How To Buy Email Lists (TL;DR It’s a Bad Idea)
Bought email lists—they’re worse than scrambled eggs mixed with raisins, right?
A quick Google search for “buy email list” returns cautionary articles from MailChimp—3 Reasons Never to Buy Email Lists—and HubSpot—Why Buying Email Lists Is Always a Bad Idea. Reddit is definitively on the side of “don’t do it, ever.”
However, the reality in B2B sales is more nuanced.
For your newsletter? Yes, it’s best to stay away. Stick with trusty opt-ins.
But for cold outreach? Our analysis of over 1 million B2B email campaigns shows that properly sourced and verified contact data can deliver open rates up to 45% higher than purchased lists, while maintaining compliance and protecting your sender reputation.
The real issue is that there are far better alternatives to buying lists. You should always go for direct, full access if you're using a third-party database.
With that in mind, let’s look at how to effectively collect emails for both your outbound campaigns and your newsletter,
How Buying Email Lists Works
Buying B2B email lists typically involves the following steps:
Select a data provider that caters to the language and location of your target market.
Choose targeting criteria like industry, company size, job titles, etc.
Purchase a block of contacts.
Hope that the lead data is accurate and up to date.
Costs vary, but the price for 1000 B2B emails (CPM) typically sits around $500. That’s according to third-party data and our own review of the main providers in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Why Do Business Buy Email Lists
Businesses buy lists to quickly expand their lead database, allowing them to run cold outreach campaigns, send marketing materials, or supplement their newsletter subscribers.
Most providers collect emails through a mix of scraping and large data purchases. They also filter their lists and run hygiene checks. This adds a layer of quality assurance and makes it unlikely that senders will contravene regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR.
But there’s a big catch. Even with all these safety nets in place, buying email lists is still like walking a tightrope. For newsletters, it's a hard no. Nobody likes finding themselves subscribed to something they never asked for.
For cold email campaigns, lists can be useful. But it’s far better to pay for access to the underlying databases that providers use to build their lists. This gives you full control over filtering and hygiene monitoring.
Are you looking for up-to-date email addresses gathered and verified using the most advanced techniques available? Get in touch with Artisan to learn more about our database of over 300 million leads.
Why Buying Email Lists is a Bad Idea
The core issue with buying contact lists is that they don’t give you control. If you’re running a cold email marketing campaign, it’s important that you have full oversight of lead selection and filtering within the email database.
If you’re building a newsletter, opt-in emails provide you with certainty that your recipients want to read your emails. Purchased email lists simply don’t give you that certainty.
Legal Implications
The CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) are the main pieces of legislation that cover the sending of unsolicited emails.
What really matters is that spam isn't just about content. It's about context. Bulk emails without proper targeting? That's spam territory. Personalized outreach to relevant prospects? Now we're talking.
For newsletter purposes, using an opt-in process—and allowing subscribers to opt out when they wish—ensures that your emails aren’t spam. For cold email marketing campaigns, the priority is to make sure that prospects fit your ideal customer profile (ICP) and your offer is relevant.
Confusion Among “Subscribers”
Purchased lists are made up of individuals who have not expressed interest in a brand or product. The outcome? Disinterest and mild confusion at best. Irritation at worst.
Imagine how you would feel if you suddenly started receiving regular newsletter broadcasts from a company you didn’t know or even like.
On the issue of single vs double opt-ins (where subscribers have to confirm their subscription twice), the data is clear: stick with single. According to a study by GetResponse, using a single opt-in results in nearly four times as many subscribers. There’s a slight decrease in average open and response rates, but the number of engagements is, on the whole, far greater.
Negative Impact on Metrics
Using paid email lists can skew your metrics. If the data in your bought email marketing lists is poor, you’ll see a high bounce rate or a low open rate. If recipients aren’t checking email inboxes or they have stringent spam filters, your true rates—dictated by the quality of your campaign—will be obscured.
