The Pros and Cons of Buying an Email List

Mailing lists are often an essential component of a company’s success. Without contact information for your leads, you will be unable to sell your products or services. Many companies spend a lot of money and time building their own mailing lists, which is a sensible option since it provides you with more information on your target market and the customers or companies that fit into your target niche. However, it’s not always realistic to build your own mailing list from scratch.

For example, a company that is about to break into a brand new market might not be sure of where to start when it comes to generating leads. Introducing a new product or service, taking a brand overseas for the first time, or expanding into a new industry can be unknown territory for any company, and buying an email list can sometimes be a suitable way to cut through this unfamiliarity and start establishing a contact base. While it is unlikely to provide you with your entire market, it can sometimes be a good place to start.

Is It Legal To Buy Email Lists?

Buying email lists is not illegal. However, due to GDPR, it is important to make sure that you are following legal practices when you are using the purchased data. For example, this could look like sending out an email to the mailing list to give recipients the chance to opt-in or opt-out of receiving marketing information from your company. This will also boost your reputation and prevent your emails from being listed as spam by allowing you to only continue sending emails that are relevant to the subscribers.

It Is Legal To Sell Email Lists?

To sell an email list, under GDPR, it’s important that you have the permission of the data holder to use their data in this way.

When Is It Illegal to Buy Email Lists?

You may be breaking GDPR laws if you purchase an email list where the people whose data is on the list have asked for it to be removed.

Is Buying Email Lists Worth It?

While there are some drawbacks to buying email lists and critics of this practice will tell you that it isn’t likely to work out like you think it will, it’s important to note that there are both advantages and disadvantages of purchasing email lists.

Pros of Buying Email Lists

Some benefits of buying an email list to consider include:

1. Expand Your Reach:

Even if you have spent a lot of money and time creating email lists for your business, there may be some blind spots such as opportunities that have not been considered, customers that you have missed, or accounts that you can’t find up to date contact information for. Buying an email database almost always brings about new leads to discover. Even if just one or two of them turn into regular paying customers or high-paying accounts, buying the email list will have been worth it. New customers from your purchased email list may also be able to refer you to other customers that were previously unaware of your business, expanding your reach even further.

2. Skip The Research Process

Building a mailing list for your business might get the best results, but it is also very time-consuming. Purchasing email addresses gives you the option to skip the long processes of researching and encouraging customers to sign up for your mailing list, allowing you to start pitching potential new clients and customers as soon as possible. This can be especially useful if your business is about to enter a new market, and you want to start turning a profit as soon as possible.

3. Reduce Reliance on Existing Clients and Customers

For B2B companies, in particular, buying an email list can help you avoid relying heavily on a few clients. If one of your clients decides to buy from a competitor or goes out of business, it can be very damaging to your business’s bottom line. On the other hand, when you buy a mailing list, it provides you with new opportunities to diversify your client list.

4. Easily Enter a New Market

Entering a new market is never an easy task – there will always be pitfalls and issues that need to be worked through before your business is solidly set up in the new location or niche. A well-vetted purchase email list of potential new clients or customers can often mean that the growth process doesn’t have to last as long. Being able to pitch to new clients and customers sooner gives you the chance to start finding your footing in the new market faster.

5. Drive Growth and Sales

Lead generation is ultimately all about making more money, and you want to find contacts who will benefit from your product and service. Buying an email list can make it easier for your company to find these people faster, driving sales and business growth.

Cons of Buying Email Lists

On the other hand, some of the main reasons not to purchase an email list are:

1. Low Quality or Outdated Information

Unfortunately, some providers give everyone else a bad name when selling email lists. Avoid buying an email list from a company that allows lists to go out of date or obtains the information through questionable means.

2. Risk of Spam Reports

Many people are not a fan of unsolicited emails. In particular, B2B professionals whose contact information has been sold on as part of an email database can be rather sensitive about this. Because of this, buying an email list could doom your company from the start by making you come across as a spammer rather than a reputable business.

3. Email Service Provider Problems

If you tend to send out marketing emails in bulk, then you’re probably using an email marketing service provider to do this. If you buy an email list that leads to your emails being marked as spam enough times, this is something that your email service provider is going to pick up on quickly. Most email service providers are not interested in being associated with spammers, and this can risk your account being closed or blocked.

4. Poor Response Rate

Buying an email list always means sending unsolicited emails, which will always tend to get lower open and response rates compared to emails that are sent to subscribers who know your company and have given permission for you to email them.

5. Risk Company Reputation Damage

As mentioned earlier, buying email lists can get a bad reputation. If you are suspected of buying email lists by one or more of your contacts, this might damage your company’s reputation. Not only can this cause problems with individual clients and customers, but it is also important to bear in mind that this can quickly spread online, which can land your company in trouble.

Buying and Selling Email Lists – Illegal and Bad Practices to Avoid

The good news is that you are not breaking the law when buying an email list, but there are several illegal and bad practices that should always be avoided to make sure that you get the best results. It’s important that you have a solid understanding of how email marketing has evolved as email has become more important in our lives, and that the average person does not want to receive unwanted or irrelevant communications. More personalization, providing an option to opt-out, and segmenting your lists can help you avoid some of the challenges that arise when buying an email list.

Along with this, it’s important to buy from a reputable vendor to avoid breaking the law with your email list. You should be sure that any email lists you buy include data from people who have agreed explicitly for their data to be used and passed on to third parties to ensure compliance with GDPR. When it comes to buying email lists, remember that you will get what you pay for. A cheap list from a lesser-known vendor might help you save money, but in the long run, it could cost you more by being mostly worthless, or even damaging your reputation. It is always worth spending some more time to research and do your homework to find a vendor that provides high-quality, fully-compliant email lists.

Finally, how you create emails to send to the list is important to consider. Bear in mind that you are sending emails to people who may have never heard of your company before, so it’s important to make sure that you do everything possible to avoid coming across as spammy. Make sure to avoid any spam-like words and phrases such as ‘limited time only’ from your subject line and email to improve your response and engagement rates.

Buying an email list might not always be recommended, but there are some situations where it can lead to good results. If you are considering buying an email list, always keep best practices in mind.