Get Accurate List Counts by Finding and Fixing Invalid Email Addresses

When you build a list for a campaign in Bullhorn Automation, records with missing or unusable email addresses are automatically excluded from the engagement. This means your actual send count can be significantly lower than the total records in your list. The Is Valid and Is Not Valid operators in Bullhorn Automation's List Builder let you surface exactly which records have email address problems, so you can fix them and get the reach you expect.

You build a list of 1,000 contacts for a marketing campaign. Bullhorn Automation sends the engagement to 500 people. Where did the other 500 go? Any record without a usable email address is quietly skipped. Is Not Valid shows you who got skipped and why, so you can clean up the data before your next send.

Common Reasons You Might Need This Article

  • You want to find and fix records with missing or unusable email addresses before running a campaign.
  • Your list shows more records than your engagement actually reached, and you want to understand and close that gap.
  • You want your automations to only target records they can actually reach, so your send counts and reporting reflect real activity.
  • A recruiter has entered a phone number, placeholder text, or an incomplete address in the email field.
  • You want an ongoing automation that flags email address problems as they appear on new or updated records.

How Is Valid and Is Not Valid Work

Bullhorn Automation's List Builder and Advanced Search include Is Valid and Is Not Valid operators for the Email field. These operators check the format of the email address stored on the record. They do not check whether the inbox is currently active or accepting mail.

Is Not Valid surfaces records where the email address has any of the following problems:

  • No email address on file
  • Contains only whitespace
  • Missing the @ symbol
  • Partially formed, for example "test@" with no domain
  • Contains characters not permitted in an email address
  • Is a phone number or other non-email value entered in the email field

Is Not Valid checks format only. A correctly formatted email address will return as valid even if that inbox no longer exists or is not accepting mail.

Why Records Get Excluded from Engagements

Bullhorn Automation requires a usable email address to deliver an engagement to a record. If the email field is blank, contains only whitespace, or has a formatting problem, Bullhorn Automation skips that record. It does not show an error, and the record still appears in your list count. The engagement simply does not go out to them.

This is why a list of 1,000 can produce a send count of 500. Running Is Not Valid on your list before a campaign tells you exactly how many records have this problem so you can fix them first.

Run a One-Time Search for Invalid Email Addresses

Use Advanced Search to get an immediate picture of how many records have email address problems before your next campaign.

  1. Go to Contacts.

  2. Click Advanced Search.

  3. Select the entity: Candidates, Sales Contacts, or Leads

  4. Add a Condition: Email > Is Not Valid

  5. Click Search to view the results.

  6. Add as a new List. (optional)

  7. Scroll to the bottom of the list for the Export to CSV option. (optional)

Review the results and correct obvious data entry errors directly on the record. For large volumes of bad data, use an automation to update status in bulk and notify record owners.

Build an Automation to Flag Invalid Email Addresses Automatically

Use your Invalid Email list in an automation to flag records with a custom status. This gives your team a clear signal that the email address on the record needs to be corrected, without anyone having to hunt for the problem manually.

Before setting up this automation, confirm that a custom status exists in Bullhorn ATS for records with email address problems. A value like "Invalid Email" makes it easy for recruiters to spot flagged records and know what action is needed. To add a custom status, go to your ATS admin settings and add the value to the relevant status list for the record type you are working with.

See Changing Field Value Lists and Attributes for more information.

  1. Open your Automation and add an existing list with the Email Is Not Valid condition, or create a new one directly in the automation.
  2. Click the + to add a step.
  3. Choose Update [Entity], where the entity matches your automation type: Update Candidate, Update Contact, or Update Lead.
  4. Set How would you like to update records? to Set a field value.
  5. Set Choose field to update to Candidate Status (or Contact Status or Lead Status, depending on your entity type).
  6. From Select the new value, choose the status that indicates the email address needs to be corrected, such as Invalid Email.
  7. Click Save.

Run this automation on an ongoing basis. New records are added and imported regularly, and data entry errors are common. A continuous check means your team spends less time hunting for bad data before every send.

FAQs

Why is my engagement send count lower than my list count?

Bullhorn Automation skips any record that does not have a usable email address when delivering an engagement. The record still appears in your list total, but the engagement is not sent. Running Is Not Valid on your list before a campaign shows you which records will be skipped and why.

Does Is Not Valid only catch missing email addresses, or does it catch other problems too?

It catches several types of problems: no email on file, whitespace-only values, addresses missing the @ symbol, partially formed addresses like "test@", addresses with invalid characters, and phone numbers or other non-email values entered in the email field. It does not check whether the inbox is active or deliverable.

What's the difference between Is Not Valid and a full email validation service?

Is Not Valid checks the format of what is stored in the email field. A full email validation service goes further and checks whether the inbox actually exists and is accepting mail. Is Not Valid will not catch an address that looks correct but belongs to a closed or inactive inbox.

When should I use Is Not Valid in a search versus in an automation?

Use Advanced Search for a one-time check before a campaign or when you want to review records manually. Use it in automation list criteria when you want the system to act continuously as new records with email address problems appear.

Can I use this condition for candidates, contacts, and leads?

Yes. Is Valid and Is Not Valid are available for all three record types. You will need a separate automation for each record type, since automations are scoped to a single record type.

What if I don't have an "Invalid Email" status in my ATS?

You can still use this feature. The automation can send an internal notification to the record owner without updating a status. If you want the status update step, work with your ATS admin to configure a custom status such as "Invalid Email" for the relevant record types.

Will this automation affect records that already have a valid email address?

No. Only records that meet the Is Not Valid condition are enrolled. Records with valid email addresses are not affected.

What happens when a recruiter corrects the email address on a flagged record?

Once the address passes the format check, the record no longer meets the Is Not Valid condition and is removed from enrollment on the next list refresh. If re-entry is enabled on the automation, it will not re-enter unless the email address becomes invalid again.