Role-based email

Also called: Role address, Generic email address, Group mailbox.

Role addresses describe a job, not a name. RFC 2142 lists conventional ones, including info@, sales@, support@, marketing@, postmaster@ and abuse@. In practice, small businesses add their own: office@, bookings@, quotes@, hello@.

Many email verifiers flag role addresses, and some cold email advice says to avoid them. For enterprise prospecting that can make sense. For local businesses it usually doesn't: a four-person HVAC company's office@ inbox is often the main way customers reach it, and the owner reads it.

Some role addresses really should be avoided. postmaster@ and abuse@ exist for mail administration and complaints, noreply@ doesn't take replies, and addresses that belong to the web designer or hosting company aren't the business at all.

The useful approach is to keep the role as a field and segment on it. Message office@ and info@ addresses as the business, not as a named person, and prefer a named address when the business publishes one.

Example

A dental practice's site lists frontdesk@ and dr.lee@. A campaign to practice owners uses dr.lee@ first, and messages frontdesk@ with an introduction addressed to the practice.

In Leadraft

Each business can have up to 5 emails, and each one carries its role (for example sales or general) and the page it was found on, so you can filter or segment by role.