Should You Buy Email Marketing Lists?

Hint: The Answer is Not “Yes”! It may seem like a quick fix. You need people to sell to and you have some great email messages ready to roll out. So, what do you do? You buy a list of email addresses in your target audience to send your emails to. And, then you find out why we say “Do not buy email marketing lists.”. Buying email marketing lists is the kiss of death for your email marketing campaign. Why?

For starters, the people on these lists did not ask to be added to your list. Sending your email marketing message to people that don’t request it makes you the prime example of spamming.

The quality of purchases lists is, to put it politely, awful. The information is often inaccurate. Many of the email addresses are not deliverable. Sending to a purchased list means a lot of your emails are going to bounce. This is going to wreck your reputation with major Internet Service Providers. Many of these ISP’s will begin flagging your messages as spam or even blocking them.

Of those messages that do get through, many of them are going to complain. And, of those that do not complain, many people will simply choose to not do business with you because you spammed them. You will actually be driving them to your competitors.

Then the big reason to not buy email marketing lists? Lack of results.

A list of organically grown lists, people you have built a relationship with, is going to generate much better results, every time. A 2014 study provides evidence showing that open and click rates dropped dramatically for purchased lists, and complaint rates multiplied.

It just makes no business sense to buy email marketing lists.

Spend the time and money to build a high quality responsive list of people that WANT your information and reap the benefits for years to come.

Here are some great tips on how to build your lists responsibly for maximum profit:

How To Collect Subscribers For Email Marketing

How To Build Your AutoResponder Email Marketing Lists