Buying an E-mail List

[GregK]

Don't do it.

Yes there are exceptions, but for the most part you are going to get a generic list of bot-mined e-mails that do not relate to your product. A good list is hard to come by and anyone that has taken the time to acquire one will not be selling it cheap.

On that note, e-mail renting is a much better alternative. This is when someone with a list will send out a mass e-mail to their list on your behalf. You will have to pay for this, but it is worth it because that list is specific to your needs. (assuming you did your research on the company with the list first)

If it seems like the deal of the century on a lot of e-mail, it is not worth your time. You get what you pay for when it comes to e-mail lists.

[DerekForeal]

GregK, I knew this. However, you reaffirmed the value proposition. It may be more work, it may take a longer time, and it may cost more money but my potential return on investment by renting from a quality list holder far outweigh the potential loss. Thanks for the reminder.

[ester]

It's really easy to start! However, it may lead you to plenty of spam conplaints and the ISP will reject email emails from you domain or smtp at the end for there are so many spam reports for you and you are consider as spammer.

[GregK]

Do you have much experience selling lists Lance? This thread started out as a warning to not buy e-mail lists but it might be interesting to hear a differing opinion. Of course I would never say that all e-mail lists are bad all the time, just that in general you get what you pay for with e-mail lists.

[gissele.smith]

Hi, I am new here.
Buying a E-mail list is not a good idea. Reaching out targeted audience is most important in Email Marketing. You can build your own list using Online business directory. It takes time to build our own list but we can have better response. I should tell you this worked well for me.

[AffiliateLeads007]

sometimes leasing an e-mail list is a good idea though if you know who you are dealing with. Lets say you sell paintball equipment, you could lease the list from a paintball range and you would get a very high conversion rate.

[HomeComputerGames]

Originally Posted by ester

It's really easy to start! However, it may lead you to plenty of spam conplaints and the ISP will reject email emails from you domain or smtp at the end for there are so many spam reports for you and you are consider as spammer.

This is exactly why you do not buy a list but rent one from double opt in.
Is the reputation of your business worth the risk of sending to an unverified list?

Not for me it isn't! Too much hard work has been done to risk it on something that seldom produces well.
I agree that you must target market and not be broad when renting a list.
Though renting a list may cost you 10x times the bought list your ROI is much better and the risk far less.

HCG

[rajagiri]

Hi, I am new here.
Buying a E-mail list is not a good idea. Reaching out targeted audience is most important in Email Marketing.



seo

[proson]

Well I don't quite agree but of course if the vendor just give you a bunch of email addresses then don't bother. But if they are highly responsive like 10% CTR then it is another story. There are lot of places that sell ezine ads. Often they are more responsive then safelist, or list builders.

[Albertbndr]

Email marketing is a nice idea but it should be utilized in a proper way. Here is a small article which can make this work well.