Again, it comes back to quality. With purchased lists, you can’t be sure of the accuracy of lead contact information. Even if you’re warming up your email addresses and only using reputable email service providers (ESPs), there’s little you can do if recipients aren’t checking their inboxes.
Damage to Brand Reputation
Unsolicited emails over a long period quickly position your brand as spammy and intrusive. This quickly creates distrust of your brand. And such an approach is particularly damaging if you’re emailing people who might be your prospects and subscribers in other circumstances.
It’s fairly obvious why unsolicited newsletter broadcasts are likely to leave your “subscribers” with a bad impression, especially if they’re sent out regularly every week or month. But it’s also important to be careful with bulk email marketing campaigns. If you’re reaching out with an offer, it’s imperative that your emails are targeted and personalized.
With access to a reputable, up-to-date database, you can ensure that leads fit your ICP and that emails are suitably personalized so as not to be marked as spam.
For example, Artisan’s virtual SDR, Ava, draws on enriched, hygiene-checked data to personalize emails at scale. If you would like to see her in action, get in touch to book a demo.
Wasted Resources
It’s an obvious thing to say, but email lists often cost a lot of money. There’s an opportunity cost of both time and financial resources.
Organic list-building methods and use of reputable third-party databases are much more cost-effective over the long term compared to buying lists. Both inbound and outbound strategies—such as content and social marketing, networking, referrals, and paid ads—provide a clear return on investment (ROI) once they’re established.
When it comes to third-party databases, access is usually based on simple monthly pricing. You can access, filter, and connect with all the leads you wish without worrying about spiraling costs. A monthly subscription also provides a basis on which you can refine your campaign and ICP without additional expenditure.
8 Alternative Strategies for Building an Email List
Now that we've covered the dark side of bought lists, let's talk about what actually works. (Spoiler: it's not as painful as you might think.)
The good news is that there are many effective alternatives to seeking out the services of email list providers.
Let’s look at how you can find and connect with high-quality leads using top-notch databases and well-chosen digital marketing techniques, all while respecting the data privacy and interest of your potential customers.
1. Automate Email Collection with AI
With AI-powered tools, there’s no need to buy or manually collect emails anymore. AI automatically gathers high-quality and targeted email contacts from various sources.
Let’s look at Artisan as an example. Artisan’s AI prospecting engine processes vast quantities of lead data, including information from websites and directories, third-party sources, and public records. This B2B data is then validated and enriched with details about decision-makers and the companies they work for (job title, demographics, psychographics, technographics, etc.).
Ava, Artisan’s virtual sales development representative (SDR) then consults this database to find B2B leads that match your ICP closely, before creating highly personalized outreach emails.
For example, imagine you offer construction software. Ava will look at your ICP and find up-to-date contact details of professionals in that sector given your targeting criteria, with personalized construction-related email outreach.
A database is a far better option than a list because it’s regularly hygiene-checked and expanded. With monthly pricing, this is a far more cost-effective option over the long term.
2. Use Content Marketing
According to research by First Page Sage, content marketing can deliver up to a 2000% ROI. High-quality content generates a consistent supply of interested site visitors, many of whom can be converted to subscribers.
Here are three examples of content marketing assets for building your email address lists:
Blog posts. Informative blog posts that address your target audience’s needs and include a clear CTA (calls to action) will encourage readers to subscribe to your email list.
Guest blogging. Guest blog posts on reputable websites within your industry will expand your reach and drive visitors to your email sign-up page.
SEO optimization. Optimization and regular audits of all your pages will increase your website traffic and your email list.
3. Leverage Social Media
It’s worth keeping in mind that you don’t “own” your social media subscribers. The top platforms, whether LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or any of the other big names, can take away your followings on a whim.
It’s important to promote your list regularly as part of your social media strategy. This will insulate you from ever-changing social media algorithms and give you greater control of your community.
