All posts tagged email marketing

There is a lot that can be said, both positive and negative, about buying an email marketing list. Many successful entrepreneurs will suggest you organically build your email list over time. While this method may prove more fruitful in the long run; some micro business owners like you may need the quick exposure to help get the ball rolling on gaining brand awareness. For many, purchasing an email marketing list can help spark their email marketing campaigns.

So what makes the most sense for your micro business? We’ve put together some pros and cons for you to consider when deciding if purchasing a mailing list is the right move for your business. It’s important that you consider where you are within the lifecycle of your business and what your goals are with email marketing when looking at both sides of this debate.

PROS:

• Potential Low Cost, High Reward: More often than not, you are really borrowing an email marketing list and you only have the right to keep the contact data for individuals who respond to your outreach. Depending on the price of the list, obtaining even just a few credible leads can be seen as a win for your micro business as you build foot traffic to your website and storefront. Depending on the price point of your product or service, one sale from email marketing can pay for the entire list.
• Credible Lists Do Exist: When purchasing an email marketing list, be sure you receive a guarantee from the vendor that these addressees have approved to receiving solicitations from third parties such as yourself. This will reduce the chances of your email marketing campaign being marked as spam. Even worse, you could have your IP blacklisted. Doing your homework on different email marketing list vendors can help you find legitimate lists.
• Simple and Easy: One major pro of buying email lists is the short term ease created for you. With time saved by not creating a list organically, you can focus on other marketing aspects of your business as you ramp up and build awareness. While you will likely add contacts to your email marketing list organically as your business grows, a purchased email list can help fill the void in the short term.

CONS:

• Questionable Quality of List: While many email list sellers will promise hundreds of thousands of email addresses, how many really qualify for your target audience? Are the contacts truly located within driving distance to your storefront (if you do not have shipping capability)? Don’t be drawn in simply by large numbers of contacts on a list, as there may be very few (if any) leads. This is where doing your homework on vendors is crucial.
• The Reputation of Email Marketing: With the constant scare of phishing scams all over the internet, more and more people are blocking marketing emails from their inbox to their trash folders without ever looking at the contents. One look at the subject title and a person decides whether the email should be kept or deleted. Therefore, there is a very high probability that the marketing materials sent by a purchased e-mail list will be deleted before it’s even opened. This doesn’t mean you should swear off email marketing all together, but you should have a solid plan on how to do it right.
• No Introduction: When you send out an email out of the blue to a blind list, more often than not the recipient are likely to hit SPAM. This action ultimately damages your ability to deliver emails to inboxes of your real customers. The last thing you want is to lose potential customers because you tried to reach out to them blindly without proper introduction.

If you’re looking for a few secrets on how to produce a stronger email marketing campaign, feel free to check out this article we put together awhile back.

What are your thoughts on purchasing an email marketing list? Have you ever purchased a list? And if you have, what were your results?

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