BUYING EMAIL LISTS IS ALWAYS A BAD IDEA
Buying email lists is always a bad idea.
That’s right, we said it!
There are a few reasons why you shouldn’t buy a list of email addresses, even though those lists are readily available and pretty cheap. Reputable email marketing services (think MailChimp or FloDesk) don’t let you send emails to lists you’ve purchased. Your email service provider can also penalize you.
A big problem with buying lists is that the people on the list don’t know you. Therefore they’re likely to hit “unsubscribe” or mark your email as spam. What happens then? Your email deliverability and IP reputation go down, making emails you send in the future more likely to get snagged by spam filters or your carefully curated images to be locked out.
Instead, you want to build your own email list of people who are genuinely interested in your organization or products. Here are a few ways you can do that:
Offer a free download to generate leads. People give you their email in exchange for the document or video.
Create useful tools. Maybe you can provide a free demo of your product, or a step-by-step instructional video on how you accomplished something great. All they have to do is type in their email and they get full access!
Ask people to sign up. Make sure your email opt-in form is included in your social media links and regularly remind people to sign up.
Include sharing buttons in your emails. Make it easy for people who love your content to share it with other people.
Starting a newsletter takes some patience and planning, but the ROI is huge ($40 for every $1 spent, on average!). We think it’s absolutely worth it.
