Why You Should NEVER Buy an Email List

Posted by joe in List Management on August 15, 2010

The temptation for many businesses eager to launch an email marketing campaign is to buy a list of email addresses. And that’s understandable…why take the time to build your own list when you can click a button and automatically have 1,000, 5,000 or even 10,000 names in your database in a matter of minutes?

But buying a list of email addresses might be the WORST way to start your email marketing campaign. Here’s why.

Successful email marketing is built on permission and trust. By subscribing to your e-newsletter or agreeing to receive promotional emails, people are giving you permission to market to them. You’ve already established a relationship of sorts…it’s up to you to cement that relationship by providing content that is useful and relevant to your subscribers.

How can you possibly establish a relationship built on permission and trust with someone who has likely never heard of you, your products or the service your offer? Consider the way you treat email from someone you don’t know. Yeah, I thought so.

As tempting as it might be, NEVER buy or rent an email list. The negative consequences of using a rented or purchased email list can be far-reaching:

• Poor Response. Chances are your email will get deleted. You will be marketing your product or service to people who have no interest in what you have to offer.
• Blacklisting. Worse than having your email ignored is having it listed as spam. To many spam reports, and your email service provider might shut you down so that you can’t even send legitimate email.
• Fines. Violations of the CAN-SPAM laws can results in fines reaching into the tens of thousands of dollars.
• Accuracy. Email addresses change all the time. The addresses your purchase could be years old. In the eyes of your ESP, hard bounces – ones due to inaccurate addresses – are almost as bad as bad as getting marked as spam.
• Damage to Your Reputation. If you’re perceived as a spammer, future campaigns will be jeopardized.

There are many legitimate ways to build your email list with proven techniques. Don’t be tricked into thinking buying a list is best way to build your database.