> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Unverified Email Customers, BigCommerce > Unverified Email Customers for BigCommerce stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Supporting Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ecommerce Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > The count of customers in the BC database whose email address has not been verified. **Email verification status is the highest-leverage data hygiene KPI** for any merchant whose growth depends on email marketing: unverified emails fail at 5-15x the rate of verified emails, damage sender reputation, and bias retention metrics downward. BigCommerce's customer-record schema separately tracks **registered** customers (account holders) and **guests** (one-off checkout customers); guest emails are typically unverified by definition because there's no account-creation step. This card surfaces both populations and lets you triage the cleanup. | | | | ----------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(customers WHERE email_verified = false OR email_verification_status IN ('pending', 'failed', 'unconfirmed'))`. Aggregated as raw count and as a percentage of total customer base. | | **VAT / tax treatment** | n/a, this is a customer-quality metric. | | **Shipping** | n/a. | | **Discounts** | n/a. | | **Refunds** | n/a. | | **Cancelled / voided orders** | n/a. | | **Currency** | n/a. | | **Channels / sources** | All channels aggregate. POS-acquired customers are typically unverified (the cashier didn't verify the email address); web-acquired registered customers should be verified if double-opt-in is enabled. | | **Verification definition** | "Verified" means the email address received and clicked a confirmation link (double opt-in). "Unverified" includes both *never-asked* (single opt-in or guest checkout) and *asked-but-not-confirmed* (verification email sent, click never received). The card defaults to combining both into a single unverified count; toggle to separate them. | | **Why this matters** | Sending email marketing to unverified addresses generates: (1) 5-15x higher bounce rate, (2) 3-8x higher spam complaint rate, (3) sender-reputation damage that affects deliverability for verified addresses too, (4) wasted send budget on Klaviyo / Mailchimp tier pricing, (5) GDPR / CAN-SPAM compliance risk if the unverified addresses didn't actually consent. **The cost of sending to one unverified address compounds across the whole list.** | | **Guest checkout reality** | If 60% of your orders are guest checkouts, expect 50-70% of customer records to be unverified by definition. **This is structural, not necessarily a problem**, but it does mean the verified subset (which is your actionable email audience) is much smaller than total customer count. | | **Time window** | `RT` (real-time, refreshed each customer-record sync; typically every 15-30 minutes). | | **Alert trigger** | `>10% of base`. Above 10% unverified suggests systemic verification gaps; fix the verification flow rather than scrubbing data. | | **Sentiment key** | `unverified_email` | | **Roles** | owner, marketing | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your BigCommerce data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A US apparel brand on BigCommerce, snapshot 13 May 26. Customer base of 28,400 records. | Customer cohort | Total | Verified | Unverified | Verified % | | ----------------------------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | | Registered (account-creating) | 9,200 | 8,500 | 700 | 92.4% | | Guest checkouts | 18,500 | 4,200 | 14,300 | 22.7% | | POS in-store customers | 700 | 50 | 650 | 7.1% | | **Blended** | **28,400** | **12,750** | **15,650** | **44.9%** | What's interesting: 1. **Blended verified at 44.9% means 55% of your customer database is unverifiable for email marketing.** This is the typical pattern for a guest-heavy DTC store. **Don't try to send marketing to all 28,400; you'll have 55% bouncing or spam-complaining**. 2. **Registered cohort at 92.4% is healthy.** Double opt-in is working; the 700 unverified registered customers are mostly stale (account created, verification email never opened). Trigger a one-time re-verification campaign; expect 30-40% to verify. 3. **Guest 22.7% verified is the secret asset.** These are guests who later subscribed to the newsletter or interacted with verification (often via post-purchase email confirmation that triggers verification flow). **Convert more guests by promoting newsletter signup at the post-purchase moment** (offer 10% off next order for verified email). 4. **POS at 7.1% is the worst.** In-store cashiers don't have time to verify each email; the cashier types the email and moves on. **Most POS emails are typos, abandoned addresses, or speculative entries.** Quarterly cleanup recommended; don't include POS emails in primary marketing flows. 5. **Marketing-actionable list size is 12,750** (verified across all cohorts). This is the number to optimise; total customer count is misleading. Action playbook this card surfaces: 1. **Trigger a re-verification campaign** to the 700 unverified registered customers. Send a one-time "confirm your email" with an incentive (10% off, free shipping, exclusive content). 2. **Promote post-purchase newsletter signup** to convert guests to verified. Lift verified % from 22% to 35% by adding a single post-purchase email with double opt-in. 3. **Audit POS data quality.** Train cashiers on email entry; consider a customer-facing tablet for self-entry to reduce typos. 4. **Clean up the never-engaged unverified.** Customer records older than 12 months with no verification and no order should be excluded from email marketing automatically. 5. **Pair with [Email Health](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/email-health)** for the comprehensive email-quality view (verification, bounces, spam complaints, engagement). 6. **Cross-reference with Klaviyo profile counts.** If Klaviyo is your email backbone, only sync verified customers; don't pollute Klaviyo's profile-tier with unverified records. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Unverified Emails | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Email Health](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/email-health) | Comprehensive email-quality KPI (verification + bounces + spam + engagement). | | [BC Guest vs Registered](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/guest-vs-registered-orders) | Customer-type breakdown. Guests structurally drive most unverified emails. | | [Customer Count](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/unique-customers) | Total customer base. Pair to compute verification rate. | | [Repeat Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/repeat-customer-rate) | Unverified emails inflate the customer denominator and depress repeat rate. | | [Customer Trend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-acquisition-trend) | New-customer cohorts; track verification quality over time. | | [BC Top Customers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/top-customers) | High-value customers should always be verified; cross-check. | | [Klaviyo Active Profiles](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/klaviyo_active_profiles) | Cross-connector. Klaviyo's tier-pricing depends on profile count; unverified profiles waste budget. | | [BC New Customers](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/new-customers) | New customer acquisition pipeline. Verification flow at signup affects this. | | [BC Customer Segments](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/customer-spend-segments) | Segments are only marketable to the verified subset. