# Role-Based Email Addresses: info@, sales@ and More

URL: https://email-validation.org/guides/role-based-email-addresses/
Updated: 2026-11-06

> Documentation index: https://email-validation.org/llms.txt

A role-based address, such as `info@`, `sales@` or `support@`, belongs to a function or a team rather than to one
person. Mail to it often reaches several people, or a ticket system, and the people reading it may change. Role
addresses are fine for business replies and transactional mail, but they behave badly in marketing lists: nobody
personally signed up, so engagement is low and complaints are more likely. Keep them, but in their own segment.

## Where role addresses come from

Some role names are older than the web. [RFC 2142](https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2142/), from 1997, lists
mailbox names that organizations are encouraged to support for the functions they have:

- business: `info`, `marketing`, `sales`, `support`;
- network operations: `abuse`, `noc`, `security`;
- services: `postmaster` (mail), `hostmaster` (DNS), `webmaster` and `www` (the website), and a few for older
  services such as `usenet`, `news`, `uucp` and `ftp`.

One is required by the mail standard itself: [RFC 5321](https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5321/) says a system
that delivers or relays mail must accept mail for `postmaster`. Beyond these, organizations create their own:
`hello@`, `billing@`, `jobs@`, `hr@`, `office@`, `team@`, `noreply@` and many more.

## Why they matter in a mailing list

A role address is not wrong. It is a real mailbox, and sending a quote to `sales@` or an invoice to `billing@` is
exactly what it is for. The problems start when role addresses end up in marketing or newsletter lists:

- **Nobody signed up.** Role addresses are often published on websites, so they reach lists by scraping, by a
  colleague typing the shared address into a form, or through bought data. The people who read the mailbox never
  asked for your newsletter.
- **More people can complain.** When several people share a mailbox, each of them can press "report spam". Both Gmail
  and Yahoo require senders to keep the share of mail reported as spam below 0.3%
  ([Gmail and Yahoo sender requirements](https://email-validation.org/guides/gmail-yahoo-sender-requirements/#spam-rate)).
- **Readers change.** The person who agreed to your mail may have left the company; the address lives on with someone
  else behind it.
- **Some addresses are for reports only.** `abuse@` and `postmaster@` exist to receive complaints and delivery
  problems. A newsletter sent there is read by the people whose job is to deal with unwanted mail.
- **Low engagement.** Shared inboxes are often filtered, forwarded or handled by rules, so opens and clicks are rare.
  Yahoo's [sender best practices](https://senders.yahooinc.com/best-practices/) note that mail to recipients who do
  not read it harms your delivery metrics and reputation.

Some email marketing platforms restrict role addresses in imports or ask for extra confirmation; check the rules of
the one you use.

## How email-validation.org flags role addresses

Every result carries the field `role_account` (`null` when it cannot be told, as for a malformed address). It is `true` when the part
before the `@` is a team or function name, as found by the check and by our own list of such names, and it never
changes the status: an address can be
`role_account: true` and `valid`, `catch_all` or even `invalid`. Two reasons also name it:

- `valid` with the reason [`role_account`](https://email-validation.org/docs/statuses/valid/#role_account): the mailbox works and belongs to a
  team or function. The action is `send_with_caution`.
- `catch_all` with the reason [`role_catch_all`](https://email-validation.org/docs/statuses/catch-all/#role_catch_all): a role address on a domain
  that accepts mail for every address, so the mailbox itself cannot be confirmed
  ([catch-all emails explained](https://email-validation.org/guides/catch-all-emails/)). The action is also `send_with_caution`.

A role address that does not exist is still `invalid`, with the action `remove`: the status and the action come
first, the flag adds context. In a [bulk](https://email-validation.org/bulk-email-verification/) result file, the flag is the column
`ev_role_account`, next to `ev_status`, `ev_reason` and `ev_action`, so you can filter role addresses in a
spreadsheet. The [response fields](https://email-validation.org/docs/api/validate/#response) explain the other flags.

To test how your code handles them, the free test address `role_account@sandbox.email-validation.org` returns the reason
`role_account` without checking anything ([test addresses](https://email-validation.org/docs/test-addresses/)).

## What to do with them

It depends on the mail and on where the address came from.

| Situation | Suggested handling |
|---|---|
| Transactional mail: receipts, invoices, account notices | Send as usual. A shared `billing@` is often the right recipient. |
| B2B sales or support conversations | Send: the address exists to receive such mail. |
| A newsletter the person signed up for with a role address | Keep it, ideally confirmed by [double opt-in](https://email-validation.org/guides/double-opt-in/), and watch the segment. |
| A marketing list of unknown origin, or bought data | Do not mail it. Role addresses there are a symptom, not the main problem. |
| `abuse@`, `postmaster@`, `noc@`, `security@` in a marketing list | Remove them. |

In practice:

1. **Segment.** Put role addresses in their own group in your sending platform, so their engagement and complaints
   are visible on their own.
2. **Mail them less.** Send the segment only your most relevant campaigns.
3. **Suppress the silent ones.** A role address that never opens or clicks over several campaigns is worth removing.
4. **Do not block them at sign-up by default.** For a business product, `team@` or `admin@` may be how a customer
   wants to be reached. Our [sign-up form recipe](https://email-validation.org/docs/guides/signup-form-validation/#decide) accepts them and
   flags them; ask for a personal address only if your product needs one person per account.

## Questions

### Is a role address the same as a catch-all address?

No. A role address describes the name before the `@`; catch-all describes a domain that accepts mail for any name.
They can coincide, which is the reason `role_catch_all`.

### Will a role address bounce more often?

Not because it is a role address: if the mailbox exists, mail arrives. Shared mailboxes can sit behind filtering
rules or forwarding, and their readers change, so watch the segment's results rather than assuming.

### Is `noreply@` a role address?

It is a function address, and usually one that should never be in a mailing list at all: it was never meant to
receive mail from you. If it appears in your list, it most likely came from scraping or a form filled in carelessly.

### Are free webmail addresses role addresses?

No. `free_email` is a separate field: it says the address is at a free mail provider. The role flag is about the
name before the `@`, the free-mail flag about the provider after it. Whether a B2B form should accept free addresses
is covered in [free vs business email](https://email-validation.org/guides/free-vs-business-email/).

## Try it

Check an address with the free [email checker](https://email-validation.org/email-checker/) and look at the role flag, or run your list through
[bulk email verification](https://email-validation.org/bulk-email-verification/) and filter the `ev_role_account` column.

## Related

- [The valid status](https://email-validation.org/docs/statuses/valid/#when-to-send): when to send with caution.
- [Glossary: role address](https://email-validation.org/glossary/#role-address).

## Related guides

- [Catch-all emails explained](https://email-validation.org/guides/catch-all-emails/)
- [How to clean an email list](https://email-validation.org/guides/email-list-cleaning/)
- [Spam traps explained](https://email-validation.org/guides/spam-traps/)
- [Double opt-in (confirmed opt-in)](https://email-validation.org/guides/double-opt-in/)
- [Free vs business email addresses](https://email-validation.org/guides/free-vs-business-email/)
- [All guides](https://email-validation.org/guides/)

## Sources

- [RFC 2142, Mailbox Names for Common Services, Roles and Functions](https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2142/).
- [RFC 5321, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol](https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5321/): the `postmaster` mailbox.
- [Yahoo: Sender best practices](https://senders.yahooinc.com/best-practices/).
- [Google: Email sender guidelines FAQ](https://support.google.com/a/answer/14229414): the spam-rate limit.

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