Email marketing: Don’t ever buy an email list
Using a purchased list to fire out emails sounds so easy and cheap, but it is the worst strategy you can use. It can get your company blacklisted, turn off prospective customers, and it’s a waste of time and money.
Too good to be true
It’s laughable really. They advertise super cheap lists. They advertise “fresh” lists. They advertise lists great for your business. Imagine that: a cheap list of people that have never been spammed before and are just dying to hear from you!
“We just got this email, advertising a list we can buy … should we go for it?”
One of the most frequent questions our customers ask us regarding email marketing is whether or not they should buy a list from one of the hundreds of “reputable” companies selling email lists. It sounds so easy – just buy your way to cheap email communication with loads of prospective customers. What a great way to jumpstart your activities and spread the word about your great products and services, right?
There are many reasons why this is always a bad idea. Here are three of them:
1) Unsolicited email can get you blacklisted
Just where do these lists come from anyways? Some companies sell lists they’ve scraped from websites and other sources. Others sell lists of people that have opted-in for communications with another company. But let’s be clear: even “opted-in” individuals aren’t expecting emails from you. Unless your email message clearly applies to the recipient, they will delete it or report it as spam with a single click of a button.
Although the US CAN-SPAM Act has little power to protect the public from spam, Internet Service Providers routinely block many mass senders. When enough people report a given email as spam (about one per thousand), that mass sender is blacklisted from the ISP. This can have a serious consequence on the deliverability of your emails.
2) Unsolicited email can get you shut down
ESPs typically have terms and conditions (such as an Acceptable Use Policy) to prevent abuse by users in order to ensure that no spam is sent through their systems. If you use a purchased list you risk getting shut down.
By the way, most cheaper Email Service Providers (ConstantContact, MailChimp, VirtualResponse, etc) share IP addresses across many senders – so one bad egg can spoil it for everyone. With a low cost to use the service, it’s easy for a spammer to setup an account, blast out a few thousand spam emails, then disappear. This is one reason why we recommend a reputable ESP like ExactTarget that allocates dedicated IP addresses to each sender.
3) Purchased lists are inaccurate
In most cases when you buy a list, you don’t have enough information to properly segment each name. You’re using a shotgun, hoping for a hit. Sending thousands of emails to people that have no interest in your service can not only get you blacklisted, but it is inefficient and a waste of money.
So what’s the answer then?
The right strategy is to build your own in-house list. Collect emails from people you’ve had real interactions with: on your website, through social media, at events, through your sales & partner channels. Gather information about them wherever possible, and use this to segment them. Yes, it takes longer to build up your list, but that list is like gold. With it, you can personalize your message and nurture interest towards a purchase decision.
Don’t take my word for it
Here are some other great posts about this topic: