7 Reasons Why Buying an Email List is a Bad Idea
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It's tempting to buy an email list when you're looking to grow your business.
After all, what could be easier than purchasing a pre-made list of names and email addresses?
Why Not to Buy an Email List
Most business owners starting on email marketing think that buying an email list is okay. It's time-consuming and hard to build an email list from scratch. This is why many businesses result in buying an email list.
However, buying email lists is not such a great idea. In this post, we look at some of the reasons why buying an email list is counterproductive for your business.
1. It's Illegal to Send Emails to People Who've Not Consented to Your Emails
Consent laws under GDPR state that you must gain consent from an email address owner to send promotional or marketing emails to them.
It's not expressly illegal to buy an email list. However, GDPR laws prohibit you from sending marketing/promotional emails to people who have not given you consent.
While many countries worldwide are yet to enforce the GDPR laws, buying an email list is a business practice that most people frown upon.
Do NOT spam people
2. You're Spamming People With Junk Email
When you buy an email list, you're spamming people with junk email.
If people on your email lists did not sign up for promotional emails from you, they would mark your messages as spam.
This will lead to your emails getting blocked, putting a halt to your email marketing efforts. Not only that, you'll be reported as spam, and your business name might even get blacklisted.
Many people also buy lists from known spammers, which doesn't speak well of their reputation.
3. Reputable Email Marketing Service Providers Prohibit Sending Emails to Bought Lists
Most reputable email marketing service providers prohibit users from sending emails to bought lists. This is because bought lists are often composed of invalid and fake email addresses, leading to email deliverability problems.
These service providers insist that you use opt-in email lists only, which will improve your email deliverability and help you protect your sender reputation.
If caught gaming violating these terms, most service providers may choose to blacklist your company from accessing their products and software.
4. Most Email Lists That Are On Sale are of Poor Quality
Email lists are an asset for most businesses. Hardly will a business owner sell off an email list if they think it has value.
Most businesses that advertise their lists on sale have low-quality lists with invalid or fake email addresses, making it difficult to reach out to the target audience.
Some of these email addresses are scraped online by bots, and many of them are invalid or do not exist.
Not only will you find it difficult to grow your customer base with a low-quality list, but you'll also end up wasting your time and money.
5. People on a Purchased List Don't Know You
The people on your purchased email list don't know you, and they're not interested in your product.
Email marketing relies on building trust and relationships with your customers. When you buy an email list, you're not giving people the opportunity to know you and your business.
This will make it difficult for you to sell your products or services as they don't trust you. When you send them unsolicited emails, they're likely to unsubscribe from your list or, worse, report your messages as spam.
6. You Will Harm Your Email Deliverability and IP reputation
When you buy an email list, you're likely to experience high bounce rates and unsubscribe rates. This is because the email addresses on the list are not interested in what you offer.
This will harm your email deliverability and IP reputation, making it difficult for you to reach out to your target audience.
Once your deliverability and IP reputation is compromised, rebuilding the reputation can take months, if not years.
7. Other People Are Also Using The List You Bought
When you buy an email list, you're not the only one using it. Other people are also using the same list and sending unsolicited emails.
Chances are, the people you are emailing are already annoyed from getting marketing emails from people they don't know.
These recipients won't respond to your emails and will immediately mark them as spam or delete them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, buying an email list is not a good idea for your business.
It's illegal to send unsolicited emails to people who haven't given you their consent, and most of the time, the people on bought lists are not interested in what you have to offer. Not only that, but you'll also end up spamming people, harming your email deliverability and IP reputation in the process.
It's best to build your email list properly with our FREE List Building Challenge , establish trust with your customers and improve your chances of selling your products or services.
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