The danger of buying in email lists...
By Darren Potter - Head of Operations
Perfect example
A recent example of email marketing received here at AlphaQuad gave us the perfect example to highlight some of the dangers of buying in lists.
At the end of last week, we received a sales eshot from a trusted and respected supplier, addressed to an individual not working at AlphaQuad. Spotting the error, we helpfully contacted them make them aware of the issue. After all, online marketing can be complicated, and we wanted to make sure they hadn’t inadvertently done the same to their other clients.
The supplier wrote back almost immediately, apologising for the error. But it was then disclosed that the eshot was targeted at prospects, and not current clients – with the data bought from a reliable source and containing details of the key decision-maker. Best of all, this was an opted-in contact list.
Reliable? Opted-in? Hmmm. Well, not only was the name incorrect, but the email address was a generic, catch-all email address that wouldn’t have been used at any time – and neither do we opt-in for third-party marketing communications.
This really got us thinking about the quality of the list which had been bought in, as it was apparent to us that the list wasn’t as it was sold.
If you’re looking to buy in email lists, be careful what you buy – it is important to remember, for example, that the laws are different between commercial and domestic email campaign recipients.
Spamming business email addresses may not commence legal proceedings, but just because this only (currently) applies to domestic recipients, it doesn’t mean that you should be less vigilant with buying opt-in lists for commercial customers. Far from it.
For sure, our supplier will know this. They are a firm with a good reputation, had likely bought in what they thought was a good list that will have come with certain reassurances. We’ve little doubt intentions were honest, but they still got it wrong.
So what should be done differently?
First, avoid irritating your existing customers by not only de-duping specific customer email addresses, but also the domain. Removing any email address containing @alphaquad.co.uk, for example, would have prevented us from receiving the unsolicited email.
It would also have been prudent to validate the data prior to sending the campaign. Simply looking through the data would identify companies which can be contacted and the contact details verified. A small sample should be sufficient to give you greater confidence in the data you’ve bought in. Or conversely, shatter it – in which case you have the opportunity to avoid tarnishing your reputation by pulling the campaign.
Our advice? The best data is the data you collect yourself – so start collecting! If you must consider buying in email lists, do
so only if you are absolutely certain of the information contained within.
Gain further peace of mind by asking yourself the following questions:
Where has the data come from?
Can we help?
