Is purchasing email lists a good strategy for local business?

Key findings

• Reputation damage: Sending to non-opt-in lists can severely harm your domain and IP reputation, making it harder to reach the inbox even with legitimate emails.
• Deliverability issues: High bounce rates and spam complaints from purchased lists alert internet service providers (ISPs) to potentially unwanted mail, often resulting in your emails landing in spam folders or being blocked entirely. This can also lead to your domain or IP being placed on an email blacklist.
• Legal and compliance risks: Many purchased lists violate data privacy regulations like GDPR and CAN-SPAM, potentially leading to hefty fines and legal action. This is because emails sent to such lists lack explicit consent from recipients.
• Poor return on investment: Despite the upfront cost, purchased lists yield very low engagement rates, making them an ineffective marketing channel and a waste of resources.
• Spam traps: These lists often contain spam traps, which are email addresses used by ISPs and blacklist operators to identify senders of unsolicited mail. Hitting a spam trap can immediately trigger a block.

Key considerations

• ESP anti-spam policies: Most legitimate Email Service Providers (ESPs) strictly prohibit the use of purchased lists in their terms of service, leading to account suspension or termination if violated.
• Building organic lists: Focus on generating leads through opt-in methods, such as website sign-ups, lead magnets, and in-person collection with explicit consent. This ensures higher engagement and better deliverability.
• Long-term damage: Even if some emails from a purchased list reach the inbox initially, the negative consequences for sender reputation can persist for a long time, impacting future email campaigns.
• Client education: It is crucial to educate clients, especially local businesses, on these risks and the importance of ethical list-building practices to maintain a healthy email marketing program. For more on this, the Spamhaus website provides useful marketing FAQs on why purchased lists are problematic.

Key opinions

• Universal rejection: The overwhelming sentiment is that purchasing email lists is never a good idea.
• Violation of ESP terms: It almost certainly violates your Email Service Provider's (ESP) contract and anti-spam policy, leading to account closure.
• Poor quality and performance: List vendors sell low-quality data, resulting in dismal email performance, high bounce rates, and low engagement. This can also affect the open rates of previously good lists.
• Brand reputation damage: It leads to potential customers viewing the business as a spammer, damaging the local brand image instead of building it.
• Waste of resources: Marketers view it as a waste of time, energy, and money, with costs far outweighing any potential benefits.
• Client resistance: Many marketers find it challenging to convince clients of these risks, but emphasize the importance of educating them on legitimate lead generation.

Key considerations

• Focus on opt-in leads: The only effective way to build an email list is through true lead generation where users explicitly opt-in.
• Long-term client relationship: If a client insists on using purchased lists despite warnings, it may indicate a fundamental misalignment in strategy, potentially jeopardizing the professional relationship.
• Damage to sending infrastructure: Using bought lists can lead to IP address blacklisting and domain reputation decay, which takes considerable effort and time to recover. If Gmail blocks your emails after using a purchased list, you'll face significant deliverability challenges.
• Customer annoyance: Even for the few emails that might reach the inbox, recipients will likely be annoyed by unsolicited messages, which defeats the purpose of building local goodwill. Learn more about effective list building strategies from AWeber.

Key opinions

• Damages sender reputation: Sending to non-opt-in lists quickly earns a negative reputation with mailbox providers, leading to emails being filtered to spam or rejected.
• Spam trap exposure: Purchased lists are riddled with spam traps, which are designed to catch spammers. Hitting even a few can lead to immediate blacklisting.
• Blacklisting risk: Using bought lists significantly increases the chance of your IP and domain being placed on public and private email blocklists, severely impacting future campaigns. Suped offers a blocklist checker to monitor this risk.
• Compliance violations: Such practices violate legal frameworks like CAN-SPAM and GDPR, carrying substantial penalties.
• Diminished trust: Sending unsolicited email erodes trust with potential customers and mailbox providers alike.
• No expert support: If a client is determined to use purchased lists despite expert advice, it indicates they are not seeking genuine guidance and will likely have other detrimental strategies.

Key considerations

• Long-term deliverability: The negative impact on deliverability can be long-lasting, requiring significant effort to rebuild a positive sending reputation. This includes the challenge of sending to large, unengaged lists.
• Warming up: Even if somehow acquired legally, a large, cold list still needs careful warming up to avoid immediate deliverability problems.
• ESP policies are strict: Major ESPs like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and others have explicit anti-spam policies that forbid purchased lists, and they will enforce them.
• Ethical practice: Beyond technical issues, email marketing relies on permission-based relationships. Sending unsolicited emails is fundamentally unethical and damages the industry as a whole. You can find more comprehensive information on this topic via resources dedicated to the issue.

Key findings

• Lack of consent: Documentation stresses that purchased lists fundamentally lack the explicit, verifiable consent required by most anti-spam laws and ethical email practices.
• Violation of policies: Major ESPs and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have strict Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) and Terms of Service (TOS) that expressly forbid sending to purchased lists, leading to account termination.
• Legal ramifications: Regulatory bodies like those enforcing GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act) impose significant fines for unsolicited commercial email.
• Technical failures: Emails sent to purchased lists commonly encounter high bounce rates due to invalid addresses and trigger spam filters, resulting in non-delivery and damage to sender metrics.
• Blocklisting mechanisms: Anti-spam organizations and ISPs use sophisticated systems, including spam traps, to identify and blacklist senders who do not adhere to permission-based sending. You can monitor your status using blocklist monitoring.

Key considerations

• Consent is paramount: All authoritative documentation reinforces that legitimate email marketing is built on explicit, informed consent from recipients.
• Risk of non-delivery: Purchased lists are inefficient because most emails will not reach the intended recipient's inbox due to filtering and blocking.
• Data accuracy: Official guidelines emphasize that data quality is crucial for deliverability, a standard that purchased lists consistently fail to meet. This leads to issues like high unknown rates, as discussed in our guide on validating purchased lists.
• Reputation is key: Maintaining a positive sender reputation is explicitly outlined as essential for inbox placement, and purchased lists are a direct threat to this. The Spamhaus organization provides extensive guidance on marketing best practices.