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in BigCommerce's own dashboard:** BC doesn't expose an email-verification rollup natively. The closest tools: * **Customer list:** BC Control Panel → Customers → View Customers. The customer detail page shows verification status per customer; the list view doesn't filter by verification status without custom filters. * **Customer export:** Settings → Data Solutions → Export → Customers. The CSV includes the email verification column; pivot in spreadsheet. * **Klaviyo or Mailchimp dashboard:** Email tools track bounce rate and engagement; high bounce rate is the symptom of unverified emails. **Why our number may legitimately differ from the vendor's:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | --------------------------- | --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Verification definition** | Either | We treat double-opt-in confirmation as verified; some BC integrations consider single-opt-in as verified. | | **Guest treatment** | Either | We include guests in the unverified count; some views exclude guests from customer-base counts entirely. | | **Sync lag** | Trivial | Customer-record sync every 15-30 minutes. | | **Inactive customers** | Either | We include all customer records; BC may filter to active. | **Cross-connector reconciliation (when both connectors are connected for this merchant):** | Card | Expected relationship | Notes | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`klaviyo.klaviyo_unsubscribed_count`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/klaviyo_unsubscribed_count) | Different concept but related | Klaviyo unsubscribed = explicit opt-out; this card's unverified = never confirmed opt-in. Both reduce marketable list. | | [`klaviyo.klaviyo_bounce_rate`](/nerve-centre/klaviyo/klaviyo_bounce_rate) | Should track | High bounce rate = many unverified addresses sending to dead inboxes. | ***
Documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple platforms) Email verification status exists on Shopify and Adobe Commerce with similar definitions. Shopify's customer schema has a single `verified_email` boolean; Adobe uses a more complex flag system. * [`shopify.unverified_emails`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/unverified-email-customers) * [`adobe_commerce.unverified_emails`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/unverified-email-customers)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why is my unverified count so high?** Likely because most of your customers are guest checkouts (no verification step) or your store doesn't enforce double-opt-in for registered customers. Both are common; both are fixable. **Should I delete unverified customer records?** Not delete; segment. Move them to a separate list / tag, exclude from primary marketing flows, run a one-time re-engagement campaign. Customer records are still useful for analytics; you just can't email them safely. **My Klaviyo bounce rate is 8%, is that connected to this card?** Almost certainly. 8% bounce rate is high (good lists run 1-3%); the cause is sending to unverified addresses where the inbox no longer exists. Audit your Klaviyo profile sync; only send to BC-verified addresses. **How do I switch BC to double opt-in?** Settings → Email Settings → Customer Account Settings → enable "Email verification required". Customers who create accounts must click a confirmation link before being marked verified. **Existing customers won't be re-verified automatically**; trigger a one-time re-verification flow. **What's a "verified" customer in BC's data model?** A customer who: (1) created an account (registered), and (2) clicked the verification link in the welcome email (double opt-in). Guest customers are *never* verified by definition because they didn't create an account. **Why is my POS verification rate so low?** Cashiers prioritise speed over accuracy. POS email entry is typo-prone (missing dots, wrong domains, throwaway entries like `test@test.com`). Customer-facing email entry (tablet at the counter, phone signup at receipt) typically lifts POS verification rate by 20-40pp. **Should I worry about GDPR / CAN-SPAM compliance?** Yes. Sending marketing email to unverified addresses without explicit consent risks compliance violations. Specifically: (1) GDPR requires explicit opt-in (verified is one form), (2) CAN-SPAM requires honoring unsubscribe but doesn't strictly require opt-in, (3) state laws (CCPA, CPRA) add further requirements. **Treat verification as a compliance hedge.** **Can I trigger re-verification campaigns from BC?** Yes via BC's email-verification flow. Trigger by: editing the customer record (force re-verify), or via a Customer Group migration that requires verification. Klaviyo can also drive a re-verification flow with a custom email template. **My registered customer count went up but verified count didn't, why?** New registrations didn't complete verification. Two causes: (1) verification email landed in spam folder, (2) customer registered but never opened the email. Send the verification email from a domain with proper SPF/DKIM/DMARC; aim for 90%+ verification rate within 7 days of registration. **Why does Klaviyo show more profiles than BC shows customers?** Klaviyo accumulates profiles from multiple sources (BC sync, popup signups, abandoned cart flows). Some Klaviyo profiles never made a purchase. The two counts shouldn't match exactly; the verified BC customer count should be the *minimum* of Klaviyo's marketable list. **Should I send a discount code to the unverified to encourage verification?** Tested approach with mixed results. A 10-15% discount typically gets 25-40% of unverified customers to verify; the rest don't engage at any price. **Do this once a year as a list-cleanup campaign**, not as standard practice. **Does this include unsubscribed customers?** No. Unsubscribed = explicitly opted out (different state). Unverified = never confirmed opt-in. Both reduce your marketable list but for different reasons. **Can I see which email domains are most often unverified?** Yes via Ask Viq: "show unverified email distribution by domain". Most stores see Yahoo and Hotmail dominating; corporate domains (companies' own email systems) typically have higher verification rates than consumer domains. **What's an acceptable unverified rate for my marketing list?** For your marketing list (the subset you actually send to), \<5% unverified is target. For your full customer database, expect 30-60% unverified depending on guest-checkout rate. Don't conflate the two; the marketing list is a clean subset. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Unverified Email Customers* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across BigCommerce and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.