Would you purchase lists for targeted email campaigns?

Laura - When you asked whether or not it is OK to purchase lists.... I am assuming you mean to rent a list (pay a 3rd party to send your email on your behalf).

If that is the case... It all depends on whether you are B2B or B2C. I believe I read somewhere that B2C rented lists are becoming less and less effective. As for B2B, I have found the more expensive the list, the better the engagement and ROI. This is not the time for bargain shopping.

I recently worked with a company on their B2B catering program that targeted administrators and HR professionals. We worked with some pretty expensive rented list companies that scrubbed their list regularly. Our call to action gave users the opportunity to sign up for additional promotions (not just for the business). Because of this, we obtained a much higher than average open/CTR, plus we grew their database and tagged them for future catering opportunities.

If you are exploring other opportunities to grow your leads, you can also look at co-branding (permission based). Several years ago, I worked with PermissionData to get listed on other like-minded sites where we could co-pollinate and gather more contacts.

I would answer "no" to buying email lists unless you have a very good and reliable referral. My employer also uses email addresses from subscribers, collected via website and/or self-inclusion and typically the bounce rate is about 15 to 20% (that's after cleaning the list for self-exclusion). That's for people who voluntarily registered their emails. You're already losing almost 1/5 of your sample just by clicking "submit".

External lists are even shadier because you don't how the emails were collected nor their recency. I've already lost 30% to 40% of list emails just on bounce rates.

I truly think collecting emails is an organic way to build strong leads and keep relationships with people who have already demonstrated some sort of interest in your business. You know where they're coming from, the cost to get them is relatively low, and you can use it multiple times.

Best way I've found to capture emails (via opt-in): newsletters, white papers, and surveys (adding some sort of incentive).

Laura - Normally I would answer "no" as well but we've been testing a new source for email addresses and have seen some early success. The bounces are sent back for a credit (very easy process) and bounce rates are averaging ~ 20%. It's too early for me to officially recommend anything but you may want to take a look at www.netprospex.com. If anyone else has experience with this company please speak up.
thanks,

I haven't had any luck from purchasing email lists. What's helped me increase my elist is: posting to social networking sites, article marketing, speaking, and participating in summits and doing webinars/teleseminars with others who share my ideal clients but are in different industries.

Maybe there is something in my answer that can assist you.

I havent had luck with purchased email lists either. Usually they are full of bounces and people on the list arent always fully opted-in. I try and stay away from them and try to build my own. Building an internal is something that takes time and effort. You can look into co-registration with another non competing vendor in the same space as you if you want your list to get bigger quickly. Traditionnal means of giving valuable content for contact information also works if used wisely.

In any telemarketing campaign, it is very crucial to have a targeted telemarketing list. Getting a reliable, timely and targeted list is necessary for businesses to generate B2B leads. If you wish to acquire good leads and get ahead in the market, come up with a targeted list for your campaign.

The goal of this list is to get as many interested people as possible. The contacts are those who you want to spend time and effort with. They are the ones who share the same characteristics and demands that makes them distinct from the rest. It is important to know what this group wants because it will help you in enhancing your marketing strategies.
Source: http://www.squidoo.com/benefits-of-a-targeted-list

I would say "no" because the contacts on the list are usually not reachable and even if the email doesn't bounce or get spammed there's usually no response. I also use social networking sites for professionals for reaching out and letting people know about our services.

If I say "no" will the dozens of unsolicited emails I receive per week asking me to buy email lists stop?

And if I say "yes" will the dozens become scores?

For the record, "no".

This is one of those questions where I think there is no "one" correct answer.

I won't go into the debate of list quality. I am sure there are good ones as much as there are bad ones.

From a Marketing view point I only would consider it, if I were in a market where let's say "brand quality" is not of importance, my typical client would be a one time buyer, and if for example price would be the prime deciding factor for the client to buy - and I would know that I can beat the competition on price. If you were in this category it would be a good approach as you already would be doing mailings and your clients are used to it.

