ChatGPT made an email validity function - what do you think?

[LePhuronn]

So you're just trying to ensure that a quotation request you receive comes from a legit source? Then I'd suggest you're barking up the wrong tree in trying to ascertain if an email address is legit and have scripts try to filter and you'll end up going round in circles trying (and missing) things to check.

What I do is honey pot the living hell out of the contact form with logical assumptions based on how a human being would interact with a form, assemble data based on these assumptions and then have the server script throw a bounce message if something doesn't line up.

Things I check for include:

• Time between the form was instanced in the browser and the server request was received: bounce if it's below a certain logical threshold
• Whether any form controls were manually interacted with, i.e. a person has engaged with the form rather than a bot setting data: bounce if this interaction flag is not set
• Honey pot form fields that are invisible to normal users and screen readers but would still get filled in by a bot: bounce if these fields contain data
• Fully leverage HTML5 validation by setting the correct input type for form controls and applying validation RegEx patterns where necessary: modern browsers won't even submit the form if the validation fails in the browser

The server script will then send a response to the browser loading either the success page, or fail page if spam was suspected with the fall back option being a manual mailto: link if the script got it wrong. The server then just compiles a quotation request email with all the details to my quotations inbox.

It doesn't matter to me at this point if the email address is legit or not, what little junk gets through is easy to spot.

 

[unwashed potato!]

how a human being would interact with a form

The email address that are fake are all input by humans though

 

[LePhuronn]

The email address that are fake are all input by humans though

Why are real people giving you fake email addresses? If they want a quotation then they have to supply a legit email address, it's that simple. Otherwise how are they expecting to receive the quotation otherwise?

All they are doing is wasting your time and your server bandwidth.

 

[unwashed potato!]

Why are real people giving you fake email addresses? If they want a quotation then they have to supply a legit email address, it's that simple. Otherwise how are they expecting to receive the quotation otherwise?

All they are doing is wasting your time and your server bandwidth.

Oven Cleaning Online Quote | Mayer Cleaning

www.mayercleaning.co.uk

 

[On Holiday]

Ah I see, now it becomes more clear.

What you're seeing is to be expected for quotation forms of that nature. It's exactly why sites like webuyanycar will have a database full of junk email addresses; people just want to see the price without receiving marketing or human interaction. I understand your desire for validation from the business perspective but this is going to be a losing battle. All I can really suggest is to make it clear *why* you're asking for the email address and why it's important; i.e. the quote will be emailed to them and not displayed at the end (even if it is..).

Otherwise if you are actually getting hit by bots filling out the form (I don't suspect this is the case), then this is the type of site where you can safely start blocking countries and user agents to eradicate the majority of them - besides, I don't see a CAPTCHA which you definitely have on *anything* that can cause an email to be generated by an unregistered visitor.

 

[LePhuronn]

Your user journey is incorrect for this type of information display. Because you're asking very specific questions here, it's counter-intuitive to then lock the results behind a validation window, which will cause exactly what you're experiencing: people putting junk in just to get to the numbers. You said yourself you'd be annoyed if you had to give personal info just to see the price of toilet cleaner, but you are doing exactly that.

Your issue isn't prospective customers putting junk into the form, its your approach in how you're delivering information. I'd suggest reworking things slightly to indicate you're asking general questions to provide an estimate for the services required which can be calculated easily and displayed at the end If the user is interested then ask to supply contact details and some specific information so you can assemble a quotation accordingly.

Think of an online mortgage calculator. They ask general questions about your income, deposit and house value then display a bunch of loosely-matching options. If you're interested in something then the calculator will ask for contact details to supply you with a more accurate quotation.

 

[Tripnologist]

I'd suggest reworking things slightly to indicate you're asking general questions to provide an estimate for the services required which can be calculated easily and displayed at the end If the user is interested then ask to supply contact details and some specific information so you can assemble a quotation accordingly.

So much this! Approaching this from a user POV...

• I've been searching around for quotes from multiple places
• This isn't exactly an exciting task - boring in fact, so I want to get it done as quickly and easily as I can.
• I really don't want to sign up unless it's to receive a bespoke quote, but even then I'd MUCH MUCH rather have a ballpark figure first, so I know it's within budget and I'm not just wasting my time
• So I land on your site and need to make a quick decision. Am I going to:
  A - close this tab because I've already found, or am going to keep looking for, alternative sites that provide rough costs without the need to signup
  or
  B - signup, but begrudgingly and ONLY because every single alternative, or near enough every one, I've found has the same requirement. (and if there are a decent number of alternatives, I don't want to spend ages or have the hassle of signing up to ALL of them, so I'm going to be selective and choose 4/5/6/x of them based on reviews and the feeling/impression I got from their website, which might not include yours)
  or
  C - see a rough/ballpark estimate that's within my budget and happily fill in the additional information required to get an actual quote

C is definitely the preferred outcome IMO and can help overcome shortcomings with your website, number of reviews, ratings, etc.

 

[unwashed potato!]

C - see a rough/ballpark estimate that's within my budget and happily fill in the additional information required to get an actual quote

Which it has...

End of Tenancy Cleaning Prices | Mayer Cleaning

www.mayercleaning.co.uk

There isn't any ability to sign up to anything either

 

[Mr Jack]

Which it has...

"from £25". The trouble is that "from £25" is marketing speak for "you will pay a lot more than £25".

 

[Stelly]

I was messing around with chatgpt the other day, I do use it a bit in work, better than googling in my opinion... I got it to write an html5 snake game, it didnt do so well when I asked it to create an NPC to try and kill me

Stelly

 

[unwashed potato!]

"from £25". The trouble is that "from £25" is marketing speak for "you will pay a lot more than £25".

To clarify, customers want a ball park, but the ball park given is not accurate enough so they ant an accurate price, but our system is too accurate and they want a ball park accurate amount? About right?

 

[Mr Jack]

To clarify, customers want a ball park, but the ball park given is not accurate enough so they ant an accurate price, but our system is too accurate and they want a ball park accurate amount? About right?

To some extent, you just have to accept that the customer is never right

For a ballpark figure I'd prefer to see "usually £25-£50" than "from £25". Personally, though, I think the best flow would be for the system to give a quotation and then ask for contact details if they want to follow up on that quotation (assuming you're able to quote based on the information given on the webform). That's what I'd prefer as a customer anyway, marketing types might disagree.