Programming Email Activation Keys In PHP

November 15, 2008 |

by Chris Channing

All major websites on the Internet today have some form of checks and balances in how they approve their new members. One such way is to implement a PHP email activation script, which will ensure that an email address is working and belongs to someone. In fact, such a script has many monetary benefits- not to mention it cuts down on things such as spam.

One good example of how you probably have already experience an email activation script is with Google Webmaster Tools. This will require that you not only verify your website, but an email address so that Google knows that you are who you say you are. Obviously we don’t want random people acting as us and gaining access to our analytics.

Email activation is also useful in Internet marketing, where marketers can confirm the email address isn’t fake and has someone looking at it. This is important in making leads and selling email marketing traffic, since advertisers don’t want their money going to email inboxes that no one checks. We call these email subscripts “opt-in,” since they have obviously made the subscription out of a desire to keep updated or be part of a community.

Cutting down on spam is also possible with email activation keys, since most spam accounts are fake or have no one checking them. By making users register for their account and activating them, this ensures no “bots” are gaining entry to our website. Most will agree that a CAPTCHA is useful for this situation, but even this technology has been proven to be broken under some malicious programs.

Sadly, not having email activation functionality can equate into a lost sale. If a client of a business were to register and accidentally enter a typographical error on their email address field, they would never get registered and the business would never get their information. But with email verification, the client will see that they didn’t get a resulting email and will be forced to try again with more care taken this time.

One thing worth noting is that with every email verification process comes the possibility that the email is going to be put into a junk mail inbox. Today’s filters are very strict, and this means that the verification email may get rejected. To prevent the registrant from missing the email, be sure to let them know on the form to check their junk mail in case it got flagged as spam on accident.

Final Thoughts

Luckily an email activation script isn’t going to be hard to code, and a PHP developer can certainly be obtained to get the job done in an hour or less. The process should certainly be a quick one- so don’t expect to break the bank just to obtain this helpful technology. Check online for freelance programmers or pickup a PHP and MySQL book to get this technology working for you- and reap the benefits along the way.

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