Here are a few ideas for generating subscribers through social media:
Regularly share links to your sign-up page and highlight the benefits of subscribing.
Run contests and giveaways requiring participants to enter their email addresses to win a prize.
Give away free resources like eBooks and webinar recordings in exchange for an email address.
Include a link to your newsletter in prominent places (like the header on your LinkedIn page).
4. Host Networking Events and Workshops
Don’t underestimate the power of a pen, a clipboard, and a sign-up sheet.
Networking events and workshops are excellent places to collect email addresses for both your newsletter and outbound list. There are many opportunities to engage with attendees, from emails thanking them for attending to direct pitches.
Leads generated from networking events are much warmer than leads you haven’t interacted with. Collect phone numbers in addition to email addresses and consider a slightly more aggressive (though not intrusive) marketing strategy.
5. Implement Exit-Intent Popups
Popups have gone out of fashion in recent years, but they’re still remarkably effective. Exit popups, for example, “save” 15% of site visitors.
Contrary to many “expert opinions,” popups don’t harm your SEO when best practices are followed.
Here are some simple tips for creating a popup that converts:
Use a strong and original CTA
Provide value in the form of exclusive content
Make sure it’s scannable and easy to read
Leverage urgency and FOMO where possible
6. Use Customer Referrals
Referral customers are 18% more loyal than customers generated by other methods. Asking your existing subscribers and customers to refer their friends and colleagues is one of the easiest ways of maximizing their value.
An email-based referral campaign, in which you reward existing subscribers for sharing an opt-in form, is very easy to run.
Here are some of the best places to ask for referrals:
Immediately after somebody subscribes to your list.
The email signature of your newsletter broadcasts.
Occasional newsletter broadcasts dedicated to asking for referrals.
Social media posts.
As in most cases, the key here is not to overdo it. Referral marketing should form an important but not an obtrusive part of your overall campaign.
7. Consider Sponsorship and Paid Ads
Paid advertisements and sponsorships can be excellent sources of email addresses. And many marketers and salespeople overlook paid opportunities in favor of inbound methods.
If you’re collecting B2B emails to run an outbound sales campaign, you can almost always determine an ROI from the get-go. If you’re using paid ads to build a newsletter, gauging returns can be a bit more tricky, but it’s usually possible to ascribe a value to an individual subscriber and, therefore, calculate an ROI.
It can be worth considering an outsourcing package for paid ads because running a successful campaign typically involves a steep learning curve.
8. Create Compelling Lead Magnets
Ah, trusty lead magnets. Research shows they can increase conversion rates by as much as 50%. Wherever there’s an opt-in form, offer a lead magnet (not just on your landing pages).
Here’s an overview of lead magnet types for you to experiment with:
The Bottom Line: Build Your Email List the Right Way
Building a quality email list is like growing a garden. Sure, you could buy plastic plants for instant results, but wouldn't you rather have something real that grows over time?
Reputable data providers are the best alternative to paid-for lists. They help businesses gain access to high-quality leads and business emails without the usual risks to your email deliverability and open rates.
Artisan is an example of a next-gen provider that prioritizes the health of its data. Its database of over 300 million leads is maintained using AI-powered research and data hygiene. The result is one of the most exhaustive and up-to-date collections of B2B lead data currently available.
Ava, Artisan’s virtual SDR, can handle all of the following tasks:
Prospecting from a database of over 300 million regularly updated leads
AI-assisted lead data scraping and enrichment
Targeted personalization based on a proprietary “waterfall” algorithm
Address warm-up and email deliverability optimization
A/B split testing of cold outreach (length, content, personalization, etc.)
Ongoing automated campaign and ICP and segmentation optimization
Automated LinkedIn outreach
Data syncing via integrations with your CRM, ERP, accounting software, etc.
If you’d like to see how Artisan can build powerful email lists and improve the effectiveness of your outbound lead generation and marketing efforts, get in touch to book a demo.
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