Buying an Email List and Other Ways to be a Failure.
In the last couple of weeks there’s been a decent amount of chatter around list purchase for email marketing. That bugs me. Why? Well, it’s a terrible practice that most unknowing marketers do due to the ‘ease’ of purchase, low cost and minimal usage of resources on the part of the purchaser. I see why these things are appealing to someone who doesn’t know much about email, but even so, it’s logically a bad choice. It doesn’t take much to understand that you get what you pay for and in reality – no one sells their email address to a company for the purpose of being marketed to.
I can’t remember a time when a list vendor asked me, “Can we use your email address? We just want to sell it to whomever will buy it so that you can get relevant, timely, great priced deals directly to your inbox. Sound good?” That doesn’t happen; it doesn’t happen because no one would be willing to do it. As a marketer on any level list buying should raise some immediate questions, regardless of email knowledge. How often is this list used? What are the demographics within the list? How where the records obtained? Who legitimately allows you to sell their email address to whomever you choose? Why do you seem so slimy and why does that bottle say snake oil?
We as marketers also have to look at the pudding; I promise the proof is in there. Take for example the disclaimers clearly stated in the terms of most reputable ESP’s (Email Service Providers). Mark Brownlow has a fantastic post that also highlights this – “No purchased lists …”, MailChimp, “purchased lists may not be used”, Campaign Monitor and ExactTarget says, “Our clients certify that they will not use rented or purchased lists…” (His post is better than mine, you should probably read it if you got this far in)
At the end of the day there are oodles, yes oodles of reasons legally and professionally why we shouldn’t buy lists. I could list all of them out here, but there are better posts out there for that. This post is a common sense post for marketers looking to use email as a marketing channel. Don’t take the easy way out and buy a list, you’re doing your company a disservice and our industry a non-favor. Even Lady Gaga knows that buying an email list is like submitting your dues to the Spammer Club.
If you’d like advice on how to be a real email marketer, I suggest and shamelessly plug all my friends – HERE. (Really is a fantastic resource)
Stay thirsty my friends, Viva la Email.
New Author on the EmailGuide.com
I'm very pleased to announce my inception into the ranks of such great email marketing folks on the http://www.theemailguide.com. It's been a great ride this past year meeting new people, learning new things, and pioneering in the email space with such great people.
Here's my profile - http://www.theemailguide.com/author/rory-carlyle/
Viva la Email!
Rising Stars in the Email Marketing Community
Just a few days ago I was honored to be listed in John Caldwell's list of 'Rising Stars' in the email marketing community. I have to say, coming from such a knowledgeable and seasoned veteran in the industry - it means a lot. I've worked hard to understand the value of email within the marketing efforts of a company: learning from mistakes, successes, others advice and a ton of testing. While this hasn't been a walk in the park, it has been thoroughly rewarding and receiving recognition for all those laborious hours of work is a great blessing.
This incredible list of Email-Geeks are wonderful people to interact with on a daily basis. I find myself chatting them up quite a bit on Twitter, it's great to hear about and share what we're all working on. I'm hoping that I'll get to meet all of them personally, face-to-face. Here are my fellow 'Rising Stars':
Luke Glasner, Glasner Consulting
Jennifer Harstad, Online Marketing Manager, Frederick’s of Hollywood
Frances Dugan, Email Marketing Analyst, Permanent General Companies
Scott Cohen, Marketing Copywriter, Western Governors University d
Remy Bergsma, Senior Email Marketing Specialist, Blinker
Chelsea Warfel, Email Marketing Manager, AutoAnything
Amy Garland, Marketing Manager, Blue Sky Factory
Kari Hiscox, Email Marketing Specialist, eHarmony.com
A congratulations goes out to all here on this list, I'm proud to say that I'm one of you. A big thanks to John Caldwell for letting me chat with him for hours about all things Geek and making me sound smarter than I really am.
Viva la Email!
An Interview with Scott Cohen – Email Snob
I was privileged to speak with Scott Cohen, fellow Email Snob for a brief interview about my getting started in the email industry and my thoughts on the future of email marketing. Check it out!
http://scottwriteseverything.com/2010/02/15/an-email-snob-interview-with-rory-carlyle/