Role-Based Email Addresses

Why info@ is dragging
your metrics down

Your list has 2,000 addresses starting with info@, admin@, sales@, support@. QEV marks them as deliverable — and they are. But they’re shared inboxes nobody actively monitors, and they’re dragging your open rate down.

Based on 30B+ emails verified by QuickEmailVerification

What you’ll learn

Which prefixes (info@, admin@, sales@) are role-based and why
How they drag your open rate and trigger spam complaints
The metric impact on a 50,000-contact list
When to remove vs when to keep (the exceptions)

Common role prefixes and their behavior

Prefix	Typical Use	Engagement	Spam Risk
info@	General inquiries inbox	Near zero	Medium
admin@	IT / webmaster	Near zero	High
sales@	Shared sales queue	Very low	Medium
support@	Customer support	Near zero	High
billing@	Finance / accounting	Near zero	Medium
careers@	HR / recruiting	Low-medium	Low

The engagement problem

2–3x

higher rate of emails bouncing back as undeliverable compared to emails sent to a specific person’s inbox

~0%

open rate on marketing emails sent to these addresses

Auto-reject

Some ESPs block role addresses on upload

VENDORVerticalResponse, Higher Logic

Multiple people access shared inboxes — which means anyone can flag your message as spam. That’s not malice; it’s a shared-access problem. One person’s marketing email is another person’s spam complaint.

How many role-based addresses are inflating the total count your open rate is divided by?
QEV flags every role address on your list.

Check My List Free →

How role addresses drag your metrics

Impact on a 50,000-contact list

Role-based addresses (~4%)

2,000

Opens from those 2,000

Your reported open rate

22%

Open rate without role addresses

23.1%

Role addresses alone add ~1 point of drag. Combined with catch-all addresses (domains that accept all email, even fake), you could have 20%+ of your list producing zero opens or clicks while counted as “deliverable.” See the full open rate math →

What to do

Remove from marketing and outbound email. Keep for transactional messages only — order confirmations, support tickets, account notifications.

Exceptions: A small company’s sales@ might actually be monitored by one person. careers@ is legitimate for recruiting outreach. But these are exceptions, not defaults.

If someone signed up with info@, prompt them for a personal address at the next touchpoint.

Role-Based — Quick Reference

What

Shared inbox (info@, admin@, sales@) — no individual owner

How common

3–8% of B2B lists

Risk

2–3x bounce, almost nobody opens or clicks, ESP auto-rejection

Action

Remove from marketing + outbound email. Transactional only.

QEV

role: "true", safe_to_send: "false"