TekStack has a contact email domain validation feature that you can enable to ensure contacts' email domains match the domain for an account. The functionality is optional and can be set to Block or Warn.
How do I turn it on or off?
Email domain validation is turned off by default. To enable it, open the Configure area > TekStack Settings and select the settings. On the General tab, scroll to the section titled "Email Validation". To turn on email domain validation, toggle the switch "Validate Contact Email Domain" to Yes. You must further select to Block or Warn.
How does it work?
The feature has two key use cases:
1. Validating a contact's email domain on creation or update.
When a contact is created, or has its email updated or parent account changed, the system will validate that the contact's email domain matches an email domain associated to the selected parent account.
For example, if a new contact is created for the account TekStack, with an email bsmith@tekstack.com, the system will validate that the domain "tekstack.com" belongs to the account TekStack. If the domain matches an existing domain, the contact is created. If the domain does not already exist for TekStack or any other account, the system will create the contact and add a new domain to TekStack for "tekstack.com".
If the domain exists under a different account, then the system will either display an error or adding a warning to the contact, depending on the selected action above. For example, imagine we have an account Apple with the associated domain "apple.com". If we add a new contact to the account IBM with an email bsmith@apple.com, the system will validate that the domain "apple.com" belongs to the account IBM. In this case, the domain actually belongs to a different account, Apple. So the contact's email is invalid for the selected account, IBM. If the system is set to Block, then an error message will appear and the contact cannot be saved. If the system is set to Warn, then the contact will be created, but a flag will be set on the contact "Email Validation Error" = Yes and the field "Email Validation Error Message" will contain the details of validation error.
The Contact Email Validation Error fields are not displayed on the contact form. You can add them to a view or filter using the Edit Columns and Edit Filters buttons on a contact view.
2. Automatically add a contact to the correct account when an account is not provided
Contacts can be created without an account through website and/or marketing automation integration. When a contact is created without an account, the system will automatically match the email domain for the contact against the existing email domains and if it finds a match, it will add the contact to the matching account. Imagine we have an account TekStack with the domain "tekstack.com". If a contact fills out a form on your website using the email address bsmith@tekstack.com, the system will automatically add that contact to the TekStack account, saving you time and ensuring data integrity.
How do I view and manage domains?
Open an account. On the Details tab, there is a section call Related Domains where you can see a list of the associated domains for the account.
- Go to the account.
- Click the Details tab.
- Click the + sign to add a domain.
- Enter the domain name.
You will see the Account name defaults to the account you are in. You can add more than one domain, if necessary.
How should I use it?
The Block feature is useful to ensure data integrity in day to day processing. However, it can be limiting when importing lists. TekStack recommends turning on Email Validation in Block mode for regular system use. Prior to importing a list of contacts, update the system setting to Warn. Import your list. Use a filter on All Contacts view to find records with "Email Validation Error" = Yes. You will see a list of users that failed the email domain validation. You can correct those errors as you see fit. When you're happy with the results, set the Validate Email Domain Failure Action back to Block.