Should you be correcting typos in user-entered email addresses?
Short answer? No.
This is a question we get often. While the ‘obvious’ action might seem to be simply fixing the typo, that’s not the case. Behind that email address is something more important: a consent timestamp.
“But I’m sure it’s a typo.”
We hear this all the time. And that your email list would be bigger if you corrected them. Both are true.
But think about this: Have you ever been asked for your phone number and rattled off the wrong one on purpose? The same thing can happen when collecting email addresses. Pop-ups can be aggressive. So, users sometimes enter anything just to get access to content. You can’t make assumptions. It’s not your call whether a typo was accidental or intentional.
Let’s unpack what a better approach is and why.
Why You Shouldn’t “Just Fix It”
Ethical email marketing is built on consent, compliance, and trust.
When someone subscribes to your list, they give you consent to email them. That consent is logged in your ESP with an email address, timestamp, and source (which form they signed up through). But if you go in and manually correct a typo, for example, from user@gmial.com to user@gmail.com, you technically no longer have consent associated with the corrected address.
Without the user’s knowledge or consent, even when the intent is good, can have unintended consequences. It risks compromising user trust, introduces the possibility of inaccurate data, and raises privacy concerns.
Plus, the new email address you came up with is really just a guess.
And yes, even if it’s a really good guess, it’s still not compliant. In terms of privacy laws and email deliverability best practices, that’s a slippery slope. Just because a fix seems “obvious” doesn’t mean it’s right or yours to make.
These email typos are usually spotted when reviewing bounce rates or seeing a list of bounced emails. But if you don’t have a timestamped opt-in for that corrected email, sending it could violate compliance regulations.
Not every Mistake is a Mistake
One of the biggest risks of auto-correcting email inputs is the assumption that a user made a mistake in the first place. Emails are unique identifiers so there’s no room for guesswork. What looks like a typo to you (say, gamil.com instead of gmail.com) might be intentional. In fact, gamil.com is a real, registered domain. That could be someone’s actual email address or a custom company domain. When you override what a user entered thinking you’re fixing an error you might just be introducing one.
This can lead to bigger problems than just a failed delivery or a bounce. A corrected email could send sensitive information to the wrong person which leads to issues around privacy and how data is managed. Or, it can prevent a user from accessing information like order confirmation or shipping details. In other cases it can prevent a user from accessing their account altogether. What you thought would just be a simple “fix” will now cost you time to resolve the issue and possible customer goodwill.
So What Can You Do?
Luckily, there are ways you can recover these contacts. Simply ask for permission again or design your form in such a way that they’ll reach out if they don’t hear from you. Let’s look at these strategies.
1. Ask the Customer to Re-Subscribe
If someone reaches out to your customer support team and says, “I never got the email,” and you spot a typo in the address they originally submitted, here’s a compliant way to respond:
“We looked up your email and it seems there may have been a typo, which caused the message to bounce. Could you take a moment to re-enter your email address here? That should get this resolved immediately.”
This is why we recommend businesses have a dedicated and easy newsletter sign up page like ours at Centric Squared.
Reach out today if you need help setting this up.
Sometimes, businesses feel like having the customer inquire is enough of a papertrail to just go in and fix it. We’ve seen companies do that too if this seems easier and it’s not a bad solution. However, it’s still best to get the customer’s actual consent with their corrected email address. It’s important to note that even with good intentions, making changes without explicitly confirming with the user can still cross a line.
2. Set Expectations Upfront
One of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce email input is to set expectations clearly on your confirmation page. Add something like:
“You should receive a confirmation email in the next few minutes. If you don’t see it, please contact our support team and we’ll help sort it out.”
This encourages users to catch their own mistakes while the moment is fresh and are more likely to be willing to reach out for assistance.
Another option is to use a form with real-time email validation built in. Tools like Kickbox, ZeroBounce, or BriteVerify can alert users to typos or invalid addresses as they type – preventing issues before they hit your list.
3. Act Quickly
Timing matters. Someone who submitted a typo yesterday is far more likely to re-engage than someone who did it a year ago. Alternatively, someone who’s made a mistake is more likely to catch and report the error right after they’ve submitted a form than hours or days later. Build a regular habit of checking your email bounces and soft failures to see where email typos may exist. And ensure that a line of support is available for people who want to self-report.
Common Email Typos to Watch For
Here are some frequent offenders we see:
| Mistyped | Intended |
| gmial.com | gmail.com |
| gnail.com | gmail.com |
| gamil.com | gmail.com |
| yaho.com | yahoo.com |
| hotnail.com | hotmail.com |
| outlok.com | outlook.com |
| icloud.co | icloud.com |
| comcast.co | comcast.com |
While these may seem straightforward and you’ll feel tempted to auto-correct, please avoid doing so. Not without the user’s permission, at least.
How to Find These Issues in Klaviyo and HubSpot
Before you can fix or rethink anything, you need to know where things are going wrong. Platforms like Klaviyo and HubSpot give you tools to spot these red flags. Here’s how to identify potential issues in both platforms.
In Klaviyo:
- Go to Profiles > Suppressed Profiles > Email Bounced
- Filter by Reason to find hard bounces or syntax issues
- Export and review regularly
In HubSpot:
- Navigate to Marketing > Email
- Choose the specific email and click on Recipients
- Filter by Bounced or Unsubscribed
- Or view Contact Lists > Cleaned contacts
Pro tip: Set a monthly reminder to review bounce reports. When you catch issues early, you increase the chances of re-engagement. Wondering if you have typos in your current email list? Try creating a segment and go to “email includes” and type in some of the common typos we mentioned earlier.
Don’t Just Silently Correct
Correcting email typos might seem like a small, even helpful gesture, but when it happens without the user’s knowledge or permission, it can create far more harm than good. From sending messages to the wrong inbox, undermining trust and privacy, and risking users missing important information, the cons far outweigh the convenience.
We recommend assisting the user and preserving their initial intent rather than overriding the user altogether.
About Centric Squared
At Centric Squared, we believe email success starts with a clean, compliant list. With our list growth and deliverability services, we’ll help you capture more high-quality leads, keep your systems healthy, and make the most of your email marketing tools. Seamless CRM integration, compliance-first practices, and long-term strategic support—so your email strategy scales with your business.
Book a complimentary session to see how this can work for you.