Overview
You’re about to launch a campaign and wondering whether you should enable risky emails.
Fair question! Enabling them lets you send more emails, but also increases the chance of bounces.
A “risky email” is simply an address found through enrichment that is impossible to verify, usually because the company’s email server blocks validation.
Here’s everything you need to decide if you should turn them on.
How risky emails work
How LGM enriches professional emails
When enrichment is enabled (in your campaign or audience), La Growth Machine automatically retrieves:
First name
Last name
Current company URL
Current company website
Then we test different permutations:
{{firstname}}.{{lastname}}@{{companydomain.com}}
{{firstname}}@{{companydomain.com}}
{{first.letter.firstname}}{{lastname}}@{{companydomain.com}}
And many more…
Important: We NEVER test emails by sending real messages.
We query the server and ask: “Does this email exist in your directory?”
Catch-all (risky) servers vs normal servers
Catch-all / risky server
The server always replies “yes, this email exists”, even if it doesn’t.
Verification is impossible.
We still add the email—but it will be marked as risky.
You can choose to send to these addresses by toggling a setting.
Non catch-all server
The server genuinely responds “yes” or “no”.
We test dozens of permutations until we find the real existing address.
If verified → email marked valid.
Cascading enrichment
We enrich using multiple top-tier GDPR-compliant providers:
DropContact, Datagma, Hunter, Prospeo, and more.
To learn more about cascade enrichment, click here.
What are the risks of using risky emails?
The risks
Higher bounce rate
Risky emails can’t be verified, so they bounce more often.Domain reputation issues
Too many bounces → your domain gets flagged.Spam risk
A bounce rate above 8–12% over time can push your emails into spam.Volume multiplies impact
A few dozen risky emails per week = usually fine
Hundreds per week = risky
What’s the advantage of using risky emails?
Easy: more enriched emails.
Your enrichment rate usually jumps to 60–70%.
Note: We never provide nonsensical or random emails.
If no realistic permutation matches, we simply give you no email, even in risky mode.
When should I enable risky emails?
1. What’s your current enrichment rate?
40–50% enriched emails?
→ Enabling risky emails won’t help much and will only raise bounce risk.Below 40%?
→ Enabling risky emails is often worth it to increase your outreach volume.
2. Is your audience mainly reachable by email?
With LGM, you can reach prospects across multiple channels.
But if your audience:
responds better to email than LinkedIn,
OR if you always start with email,
OR if your email reply rate > LinkedIn reply rate,
Then activating risky emails makes sense.
3. Are you targeting enterprise accounts?
Large companies often use catch-all servers.
That means:
Without risky → LGM won’t return any email for those domains.
With risky → you’ll get catch-all emails (unverified but usable at your discretion).
How to enable risky emails
Steps to activate risky email sending
Go to your campaign’s email settings.
Click the gear icon.
Enable Send email to risky Emails.
Don’t forget to enable sending to business emails as well—otherwise nothing will be sent!
FAQs
What exactly is a risky email?
What exactly is a risky email?
An email that cannot be verified because the server always answers “yes,” preventing validation.
Is it dangerous for my domain?
Is it dangerous for my domain?
It can be, if you send too many. High bounce rates hurt your reputation and increase spam risk.
When should I enable them?
When should I enable them?
If your enrichment rate is below 40%, or if your audience mainly responds via email.
Is it mandatory?
Is it mandatory?
Not at all. It’s an optional setting to boost your enrichment volume.
Does LGM send emails to test them?
Does LGM send emails to test them?
Never. We query the server directly—we never send real emails during verification.