Learning how to check email address owner information increases the chance that your message reaches its intended recipients and protects you from falling for email phishing scams. The most common ways to check the details of an email address owner include using Google Search, a browser extension, and social media. Here, we explore how to trace an email address to its owner using various email tools and the benefits of doing this.
1. Perform a Google Search
If you received a message from someone who didn’t leave a name or email signature, the first and easiest way to check email address owner details is to use Google. Plus, you can use it to confirm an address from an email list you purchased from lead generation websites like UpLead or Lead411. Just follow these two simple steps on how to know who owns an email address using a Google search:
- Copy and paste the address on the Google search bar and press Enter
- Check if the email address matches the information on a directory, web page, or online profile, such as LinkedIn
Alternatively, other search engine platforms like Bing offer the same functionality despite not being nearly as popular as Google. There’s also DuckDuckGo, which lets you search email address owner details from the web without being tracked. It does not store your personal information or follow you with online advertisements.
2. Use CRM Auto-enrichment Tools
Many CRM platforms with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities or data enrichment features automatically keep contact information up-to-date. These tools monitor publicly listed information (e.g., a company website’s contact page and social media profiles) where data—including email addresses—is constantly updated. Instead of manually searching on Google or Facebook, let the CRM’s automation feature do it for you.
Zoho CRM automatic contact data enrichment with Zia AI (Source: Zoho CRM)
3. Pull Email Data Using a Browser Extension
If you are a Google Chrome user, you’ll love this method on how to trace an email address to its owner, as it’s extremely easy to access. Simply use browser extensions, such as FullContact, to compile robust information from your Gmail accounts and the web, including a new contact’s job title, company, phone number, and social media links, when you receive an email or do an email owner lookup. Here’s how to find out who an email belongs to using a browser extension:
- Add an extension to your browser and enable it.
- Click on the browser extension.
- Type in the name you are looking for in the search box, then press Enter.
- Check the results showing the list of email addresses associated with the name you entered along with the sources.
FullContact data ecosystem (Source: FullContact)
An alternative Chrome extension option is the supplemental tool available in Copper CRM. Similar to FullContact, you can lookup email address owner information or have data compiled as messages are received from new addresses. However, Copper CRM is a full CRM that can manage leads, contacts, opportunities, and projects, as well as nurture marketing qualified leads (MQLs) on one platform. Learn more about this provider in our Copper CRM review.
4. Use Email Verification Services
One of the most efficient ways to verify an email address is to use a business-to-business (B2B) database like UpLead, which has built-in email verification capabilities. This tool quickly runs an email address against multiple databases to confirm its validity. It is known for having one of the most comprehensive databases, with more than 108 million contacts with email addresses and 95% accuracy.
UpLead email verification tool (Source: UpLead)
5. Invest in a Reverse Email Lookup Service
Another way to compile information from multiple sources and gain additional insights into someone is to invest in a paid email address lookup tool. Platforms like Spokeo, InfoTracer, BeenVerified, PeopleWhiz, and Social Catfish let users search contacts by name, email address, phone number, or social media profiles. They pull from white pages, public records, websites, and social media profiles to obtain results for anything associated with that person.
Spokeo also provides address history, work history, and family connections to each person, but it costs between $15 and $20 per month. You can also unlock an individual profile for as low as $0.95. Because it’s a paid service, we recommend it for sales teams that heavily use email marketing or email introductions in their sales activities. If you want to find the owner of the email address for free, try Hunter.io.
6. Dig Into Social Media Profiles
Checking social media profiles can be a valuable method when learning how to look up an email address—assuming they made that information public. While you can’t search email addresses for matches, you can search and view profiles. Many users publish their professional email addresses on their page even if you aren’t connected with them. Follow these tips on how to find out who owns an email address by digging into social media profiles:
- For business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses, use Facebook and enter the email address into the search bar, where a profile will come up if there are any matches.
- If you’re a business-to-business (B2B) organization, LinkedIn is a great site to use.
You can also implement this method before launching lead generation campaigns. A simple prospect research on social media can help you confirm that email addresses are accurate or find prospects to target.
