Why building an email list is better than buying an email list

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Building an email data list

Buying an email list may seem like a quick and easy solution, however it comes with greatest potential to fail and there are some very high associated risks. There are many companies out there on the market who can provide tens of thousands of names and emails, but you will be lucky if it generates just a handful of sales.

3 reasons why you should NOT consider buying an email list

  1. If you send an email from a list you have brought, it is spam – period.  This is fact, you have not sought their permission to send them an email. They have never heard of you or your company, so why should they give your email any attention whatsoever? There are consequences for sending spam, not least the potential to be fined up to £500,000 for sending unsolicited mail. Have you heard of the Mail Preference Service (MPS)? This is where individuals can opt out of receiving emails. Send an email to someone on this list, then you are going to get yourself in hot water. Often email lists are outdated, and the chances of you sending an email address to someone registered with the MPS is high. In addition to a large fine, you will also find that your IP address is likely to be placed on a blacklist due to recipients marking it as spam. This means that any future emails you send at best are likely to end up in the spam/junk folder. This can cause serious problems, especially with existing customers.
  2. Buying a big list causes operational issues. Even if you did manage to execute a successful email campaign to a large list, do you have the infrastructure in place to be able to cope with a large number of phone calls and emails? Especially when most of the phone calls and emails may not be from potential customers, but individuals venting their anger and frustration from receiving unsolicited email.
  3. You’ll be lucky if more than 4-6% actually open the email. We all receive spam email everyday, as such we have become resistant to opening emails from unknown sources. If you send a bulk emailer out from a purchased list. You will be lucky if more than 6% actually open the email, let alone click on any call to actions or make a purchase.

So why is building an email list better than buying an email list?

  1. When individuals opt in to receive emails, at some point they know they are going to land in their inbox. There will be a reason they opted in, whether it’s to receive discounts, special offers or product information, they have given you ‘permission’ to keep them updated via email until they say otherwise and unsubscribe.
  2. It enables you to send personalised emails. Collecting data is really easy and if done in a smart way, allows you to segment your data and personalise your emails based on the consumers needs and where they are in the buyers journey. You can find more about the buyers journey on the Hubspot website. With the help of email tracking software such as Mailchimp, this enables you to send better email; track who opens your email, target those again that didn’t etc etc. You can only add subscribers to a data list using Mailchimp providing you have permission to email the recipient. If it’s a list you brought, you don’t it’s spam…

All in all, in my opinion, buying a list is lazy, it will cause more problems that you think and finally, it demonstrates a lack of creativity and flair. Building a data list is actually very easy. Be creative and start to develop content that your potential customers want and they will begin to trust you and provide a mutual exchange of personal data in return for content or offers.

Related:

How building a data list could transform your small business

What you should do now

If you are serious about having a great website, you should read my blog, it’s packed with ideas and suggestions to help improve your site.

If you’d like me to dramatically improve your website and bring you new customers, visit my website designs for small businesses page and then contact me for more information.

And if you have any comments or questions about this article, contact me.

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