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Whats is Reverse email lookup?
Reverse Email lookup refers to the process of using a person’s email to obtain more data about the person. This data could include:
- Person’s full name
- Social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
- Employment status
- Information about their current company
- Address and location
- Contact details (like phone numbers)
- Profile picture
- And lots of other data...
It is very common among marketers and cold mailing experts who need to get the individuals behind email addresses that are scoured from the web. Individuals can also use it to verify the identity of anyone they are in contact with via emails.
Why use Reverse email lookup?
Email is dead - but, is it really? Email marketing drives an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent - higher than any other channel.
Moreover, there are over 4 billion daily email users. As a business owner, stats like these should be enough to steer you away from email naysayers. So grow that email list, and work your magic.
Speaking of email lists. Imagine this - you just got a mail or someone just signed up for your product software or newsletter (yay!). Now, you have two options. You can either treat it like a random user and move on. Or, you can use reverse email lookup to find out who that person is. Why?
That person might be an executive in a company you target. Or, they might be a potential customer to whom you can sell your goods or services. They could also be the hero employee you’re searching for. Or, they could be a scammer, in which case you can drop them from your outgoing list (and your life).
Essentially, there are many upsides to reverse email search, while the downside is… well, none.
Not clear about the purpose of reverse email search? We’ll define it briefly and then dive straight into ten methods you can reverse email lookup for free and take your email enrichment to the next level.
How Does Reverse Email search Work?
Reverse email lookup is essentially based on open-source databases and publicly available information. When you enter an email address into a reverse email lookup service or tool, it utilizes these resources to retrieve relevant data associated with the email.
The process begins by searching through various databases, including public records, online directories, and websites. These databases often contain information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and even employment history. By cross-referencing the email address with these databases, the reverse email lookup tools can uncover any available information about the individual or organization behind the email.
Top 10 Free Reverse Email Lookup Methods
There are several ways to run a reverse email search. Some popular ways to perform this are unjustifiably unaffordable. So we have put together an accurate list of proven methods to perform reverse email search for free.
These methods include:
- Google Search
- Google account
- LinkedIn search
- Facebook search
- who.is
- ICANN lookup
- GitHub search
- Gravatar search
- Outlook hack
- Reverse email lookup tool
Some tools can even go beyond the regular profile information and provide crunchier details such as the employee’s phone number, IP address, or annual revenue.
Some of these methods to reverse email lookup are straightforward, while others require some technical knowledge, but we would walk you through!
Shall we?
Search engine for Reverse Email Lookup
1. Google Search for Reverse Email Lookup
A simple Google search can be used to run a reverse email search. Just input the email and the search engine would display information about the mail. Information can be pooled from different sources such as profile pages, public records and so on.
Observe that Google brings out both the name, the company, and LinkedIn page of the owner of the email we used in this example.
Sometimes, google can go further to provide picture of the owner of the email which you can check under the ‘images’ section.
2. Google name account
You can perform a reverse email lookup with the name registered to a Google account. All you have to do is perform the following steps:
Open a Google sheet and enter the email you want to search
You will get a full name, then get this name search on Google
For this example, from just an email with a first name (ilies@visum.run), you will get:
- His Linkedin account, which includes details about his current company and background information.
- His Instagram account, allowing you to access his profile and any public content shared.
- His Youtube account, providing insights into the videos he has uploaded or engaged with.
- His Facebook account, offering a glimpse into his social connections and activities.
With access to this information, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of Ilies. It enables you to establish professional connections through his Linkedin account, engage with his content on Instagram and Youtube, and potentially connect with him or gain further insights through his Facebook profile. This knowledge can be valuable for networking, research, or any other relevant purposes.
Social Media for Reverse Email Lookup
Technically, if you have a mail, you would most likely belong to at least one social media platform. Since they contain billions of people, social media platforms are excellent for reverse email lookup. Some of these platforms even allow people to display their emails publicly, giving you free reverse email lookup tools that are so easy to use.
Social media platforms differ in focus and user profiles. For instance, LinkedIn focuses more on professionals, and their achievements, while Instagram gives a more social vibe for pictures and videos.
3. LinkedIn for Reverse Email Lookup
Linkedin is the global leader when it comes to professional networking. With more than 900 million members from every continent on the planet, LinkedIn is an effective platform to perform reverse email Lookup.
Professional emails usually follow patterns that have been found to vary based on company size. You can check these patterns out here.
The challenge with performing a reverse lookup with LinkedIn is that you have to find the company name and at least a first name or last name (It is better to have both first name and last name).
Open the Linkedin search bar and type the information about the person (first name, last name, or both). Here is an example with “ilies@visum.run”
OK nice, but there are so many “Ilies” and I need the Linkedin company name from the domain “visum.run” to filter this search.
Sometimes, it is easy to guess the Linkedin company name, but sometimes the Linkedin company name are not the same as the legal company name. So We will do a trick:
Open Google and type "site:linkedin.com "DOMAIN_NAME” to get the Linkedin company name (replace DOMAIN_NAME with the target domain name, here “visum.run”)
Now we are sure that the Linkedin company name of domain "visum.run" is named "Visum"
Now, go to the previous Linkedin tab, click on “People” and then click on “Current company”. Type the Linkedin company name you found and click on “Show result”
Now you can see that there is only one result! That is the right person you wanted to find here!