Email address search results on Facebook (Source: TechCult)
Creating a Facebook post in HubSpot CRM (Source: HubSpot)
7. Trace the IP Address
Tracing an IP address using an email header is a sophisticated option and useful if you’re trying to confirm an email address for security reasons, such as preventing cybersecurity breaches. The process will vary slightly depending on whether you use Outlook, Gmail, or Yahoo systems, but it ultimately involves these steps:
- When you receive a message, go to the message options to view the email header, which will be in different spots based on your email provider.
- Once there, you can view the IP address where the email came from.
- Search the address using an IP address search tool, such as whatismyip.com, for additional data.
whatismyip.com tools for finding an IP address (Source: whatismyip.com)
There are a few limitations to using this method to look up Gmail account owner information or confirm other email addresses. For instance, if the sender used a virtual private network (VPN), address information may not be accurate. This is because VPNs, by design, hide your IP address to provide you with an additional level of internet security protection.
8. Contact the Company Associated With the Email Domain
The final option for learning how to find the owner of an email address is simply asking for the information. Most email address domain names are associated with the organization they came from. This method is ideal if you received an email from a new sender, want to verify one from a list, or want to make sure an address is accurate before making an introduction. Here’s how to check the owner of an email address via the associated company:
- Call the organization and ask for the email address of the sender.
- If you receive a message from an address without a name and you’ve exhausted all other options, Google the company name on the address for a phone number.
- If other options fail, call the number and ask them to confirm the address is from their company and find out who owns this email.
Why Should You Check Email Address Owner Information?
If you don’t know how to trace email address owner details, you can’t verify the sender of a message or confirm the address you’re sending to. There are also additional security, sales productivity, and data integrity reasons. In fact, one of the key aspects of sales management that sales leaders are responsible for is to ensure tools and processes are in place to help their team with email verification.
The main benefits of checking email address owners include the following:
Many cybersecurity incidents can be traced back to email messages phishing for credentials or attempting to get someone to download a malicious file. Verifying an address from the sender helps determine whether the message is legit and if the sender is who they say they are.
Crafting personalized sales email messages takes ample time and research to get robust response rates. All of that time is wasted, however, if the email address is inaccurate. This is why checking the email address owner’s details is essential.
Email addresses are some of the most crucial data you can have on a lead or customer, as they’re used for lead generation, lead nurturing campaigns, and promoting special offers. This makes it key to keep your data up-to-date and accurate at all times.
Maintaining a contact database and sending emails both cost money. Checking and verifying email addresses is the first step in weeding out unwanted emails from your list. Trimming down this list also means fewer recipients for your email, thereby cutting down on the cost of sending emails.
Email sender reputation is a score that email providers and internet service providers (ISPs) assign to any organization that sends email. This is one of the factors in email deliverability, which includes how many times your emails are marked as spam. The higher this score is, the higher the possibility that an ISP will deliver your emails to your intended recipients.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Yes, in some instances, you can track a person using their email address if they set up that email with recent information, including their name, address, or phone number. Otherwise, you can use a free reverse email lookup tool like PeepLookup to find information linked to a certain email address. Note that you cannot trace a person’s actual location using just an email address because you’ll need an IP geolocation tool to do that.
If a person used their real name to set up their Gmail account, you can use Google Calendar to find out the owner. Use the “share to specific people” option, then click “add people.” Enter the email address, and the owner’s name and profile picture will appear. For more accurate results, you can use a free reverse email search tool like Radaris or a paid alternative like Spokeo to trace Gmail email account owner information.
First, log into your Facebook account and check the profile of the person you are looking for. Click on the “About” tab and look for their email address under “Contact and Basic Info.” Knowing how to trace an email address to its owner via Facebook will only work, however, if the person has not made this information private.
Bottom Line
Knowing how to trace an email address to its owner is powerful for becoming more efficient in sales activities and fostering data integrity. The methods presented range from no-cost to paid options, manual to automated processes, and standalone vs integrating with other software such as a CRM platform. Based on the tools, budget, and technical knowledge you have, these eight approaches to email verification will meet your specific business needs.
