Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Opt-in Email List Rental

Posted by Anonymous on 11/20/2006 at 3:19 PM ET 25 Points
Hi everyone,

After seven years of working as Internet Marketing Manager for a Fortune 500 company, I'm in the process of starting my own email marketing agency.

In my initial meetings with potential clients, everyone is asking about renting email lists specific to their business. Since we only used in-house lists at my previous job, I'm not familiar with the best way to go about finding these lists. There are plenty of sites out there, but I want to make sure I'm ordering from a reputable company that is serious about privacy and anti-spam laws.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance!

Josh Shron
Stampless Marketing
[email address deleted by staff]
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 11/20/2006 at 4:27 PM Accepted
    There are companies out there that sell lists, but I would strongly discourage anyone from using them. The main reason is because it is usually considered spam and I have known businesses that have been shut down because of it.

    They should look for ways to grow their own list, that way it is 100% permission-based and the recipients know they will be receiving e-mails from the company. There are several ways to do it. I can give you pointers if you are interested. Check out my profile.

    Also, check out this company: [URL deleted by staff]
  • Posted on 11/21/2006 at 11:52 AM Accepted
    Another idea is to look at SRDS.com. You need a subscription but it has an extensive list of databases for rent. You can also search by type of customer, etc in a pretty simple manner. Good way to start but might be a little bit pricey.

    Another idea is a site like Eversave.com or Keycoupon - those sell 'targeted leads' or people who opt-in to your offer. That way the response rate is supposed to be a little higher than direct mail. We are in the process of doing an Eversave campaign and I will let you know how it goes...

    Good luck,
    Daniel
  • Posted by darcy.moen on 11/22/2006 at 8:20 PM Accepted
    Build your own lists. Renting an opt in list is asking for trouble.

    If at all possible, I would rather pay for placement in an existing outgoing message, or I would provide some free content with a link back to your own web site in an outgoing message rather than rent a list and dump email to it.

    Yes, it is slow and tedeous to build your own listg from scratch, but it much more worth it.

    Darcy Moen
    Customer Loyalty Network
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