Verified contacts and why a send is blocked

A contact is verified when we know the person who owns that email or phone has confirmed it. A new contact usually starts unverified, with two exceptions. An address someone has already confirmed on BillingMart shows verified within moments of being added, and so does your own confirmed email when you add it yourself. Most mail still goes to an unverified address, so a new client is not stuck. What changes is how far it reaches. An unverified contact opens one document for its holder, never the customer portal, other invoices or statements.

Three ways a contact becomes verified

1. The customer confirms it themselves. They sign in to the customer portal with that email or phone, or they open the link in an "Ask to verify" email. Either one marks the contact verified. So does having already confirmed the same address with another business on BillingMart.
2. The recipient's own click. An invoice or reminder email to an unverified address carries a personal pay link. It opens a page that says who sent which invoice, with one button, View invoice. Pressing the button confirms the address. Opening the email or the page on its own does not. An estimate email links to the portal instead, where signing in does the same job.
3. The owner's approval. Only the workspace owner can do this. It needs a recent sign-in, a second factor and a short reason, and it is recorded in the activity log with the owner as the person who did it. A connected assistant can propose it, but an owner has to approve.

What you see on a client

On a client's page each contact shows a badge: unverified, verified, verified by the owner or verified by their own click. The Clients list shows verified or unverified beside each contact.

• Ask to verify appears beside an unverified email when your workspace has verification emails on, which new workspaces do. The email names your business and says confirming shows them nothing and signs them into nothing. You can ask once a day for an address, and the link lasts three days.
• Mark verified appears for the owner beside an unverified contact. It asks for the reason, in a box labelled "Why you know it is theirs", and then for your second factor.

Marking a contact verified lets you email or text invoices, estimates and receipts to it. A text also needs the customer to have agreed to texts. It does not open the portal for anyone. The customer still has to sign in with that email or phone.

What an unverified contact receives

Message	To an unverified email
Invoices, estimates, reminders, payment links	Sent, and logged as sent to an unverified address
Receipts, refunds, statements	Not sent
Messages you write by hand	Not sent
Texts	Not sent. A text needs a verified phone that agreed to texts

An invoice sent from the normal send screen is never held back for this reason. It is numbered and sent, and the invoice screen says "email not confirmed yet". See Send an invoice.

Why a send is blocked

When something is held back, the message record shows it as blocked. The usual causes are:

• The client has no email, or its only email is marked as bounced. Add a working contact on the client's page.
• The message is a receipt or statement and the address is not verified yet. Ask the customer to confirm it, or the owner can mark it verified.
• A text was meant for a phone that is not verified or has not agreed to texts.
• Email is switched off. Owners and admins find the switch under Settings, then Messaging, as "Send invoices, receipts and reminders by email".

A statement that cannot go shows "Not sent" and says it goes only to a verified email. A blocked invoice send still counts toward your monthly sends, because the invoice is live. See What counts as a send.

If the customer cannot confirm

Send them the invoice's pay link yourself, or ask for a different email and add it as a new contact. An address marked as bounced cannot be verified by the owner or by a link.