4. Facebook for Reverse Email Lookup
Facebook is the largest social media platform on the planet, with almost 3 billion monthly users. It allows business activities for both individuals and companies.
The first way is to input the email address into the search bar on Facebook. Take note that this would only display the profile of a person who has set their email and profile information to public, or if the owner of the email is your friend on Facebook.
The second method is to get the first name of the user, then input it in the search bar on Facebook. Click on this link to observe the patterns that different companies use to create their emails, and then get the username of the email owner.
Then you can input the name of the user, and filter through the results by selecting people till you find who you are looking for. It should be mentioned that Facebook is more effective when running reverse email lookups for personal emails, while LinkedIn is more effective for professional emails.
Domain Checkers for Reverse Email Lookup
5. Who.is
Who.is a domain checker that you can use to verify a domain from any email sender. Just type the domain name from the email sent into who.is search bar. It would then display the status of the website, and details of the person who registered the website. It also shows the date of registration and expiration of the website, which can be used to confirm the validity of the information provided.
A scammer would most likely provide inconsistent answers about the founding of the company and website.
Note that some hosting sites do not allow access to the information of the owner of the website.
6. ICANN Lookup
Similar to the whos.is website, the ICANN lookup can help you verify a domain. It gives information on the name, and address, of the registrar of the website. It also gives information on the status of the website, date of registration, and expiry date.
However, it is also limited by private information, as the registrar can decide to redact profile information.
Free Endpoints for Reverse Email lookup
7. Github search for Reverse email lookup
In Visum we spend so much time making OSINT R&D and searching private endpoints to enrich our customer data. Here is a very powerful private endpoint. Please use it carefully and you can even include it in your workflow if you know how API works.
GitHub is a powerful open-source platform that allows seamless code sharing, storing, and updating. It is not limited to coding though and has several awesome features. To use this for reverse email lookup:
Open your browser and past this link: "https://api.github.com/search/users?q=YOUR_TARGET_EMAIL" replacing YOUR_TARGET_EMAIL with the email you are searching for. Here is an example with “iliesgraffion@gmail.com”
If the user has a github account, we have a lot of information like username (login properties), github user ID, picture … However, the most important for us is to get the username (login properties, here it is “lamoquette”).
To get more information about the person, open another browser tab and paste this link: "https://api.github.com/users/USERNAME" replacing USERNAME with the login properties we just found.
Now we can get a lot of data about the person such as Full name, Company Name, Website url, Location, email, Biography text, and a lot of GitHub user data…
Observe how we’re able to generate information about the user with just the mail, using Github. So, if you are familiar with Github, it is an efficient tool for reverse email lookup. But even if you are not, you can just follow the template that we used above once you are sure that the person might uses Github.
8. Gravatar search for Reverse Email Lookup
Another method to get more information about someone from just email is to use Gravatar search.
Gravatar is a popular tool used to create avatars online. It allows users to register with an email and then create an avatar that can be used across several platforms. It is very popular among bloggers since it is recognized by WordPress and other similar websites
Open your browser and past this link: "https://gravatar.com/YOUR_TARGET_EMAIL.json" replacing YOUR_TARGET_EMAIL with the email you search, here an exemple with “ilies@visum.run”
Then you can get a lot of data like Full name, pictures, username, website, location, and company name. With this data, you can get the identity of the sender of any email as long as the person is on Gravatar.
9. Outlook hack for Reverse Email Lookup
One alternative approach to locating know more about a person using his email address is through the utilization of Microsoft Outlook's LinkedIn finder feature. For this method, you need to have a Linkedin and an Outlook account. By synchronizing your Outlook account with LinkedIn, you can retrieve a lot of information when you add a contact (only with his email). To proceed, simply add the contact to Microsoft Outlook and navigate to the "LinkedIn" section.
Although this method works effectively, it is important to state that it exclusively functions for the specific email address associated with the LinkedIn user's account, mostly their personal email. It is also quite accurate but would require some time to configure and conduct manual searches.
Reverse email lookup tool
10. Reverse Contact
Most of the methods we discussed above are very cumbersome and would require time effort and in some cases technical expertise.
Imagine doing all these for thousands of emails when running a campaign.
This is why you have to consider the best method and reverse email lookup tool, Reverse Contact.
Reverse Contact is the ultimate solution for you if you want to scale up, get more information about your leads and know exactly who they are.
With just an email address, you can get all the data about a person and their current company in less than 10 sec. Reverse Contact performs this search in real time so the data is always accurate and updated.
What if you have a lot of emails to check?
Don’t worry! You can use the “Enrich List” to perform a search without any other manual action from your end. Here how to enrich a list of email with Reverse Contact
Want to integrate Reverse Contact in your workflow to enrich your CRM and database?
Sure, the service provides a powerful and robust API that you can integrate into your software, workflow, or database. You can see the API documentation here.