I would not do it, if my business would depend on lasting customer relationships, as unsolicited mailing potentially could degrade your image thus making it more difficult to build this lasting relationship. Bear in mind that there is rather a oversaturation with commercial information.

Laura,

I am the Chief Advisor for the Focus Network on Email Marketing and before I ASSume what you are asking, can you provide clarification on your question.

When you say purchased lists, are you talking about lists that you rent via third parties at sites which would target your prospects. These are rentals whereby you would never see the emails and have the fulfillment of the actual email being pushed out to these subscribers.

Or....are you talking about going out an actually purchasing a list of say 100,000 contacts who are often touted as opt-in names of your target subscriber base and you then have the ability to send email to them over and over and over and over as often as you like.

Your answer will then tell me how to answer your question.

Andrew Kordek
Co-Founder, Trendline Interactive
A Email Marketing Agency
Twitter: @andrewkordek & @trendlinei
Email: andrew@trendlineinteractive.com

Andrew is right- need clarification on the rent/buy aspect to truly answer this question but I'm going to assume we are talking about renting a list through a third party vendor in order to target potential new prospects. This- just like any other acquisition method - is successful based on so many different elements going into any acquisition campaign: objective, target audience, creative, offer, subject line, number of deployments, the list goes on and on.

I am going to disagree with George. Although the numbers he shows are probably accurate people get hung up on comparing those statistics and forget we are talking about acquisition campaigns. Of course open & click rates are going to be far lower then emailing into your own opted in database- those people already raised their hand and asked you to email them. The objective with an acquisition campaign is to find new customers who may be interested in your product or service. Email is a great channel for acquisition - especially when paired with other marketing channels like direct mail and search to maximize results. The value of email acquisition can be difficult to measure as it grows with the long term customer value from repeat purchases from these new customers you acquire. Thus- having a successful new customer relationship strategy already in place will ensure you get the most out of your acquisition campaign.

When email acquisition is done right it's a win-win for the business and the new customer (they may not have ever known you existed and truly value & need your product or service) However there needs to be a very clear objective, effective targeting, creative, offers, etc all optimized to accomplish the businesses goal- whether that be to convert brand new customers or to gain new leads. And of course don't ever purchase and take ownership of email lists. In the end you typically get what you pay for so invest in running a smart campaign through a reputable vendor.

It all boils down to the quality of the list.

Any list that is offered for unlimited use (for purchase) or sold at less than .20/name is going to be a loser - not only in limited responses, but at a huge risk for CAN-SPAM complaints. This could have a profound impact on existing customer relationships.

One of the best things you can do to evaluate a list is to search the sellers address and look at a satellite view. I've seen apartments, backdoors to warehouses in Florida and even the gates of San Quentin - I kid you not.

A well-targeted list that is conversationally-oriented can be highly responsive. Rent lists from communities (web properties over publications) your targets are actively engaging - not just successfully completed a circulation survey to get a free periodical. It also adds a layer of control over the job role selects a broker may make without knowing the market well, or worse, to fill to order quantity. Save the NetProspex and Jigsaw's of the world for sales prospecting and broad appeal campaigns.

I have run line-of-business email campaigns to net prospects (via our private integrated database) that doubled or tripled the response rates of the same profiles from internal sources.

And by all means...never take anything from a business that is not an active DMA member.

I use a standard rule before buying/renting/using anything, and it throws people; let me know how often it doesn't work, why (whatever) didn't work, what caused the failure, etc.
Everybody is going to tout there successes and all marketers know that game. I want to know the failures. Knowing why, how, when, ... something failed I have a much better idea if I match the FAIL or SUCCEED parameters, plus I'll be talking to people who learned from their experience rather than those who had "success" happen to them. (see Duplicatable Luck - More On Research and Methods, http://www.bizmediascience.com/2008/05/duplicatable_luck_more_on_rese.html)