Pink PostHow to use an email permutator
- Find the right person: the editor, author or site owner, not a generic inbox.
- Enter their name and the site's domain and generate the list.
- Check the domain's MX records. No MX means no address will work.
- Verify the candidates with an email verification service, or look for the pattern elsewhere on the site (author pages, press pages, PDF bylines).
- Send to the single best address, never to the whole list.
Which formats are most common
In business email the formats that come up most are first@, first.last@, flast@ and firstlast@. Small sites and blogs often use first@. We order the output that way. Size matters: bigger organisations tend to use first.last@ to avoid two people with the same first name colliding.
Verify before you send
Guessed addresses that bounce hurt your sender reputation, and a bounce rate above a few percent is a warning sign for mailbox providers. Some domains are "catch-all": they accept mail to any address, so verification cannot tell you which guess is right. For catch-alls, send to the most common pattern only, and stop if it bounces.
Pink Post pauses a mailbox automatically if bounces pass 5% over 30 days, and imports keep duplicates and blocked domains out of your sequences.
Using found emails responsibly
Writing to a work address about the person's published work is normal practice, but laws differ: in the EU and UK, GDPR and PECR apply to business emails that identify a person. Have a clear reason for contacting them, say who you are, and honour every "no thanks" or unsubscribe at once.