Guest Post: Easily Prevent Fake Data with Web Form Security

This guest post is brought to you by xVerify. The phrase “what you don’t know, don’t hurt” does not apply in the digital marketing world. Fake data has been a consistent problem for online marketers. On average, 15-18% of new website registrations are either fictitious or inaccurate. So, why have you not yet taken steps to start adding layers of security to your site?

Fake Data: How an unsecured web form hurts your marketing.

1. Spambots: While getting new email signups sound exciting, it’s quite the opposite to learn later you are dealing with fake data. If you’ve ever installed a WordPress blog, you know how susceptible it can be to have annoying and irrelevant comments. The same thing goes when acquiring new subscribers. If they are fake, you are going to find out when you see a high amount of hard bounces.
2. Hard bounces: Spambots can be a leading cause of hard bounces. Too many hard bounces and you will get kicked off of your email platform. Protecting your incoming data is essential to maintain good mailing practices. You don’t want to risk your sender reputation and deliverability.

How can you protect your website?

1. Captcha: One of the best ways to keep spam bots at bay is to utilize Captcha. Captcha is those jumbled up letters and numbers that you plug into a website that makes you squint your eyes and do more than three tries before you get success. Sure, it’s going to safeguard you from bots, but it is going to frustrate your users. When it comes to digital marketing, the golden rule is never to make your user feel frustrated. You do not want them to bounce off your page; you want users to stay on your site as long as possible. Luckily, now Captcha is becoming more advanced, and some options allow for you to add a Captcha that asks the user to check a box. If Captcha thinks you are a bot, then it will make you go through extra steps.
2. Syntax Checks: Another solution that you could do is to add a syntax check to your form. For example, an email address field should always contain an @ symbol with a dot extension. This is a fundamental way to prevent incomplete data, but it is not the answer to avoiding fake data. Yet, it is still better than have no protection in place.
3. Instant Verification: Using a real-time data verification tool such as XVerify will give you the layer of protection you need. It can prevent you requiring a Captcha, does the syntax check for you, and much more. XVerify checks each customer data point (email, phone, address) to make sure they are real and accurate.

Benefits of Improved Data Quality

Once you have taken some additional steps to keep fake data out of your database, you will start to see improvements in many areas. First, your engagement rates will improve. That means more opens, less hard bounces, and fewer spam complaints. This is going to lead to a better sender score resulting in better email inbox deliverability. Not only does adding layers of security improve your mailing campaigns but it is also going to save you money. Many emailing platforms charge you per email address on your list. If you were to get attacked by a spam bot without protection, that could cause you to be paying for thousands of false email addresses and could compromise your mailing success by damaging your reputation. Don’t delay adding more security to your form. You never know when your site could become under attack.  Prevention is always better than cure and being cautious is going to help your campaign.