part of the notice plan. You'll want to know which addresses will take a message before you send one.
Class lists come from records that were never kept for email
A class list is usually pulled from a defendant's order history, account table or loyalty program. Some of those addresses were typed at a checkout counter years ago. Others belong to accounts that closed long before the case was filed.
When the notice goes out, every dead address is a class member who didn't get email notice. Your team then has to find them another way, and the bounces from a large send can slow delivery of the rest of the campaign from your sending domain.
A check before the send turns that into a sorted file. You know which rows can take email, which need postal notice, and which sit on domains that accept every address.
How the work gets done
The order that matters for settlement administrators, rather than a generic checklist.
Upload the list with its claimant IDs
Send the file as CSV, TXT or XLSX, or post it to the batch endpoint. Your original columns come back in the download, so each result stays tied to the claimant ID, the mailing address and anything else your case system needs.
Read four results, not a pass or fail
Each row returns valid, invalid, catch_all or unknown, with a reason, the literal SMTP code and a checked_at timestamp in UTC. Invalid rows go straight to the postal notice path. Valid rows go into the email send.
Handle typos before anyone else does
When an address looks like a slip, such as gmial.com, the did_you_mean field suggests a fix and leaves the decision to you. Nothing is changed in your data without your say, which matters when the list is part of the case record.
Keep the export with the notice records
Download the results as CSV or XLSX and file them with the rest of your notice documentation. The billed flag on each row shows exactly which checks were charged, so the cost line on your invoice to the fund reconciles row by row.
Delete the class list when you're done
ZapBounce keeps uploaded addresses for 30 days by default. You can set any API key to anywhere from 0 to 90 days, and DELETE /v1/batches/{id} removes a batch and every address in it at once.
The hard cases in settlement administrators, and how they come back
What it costs
A 100,000-row class list costs $139, and a list of one million costs $949. Duplicates across purchase records are never billed, and neither are unknown results or rows rejected on syntax alone. Credits never expire, so you can buy for a large program and run a second check closer to the notice date from the same balance.
Every tier works the same way. Unknown results and duplicates are never billed, and credits do not expire.
Questions we get asked
Does verification send anything to class members?
No. ZapBounce opens the SMTP connection, asks about the recipient and closes before DATA, so no message reaches the class member and nothing appears in their inbox.
Can I show which addresses were checked and when?
Yes. Every row in the results export carries a checked_at timestamp in UTC, the result, the reason and the SMTP code the server gave. File that export with your notice records and you have a dated account of the check.
How long does ZapBounce keep a class list?
30 days by default. Each API key has its own retention window from 0, which deletes the data on download, up to 90 days. You can also delete a whole batch at once, or erase one address across the account.
Where is the class list processed?
ZapBounce is hosted in the United States, and a list stays there except for the SMTP probe to each receiving mail server. ZapBounce never sells uploaded addresses, never adds them to a shared database and never contacts the people on a list.
Try it on your own list first
100 free checks a month, no card. Run a sample and read the unresolved count before you decide anything.