Buying an email list might seem like a good idea and an easy way to increase the number of your subscribers and potential clients. But is it legal to send emails to purchased email lists? And would they help or rather harm your business?
In short, using purchased lists and emailing unengaged subscribers will cause deliverability issues. These lists might also contain spam traps or invalid emails that can seriously harm your sending reputation. Purchased lists are considered spam by the email community, and no serious email tool will allow the use of such lists. Keep reading to find out about some alternative methods that might be a better solution for you.What are the best practices and policies around purchased lists?
Your email recipients should have expressly signed up to receive information from you. You can collect sign-ups at events, during the sale (even webshop), and during website visits via forms on your website or standalone landing pages.
If you have purchased lists, unless they've opted in through other methods, it is advisable to unsubscribe them if you want to have them in your email marketing system, to avoid emailing them by mistake. The worst scenario is getting your domain blacklisted by large email service providers such as Google and Microsoft, resulting in all your company emails including Outlook emails ending up in spam!
Let’s say you already purchased your list of contacts. Should you simply throw it away or is there any use for this list? Well, the good news is that you can save some of these contacts by inviting them to opt-in via one of your forms. Here’s how it works:
- Use an outbound system that is specifically made to send cold emails to email these contacts,
- These cold emails will include a link to a landing page or a webpage with an opt-in form that is connected to your CRM,
- Once they sign-up, you can safely send newsletters or any other nurturing emails to them.
If you're a FunnelBud client, we can help you simplify and in some cases integrate and automate the process.
Building a quality email contacts database (without purchasing it):
It becomes clear that a purchased list cannot be used in your marketing efforts and could cause more harm than good. If you want your emails to go into the inbox and be read, the best way to go about it by growing your email list naturally, instead of buying one. We offer you a list of tips how to go about that:
The time you will spend building and maintaining a good email contacts database will pay off when you have a high-performing list of people who can’t wait to receive your next email.
