: If the problem is that your users don't know their own e-mail address, then there's really not too much you can do about that. John Conde's provided a very clever way to check if the entered

@Shanna517

If the problem is that your users don't know their own e-mail address, then there's really not too much you can do about that. John Conde's provided a very clever way to check if the entered domain is set up for email, which should filter out a lot of the bad addresses, but it doesn't guarantee that the user will remember the right address.

Now, you could spellcheck the email address to point out any typos to the user, as well as check for misspellings of common names and email domains by calculating Levenshtein distances, but this is still very hit-or-miss. Given the situation you've described, you may have more success emphasizing how important it is to put in the exact email address and let the user know that this is a huge problem amongst new signups. This should at the very least get rid of asdfasdf addresses.

Novice computer users often have a hard time grasping that many computer applications require precise input, and that "john.smith@com" is not the same as "john@smith.com". This is why they might think it's ok to guess their email address, and that as long as it's "close enough" the application will figure it out. If they understood that a single incorrect character renders the email address completely useless, that might prompt them to ask their kids or family IT guy for help.

Alternatively, you could just do away with the email confirmation and verify users another way. For example, SMS confirmations are increasingly common these days, and they have the benefit of eliminating spam or duplicate accounts. Simply text the user with a confirmation code or give them a code to text to the site.

Or, if knowing the user's email address is vital to the site, just reverse the confirmation process. At the end of the signup process, ask the user to send an e-mail with a particular subject line to the site. You can even provide a mailto link to simplify the process, so all they have to do is click the link and hit "send".

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