You don’t know how to code to integrate Reverse Contact API? Don’t worry Reverse Contact is integrated with many no-code API integrators like Zapier or Make.
What's the Benefits of Reverse Email Lookup?
There are so many advantages of reverse email address lookup. But the major benefits of reverse email lookup is:
- To uncover potential leads in marketing: Reverse email lookup tools can be used by businesses to identify and gather information about potential leads or customers. By analyzing the details associated with an email address, marketers can gain insights into the target audience and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly.
- To detect emails from scammers: Reverse email lookup tools helps in identifying and flagging emails from potential scammers or fraudulent sources. By verifying the legitimacy of the email sender through reverse email address lookup, individuals and businesses can protect themselves from phishing attempts, scams, and other malicious activities.
- To verify the source of emails: Reverse email lookup allows you to confirm the authenticity and credibility of the email source. Whether it's a professional communication, a personal inquiry, or any other type of email, verifying the sender's identity can help you establish trust and make informed decisions regarding the email content.
- Used by recruiters for background checks before hiring: Reverse email lookup service is valuable for recruiters and employers to conduct background checks on potential candidates. By investigating an applicant's email address, recruiters can gather additional information such as professional history, online presence, and credibility, helping them make more informed hiring decisions.
What Data Can I Get From an Email Search Tools?
Email search tools can provide various types of data depending on the specific tool and its capabilities. Here are some common types of data that can be obtained from email search tools:
- Email address information: Email search tools can reveal details about the email address itself, such as whether it is valid, active, or associated with a particular domain or provider.
- Name and contact information: Many email search tools can provide the associated name of the email address owner, along with additional contact information such as phone numbers or social media profiles.
- Professional information: Some email search tools specialize in retrieving professional information. This can include the person's job title, company name, and other related details that are publicly available.
- Social media profiles: Email search tools may discover social media accounts linked to the email address. This can provide access to the person's online presence, including profiles on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube.
- Online presence and activity: By analyzing the email address, email search tools may provide insights into the person's online activities, such as their website, blog, or participation in online forums or communities.
- Public records and background information: Depending on the email search tool and available databases, it may uncover public records, criminal records & person's criminal history, educational background, or other relevant information about the email address owner.
It's important to note that the extent and accuracy of the data obtained from email search tools can vary. Some tools may have access to more comprehensive databases, while others may rely on publicly available information. Additionally, data availability and privacy laws may differ between countries, affecting the scope of information that can be obtained.
What Are the Limits of Reverse Email Lookups?
It's important to note that the information retrieved through reverse email lookup is dependent on what is publicly available. Not all email addresses will have extensive data associated with them, especially if the owner has taken steps to maintain their privacy online.
Other limitation for Reverse email tools is around the pricing options available. A lot of companies attract users with the promise of free searches, only to reveal that the searches themselves are free but the actual search results come at a cost. It is not uncommon to encounter a seemingly free service that ultimately directs you towards a paid alternative.
Additionally, marketers should take into account the challenges associated with verifying personal email addresses, as it can be a difficult process.
Speed is another issue to consider. If you operate a software that necessitates real-time verification of email addresses for a large number of users, your only viable option is to integrate an reverse email lookup tool into your system via API to get instant result.
It is important to differentiate between reverse email search tools and email finder tools. While an email address search tool is designed to find an email address based on a name, a reverse email lookup tool performs the opposite function. Consequently, the email search market comprises various solutions, which can complicate the navigation process.
Lastly, the issue of data quality arises. Many tools rely on outdated databases to obtain personal information, which defeats the purpose when one seeks fresh and up-to-date details.
Are Reverse Email Lookup Tools Legal?
Yes! However, it is crucial for any solution to adhere to data protection regulations. This is especially important if you are operating within the European Union, where compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is mandatory. In order to safeguard your company, it is essential to ensure that your chosen solution is GDPR-compliant.
Our own solution addresses these concerns by solely utilizing OSINT methods for cross-checking information. This approach ensures that our solution remains fully compliant with data protection laws, providing a legal and secure option for your company.
Frequently Asked Questions about Revere email lookup
Is there free Reverse email lookup services?
Sure! Most services have a free plan or free trial. For exemple you can try Reverse Contact with 20 free reverse lookup when you sign up.
Does it works also for reverse phone lookup?
Yes, a Reverse Phone number lookup can also be done, but as phone numbers leave fewer traces on the internet, the discovery rate is far less than reverse email lookup searches. Be cautious because 95% of reverse phone lookups are scams or ineffective.
Can you lookup a personal email (like Gmail account)?
Sure! For exemple Reverse Contact can gather a lot of information from personal email address like gmail email.
How to check email address validity?
To check if an email address is valid, you can use reputable email address quality evaluation services like NeverBounce. These services use advanced algorithms and databases to validate email addresses. By using such a tool, you can easily determine if an email address is valid or not, without needing to perform individual steps such as format validation, DNS MX record lookup, or SMTP verification manually.
These services provide a reliable and efficient way to verify the validity of email addresses in bulk or individually.
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