How do the global validation rules define a personal email?

[Alex3]

Using global validation rules to block the free consumer email domains using the list marketo provides but how does it identify whether the email matches as there isnt a default field for email domain.

Is it email "contains"? example with 123.com being personal

• Alex@123.com - BLOCKED
• Alex@realcompany123.com - BLOCKED

Or is it "email domain is"

• Alex@123.com - BLOCKED
• Alex@realcompany123.com - APPROVED

or is it "Email ends with"

• Alex@123.com - BLOCKED
• Alex@realcompany123.com - BLOCKED

Does anyone know how Marketo matches this? as I dont want to block honest company email domains by telling them Marketo thinks they are personal domains.

[Ruchi_Lapran1]

⚠️  This post has been edited by a moderator for accuracy.

Hi Alex,

Marketo uses a pre-defined blocklist of free email domains s.a. 1033edge.com, 11mail.com, 123.com, 123box.net, etc. (as you have observed already). The global validation rule acts when email address contains either of those domains. To summarize, it would be Alex@123.com - BLOCKED

We typically set the rule as "contains @123.com" rather than just "contains 123.com".

[Sant_Singh_Rath]

⚠️  This post has been edited by a moderator for accuracy.

Hi @Alex3,

From what I know, Marketo’s global validation rules don’t use “contains” on the full email string. They specifically check the domain part of the address (everything after the “@”).

So in your examples:

• If the rule is “Email Domain is” (exact match):

  • alex@123.com → Blocked (if 123.com is on the blocked list)

  • alex@realcompany123.com → Approved (since it’s a different domain)

If it worked on “contains” or “ends with,” you’d risk blocking valid company domains, but that’s not how Marketo’s list is applied.

Marketo’s list matches the domain exactly, so realcompany123.com won’t get blocked just because 123.com is on the list.

Hope this clears it up.

[SanfordWhiteman · Accepted solution]

@Sant_Singh_Rath and @Ruchi_Lapran1 both your responses are incorrect or incomplete.

While it’s true that the rule domain.example will not block 123domain.example, it will block us.domain.example.

The rules cover an entire private domain suffix. So if you enter example.com, domains are checked to see if they match example.com exactly or end with .example.com.