While strategically building an email list is a great way to engage your target audience effectively, you may be tempted to take a shortcut by buying pre-made email lists. Buying email lists can lead to various ethical and legal concerns and negatively impact the success of your email marketing efforts.
This article will discuss why buying email lists is a bad idea and explore better alternatives to expand your reach and build long-lasting connections with your audience.
Table of contents
What is an email list?
An email list is a curated list of individuals that are genuinely interested in receiving updates from your business. Your email list is much more than just a collection of email addresses- it is a direct way for you to engage with your target audience. Individual consumers usually willingly subscribe to receive messages from your business through your website, social media platforms and events.
Email lists are a valuable way for your business to directly communicate with users who have demonstrated interest in their products and services. This can help ensure your email campaigns are personalized and reach the right audience.
Why should you avoid buying email lists?
While quick access to a broad audience through purchased email lists may seem tempting, the pitfalls far outweigh the benefits. Steering clear of buying email lists is a strategic advantage for your email marketing campaigns.
1. Lack of genuine interest and engagement
Purchasing an email list leads to an audience of uninterested subscribers. Imagine promoting your products and services to a room of people who aren't interested in what your business has to say.
This lack of interest leads to missed opportunities to build genuine, lasting relationships with loyal customers.
2. Potential for spam complaints
Sending emails to purchased email lists often results in recipients flagging emails as spam. This will diminish the chances of your emails being engaged with or even be marked as spam and impact your sender's reputation. Email service providers closely monitor spam reports, and a high rate of spam complaints may lead to your emails automatically being flagged as spam or even completely blocked.
3. Higher unsubscribe rates
When you send messages to a purchased email list, you will probably see an increase in unsubscribe rates.
Your overall email list, which should ideally consist of a community of engaged and interested individuals, will begin to reduce as disengaged recipients who did not opt to receive your messages either flag your emails as spam, unsubscribe from your emails or block you entirely.
4. Damage to sender reputation
Sending unsolicited emails poses a substantial risk to your business’s credibility. A compromised sender reputation will not only raise questions about your trustworthiness but also presents new challenges associated with rebuilding it.
This will negatively affect your ability to engage with existing subscribers and impact prospects for future interactions.
5. Inaccurate audience targeting
When relying on purchased lists, there’s no assurance that the email addresses align with your target audience of Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This lack of precision means that there;s no way to guarantee that these individuals have a genuine interest in your products or services.
6. Ethical considerations
Buying email lists is not just questionable- it's a breach of trust and ethics. It represents a breach of trust by secretly obtaining and using personal information instead of making genuine organic connections.
These individuals have not provided explicit consent to receive communication from your business and may not even be aware that their information is being sold. This violates their privacy and can impact your brand's reputation in the long run.
7. Legal implications
While buying an email list itself is not illegal, sending unsolicited marketing communication to people without their consent is illegal in many countries. Businesses that breach regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may be at risk for potential fines or other serious legal repercussions.
8. Increased costs in the long-run
While buying email lists may seem like a quick solution, the long-term financial and reputational costs surpass any potential positive impact. Purchasing an email list involves an upfront initial fee. The low-quality leads and lack of genuine interest often result in poor returns on investment (ROI) for email marketing campaigns.
The amount of time and effort to filter and manage a purchased email list can be better utilized on authentic strategies to target users organically.
Better alternatives to buying email lists
While buying email lists may seem like an easy shortcut, the most effective and sustainable approach to connecting with your target audience is to build your own organically.
This will ensure that your subscribers are interested in your content, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates. Here are a few proven strategies to help you build your email list authentically:
1. Content marketing
Create valuable and relevant content, such as insightful blog posts, informative articles, and engaging videos that resonate with your target audience. Providing value through various types of content will encourage viewers to subscribe for more. This establishes your brand as an authority in your industry and will attract a large audience over time.
2. Lead magnets
In exchange for email subscriptions, provide valuable incentives such as ebooks, whitepapers, discounts, and other exclusive resources. These lead magnets will help you attract new subscribers and establish a favorable and trustworthy connection.
3. Opt-in forms
You should strategically include clear opt-in forms across your website, blogs, and landing pages. This transparent and direct approach will help you encourage leads to share their email addresses with your business.
4. Webinars and events
Hosting webinars and events related to your industry is a valuable opportunity to gather new email addresses. Attendees will likely be interested in what your business does, making this a highly effective strategy for building an organic email list.
5. Social media engagement
You can leverage social media platforms to connect with your audience effectively. You should encourage your followers to subscribe to your email list for new promotions and product-related content. This cross-channel engagement will help you convert social media followers who are already interested in your brand into email subscribers.
Final takeaway
Buying email lists is a shortcut that leads to dead ends. It can lead to negatively impacted connections with your customers, harm your reputation and brand image, and even attract legal repercussions. Instead of taking the easy route, building your email list organically is the way to go.
While it may take longer, strategically building your email list over time ensures that they stick around for longer and are genuinely interested in your products and services.
