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Summary
Cold emailing purchased lists is a high-risk strategy with multiple downsides. It violates ESP terms of service, potentially leading to account suspension. Domain and IP reputation can be severely damaged, resulting in deliverability issues, including emails landing in spam folders or being blocked entirely. This practice often violates anti-spam laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM, resulting in legal repercussions. Purchased lists lead to low engagement, high bounce rates, and increased spam complaints. Economically, the cost of building and deploying these campaigns often exceeds the return on investment, making it an inefficient use of resources. Ultimately, cold emailing to purchased lists is considered spam, regardless of technical compliance, and carries significant risks to sender reputation and business credibility.

Key findings

  • ESP TOS Violation: Major ESPs prohibit sending to purchased lists, risking account suspension.
  • Reputation Damage: Domain and IP reputation is harmed, causing deliverability issues.
  • Legal Non-Compliance: Anti-spam laws (GDPR, CAN-SPAM) are violated due to lack of consent.
  • Low Engagement: Purchased lists lead to low engagement, high bounce rates, and spam complaints.
  • Economic Inefficiency: Campaign costs often exceed returns, making it an inefficient strategy.

Key considerations

  • ESP Compliance: Always adhere to ESPs' terms of service regarding list acquisition and usage.
  • Reputation Monitoring: Continuously monitor domain and IP reputation to address deliverability issues.
  • Legal Due Diligence: Ensure compliance with all applicable anti-spam laws and regulations.
  • Opt-In Strategies: Focus on building opt-in email lists to ensure genuine engagement.
  • ROI Analysis: Thoroughly evaluate costs and potential returns before launching any email campaign.
What email marketers say
10 marketer opinions
Cold emailing purchased lists carries significant risks. These include damaging sender reputation and deliverability due to low engagement, high bounce rates, and spam complaints. Furthermore, it can lead to legal repercussions for violating anti-spam laws such as GDPR and CAN-SPAM, and negatively impact brand reputation. Purchased lists often contain outdated information and lack explicit consent, making compliance with these laws difficult. Using a separate domain for cold emails might help protect the primary domain's reputation but is not a complete solution. Ultimately, cold emailing purchased lists is a generally ineffective and potentially harmful practice.

Key opinions

  • Deliverability Issues: Low engagement, high bounce rates, and spam complaints negatively impact sender reputation and deliverability.
  • Legal Violations: Using purchased lists can violate anti-spam laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM.
  • Reputation Damage: Cold emailing can damage brand reputation if recipients perceive the emails as intrusive.
  • Inefficient Use of Resources: Cold emailing purchased lists wastes time and resources due to low conversion rates.
  • Compliance Issues: Complying with opt-out requests and consent requirements is difficult with purchased lists.

Key considerations

  • Sender Reputation: Continuously monitor sender reputation to avoid deliverability issues.
  • Legal Compliance: Ensure adherence to anti-spam laws and consent requirements.
  • Brand Impact: Consider the potential negative impact on brand perception and customer trust.
  • Alternative Strategies: Explore alternative marketing strategies that focus on building genuine engagement.
  • Domain Protection: Using a separate domain for cold emails is recommended to protect your primary domain.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Sendinblue explains that sending cold emails to purchased lists often leads to low engagement, high bounce rates, and spam complaints. These factors negatively impact sender reputation and deliverability, causing emails to land in spam folders rather than inboxes. URL: https://www.sendinblue.com/blog/cold-emailing-vs-spam/
26 Nov 2022 - Sendinblue
Marketer view
Email marketer from Constant Contact shares that using purchased lists can violate anti-spam laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM, resulting in hefty fines and legal repercussions. These laws require explicit consent before sending emails. URL: https://blogs.constantcontact.com/what-is-cold-emailing/
1 Sep 2021 - Constant Contact
What the experts say
7 expert opinions
Cold emailing purchased lists carries several risks and downsides. ESPs often prohibit sending to purchased lists, and doing so can lead to account termination. Domain reputation is negatively impacted, potentially causing even legitimate emails to land in spam folders. These practices violate anti-spam laws like CAN-SPAM, CASL, and GDPR, as purchased lists lack the necessary consent. Cold emailing can be considered spam, regardless of technical compliance. Finally, there's the economic risk: the costs of building and deploying cold email campaigns can exceed the return on investment.

