Role accounts, explained
info@, admin@, support@ — role accounts are real mailboxes with a job, not a person, behind them. Why validators flag them and how to treat them on a list.
What counts as a role account
A role account belongs to a function rather than a person: info@, contact@, sales@, support@, billing@, admin@, postmaster@, noreply@. Usually a shared inbox or a distribution list read by several people — or nobody.
Why they get flagged as risky, not invalid
The mailbox is real, so “invalid” would be wrong. But nobody opted in personally, several people receive what one of them may report as spam, and engagement is structurally low. Complaint rates from role accounts run far above personal addresses — one report from an admin@ can hurt your standing with a whole provider.
The sensible policy
Marketing lists: leave role accounts off. The upside is small and the complaint risk is asymmetric. Most reputable senders exclude them at the form and at import.
Transactional mail is the exception — invoices to billing@ and alerts to admin@ are exactly what those inboxes exist for.
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