How to Implement Email Verification on Your Forms

When dealing with forms, apps, websites, signup pages, etc., a common struggle of admins and owners is dummy email addresses — many users fill out forms with random, non-existent email addresses. So, if you ever need a way to verify an email address by using traditional email verification methods, you can do so with the help of Jotform integrations and widgets.

This guide covers two use case scenarios:

• Email verification before form submission — users will verify their email prior to submitting the form.
• Email verification after form submission — users will receive an email after form submission and their submission will only be verified if they received that email.

To quickly explain, the email verification process works by sending an email to the address provided, with either a unique code or a URL that can only be seen if and only if the email address provided works, exists, and is owned by the actual user.

In layman’s terms, to validate an email address means to check to see if it exists, or if it is real. Now that we know how this process works, it’s time to apply it to your forms.

Email Verification Before Submission

The E-mail Validator widget ensures that you always have valid email addresses from your forms. The widget adds a text field and a button to your form. Users would type in their email address, click on the Verify Email button, then wait for the verification email to arrive in their inbox. A unique verification code will be sent that is valid for 24 hours and can be used only once.

To add an E-mail Validator widget to your form

1. In Form Builder, click on Add Form Element in the upper-left corner.
2. Choose Widgets in the left panel.
3. Search and select E-mail Validator.

Email Verification after Submission

Submission Verifier allows your users to submit the form, regardless of whether their email address is valid or not, and only after submission should they receive a unique link that will be used for the verification process.

This link can be incorporated within your Autoresponder email. From the user’s perspective, all they need to do is click the link to get verified. And the only way they’d be able to do that is if they entered a valid email address that they own.

Submission Verifier creates a link that when visited, updates the form submission and populates a preselected form field with the desired value. This allows you to mark a form submission as verified or confirmed.

To set this up

1. In Form Builder, add a field to your form that will hold the entry’s “verified” status. The following form elements are supported:
   • Short Text
   • Dropdown
   • Single Choice
   • Multiple Choice
2. Now, go to Submission Verifier.
3. Click on Launch App and authorize the integration.

4. Next, choose the form where you want to create a verification link.
5. Select the field previously mentioned whose value will be changed after the verification link is visited by the respondent.
6. Choose or enter a value to populate your chosen form field.
7. Optionally, add a notification recipient for verified entries. For example, you can add your email address to receive notifications when an email address has been verified.
8. Customize the confirmation message the form fillers receive after verifying their email address.
9. Click on Generate Link.

10. Finally, insert the generated link into your form’s Autoresponder email.

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Use these 2 example forms below as a reference:

• Verify before submission
• Verify after submission