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If you’re a Marketer, Freelancer, digital professional, or business owner, you may have considered buying an email list to jumpstart your email marketing efforts. However, you may be wondering if this is a wise investment of your resources. In this blog post, we’ll explore the pros and cons of buying an email list and help you make an informed decision on whether or not it’s a good idea.
But before we proceed, let’s ask and answer the question
WHAT IS AN EMAIL LIST?
An email list simply put is a collection of email addresses belonging to individuals who have shown interest in your brand, a service, or a product. These email addresses are obtained through various means, such as opt-in forms on your website, newsletter sign-ups, after an individual makes a purchase, etc.
Let us now look at some of the pros and cons of buying an email list
PROS OF BUYING AN EMAIL LIST
Quick and easy to obtain:
Building an email list from scratch is no easy task, after money, personal data is the next thing people guide jealousy especially on the internet, so to have someone willingly give it up to you to add to your list won’t be easy, therefore buying an email list can be a quick and easy way to acquire a large number of email addresses in a short period with little to no effort on your part.
Cost-effective:
Compared to other marketing strategies, buying an email list can be cost-effective, especially if you’re starting with a limited marketing budget. Yes, building an email list can cost you a bit, imagine you are giving out copies of your ebook (which you may have spent some money to create) for absolutely free, and in the process, you have people signup into your email list, you run paid ads to drive traffic to your landing page, that’s all money you’re spending just to populate your email list. So buying an email list is inarguably the fastest way to do it.
Reach a wider audience:
By purchasing an email list, you can reach a wider audience beyond your current customer base, which can be both a good and a bad thing. Too wide and conversion is likely to be harder, but on the surface, having a lot may seem to be better.
CONS OF BUYING AN EMAIL LIST:
Poor quality:
Purchased email lists are often of poor quality, with outdated or incorrect email addresses, resulting in a high bounce rate and low engagement. It is also one of the easiest ways to scam business owners and service providers looking to grow their business through email marketing because someone can easily sell you a bunch of crap as an email list, this is why it is often a huge risk to your business and your money.
If for any reason though you decide to buy a list, be sure to use an email validation tool to validate the list before using it, to weed out the invalid emails and reduce the risk of a high bounce rate.
Risk of spamming:
Buying an email list puts you at risk of spamming your potential customers, which can result in a poor reputation for your brand and even legal consequences. The moment you send out an email to anyone who’s not directly signed up to your mailing list and does not recognize you, that is in fact spamming, they did not signup for whatever it is you’re offering in your emails. Nine times out of ten they won’t give you a listening ear and will immediately unsubscribe and if they’re like me, take further precautionary steps to keep you out of their emails forever
Low conversion rates:
Since the individuals on your purchased email list haven’t shown a direct interest in your brand, the conversion rates are usually lower compared to an organically grown email list. You’ll just have them staring at your name, wondering when on God’s green earth they signed up to your email list. If you are sending emails to people who are distracted by trying to figure out who the hell you are and how you got their email address? Be sure to have a ridiculously low conversion rate.
Risk of losing your email marketing tools:
Email marketing tools such as convertkit, HubSpot, mail chimp and the rest frown at anything that might indicate your contacts are not into you or whatever your business is, so if you have high bounce rates, loads of unsubscribers which like we’ve discussed from other cons above is most likely going to happen when you use bought email lists, these email marketing companies will penalize you or even kick you out of their platform and all your efforts will come to nothing.
So, should you buy an email list?
It’s generally not recommended to buy an email list as the cons outweigh the pros. While it may seem like a quick and cost-effective way to build your email list, the risks of poor quality, spamming, and low conversion rates are not worth it. Instead, it’s recommended to focus on building an organic email list by creating engaging content, offering incentives for sign-ups, and optimizing your website for lead generation. It may be a slow and painful process, but trust the process, the rewards are well worth the trouble.
In conclusion, buying an email list may seem like a shortcut to growing your email list, but it’s not a sustainable or effective strategy. Invest your time and resources into building an organic email list to establish a more meaningful relationship with your customers and achieve long-term success in email marketing.