Key opinions

  • ESP Policy Violation: Sending to purchased lists violates ESP terms and can result in account termination.
  • Domain Reputation Damage: Cold emailing can negatively impact domain reputation, affecting deliverability.
  • Legal Risks: Purchased lists violate anti-spam laws due to lack of consent.
  • Deliverability Penalties: ISPs may block or filter emails from senders using purchased lists.
  • Economic Inefficiency: The costs of cold emailing may exceed the return on investment.

Key considerations

  • ESP Compliance: Understand and adhere to ESP policies regarding list acquisition and usage.
  • Reputation Monitoring: Monitor domain and IP reputation to detect and address deliverability issues.
  • Legal Review: Consult legal counsel to ensure compliance with anti-spam laws.
  • Alternative Strategies: Explore alternative marketing strategies that focus on building opt-in lists.
  • ROI Analysis: Carefully evaluate the costs and potential returns of cold email campaigns.
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise answers that sending email to purchased lists violates anti-spam laws around the world, notably the US CAN-SPAM Act, the Canadian anti-spam law (CASL), and Europe's GDPR. Consent needs to be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous, which a purchased list is the opposite of. URL: https://wordtothewise.com/2015/05/purchased-lists-and-esps/
29 Dec 2022 - Word to the Wise
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that using purchased lists and engaging in cold emailing can result in deliverability penalties. ISPs and mailbox providers may block or filter emails from senders who use these practices, leading to messages landing in the spam folder or being blocked entirely. URL: https://wordtothewise.com/2017/04/deliverability-penalties-cold-email/
4 Jul 2023 - Word to the Wise
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Cold emailing purchased lists poses significant risks to email deliverability and compliance. Major email service providers like Mailchimp prohibit the practice, potentially leading to account suspension. Microsoft Outlook's anti-spam filters flag these emails as junk, causing deliverability issues. Spamhaus adds offending IP addresses and domains to blocklists, severely impacting email delivery across ISPs. Amazon SES enforces strict bounce and complaint rate policies, with high rates resulting in account suspension. These factors collectively undermine email marketing efforts and can damage sender reputation.

Key findings

  • TOS Violation: Using purchased lists violates Mailchimp's Terms of Service, risking account suspension.
  • Spam Filters: Outlook's anti-spam filters identify emails sent to purchased lists as junk.
  • Blocklisting: Sending unsolicited emails can lead to IP addresses and domains being added to Spamhaus blocklists.
  • Account Suspension: High bounce and complaint rates in Amazon SES can result in account suspension.

Key considerations

  • Compliance with ESPs: Adhere to the Terms of Service of email service providers to avoid account suspension.
  • IP Reputation: Monitor IP address and domain reputation to ensure deliverability.
  • Email Authentication: Implement email authentication protocols to improve deliverability.
  • List Hygiene: Avoid using purchased lists and focus on building opt-in lists.
  • Bounce and Complaint Monitoring: Monitor bounce and complaint rates and promptly address any issues.
Technical article
Documentation from Mailchimp states that using purchased lists violates their Terms of Service. Mailchimp requires users to obtain explicit consent from subscribers, and sending to purchased lists can result in account suspension or termination. URL: https://mailchimp.com/help/about-our-compliance-program/
25 Jan 2022 - Mailchimp
Technical article
Documentation from Amazon SES explains that high bounce and complaint rates damage sender reputation and impact deliverability. Amazon SES has strict policies regarding bounce and complaint rates, and exceeding these thresholds can lead to account suspension. URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/dg/monitor-sending-activity.html
20 Mar 2023 - Amazon SES
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