The (Hopefully) Final Word on Purchased Lists

I recently gave a webcast on list acquisition best practices for the American Marketing Association – if you missed it, you can listen to the recording here.  The presentation was about how to grow your opt-in list organically by taking advantage of every opportunity to ask for and incentivize people to opt-in, optimizing your signup form, and delivering what you promise.  Great stuff, no? Surprisingly, the most frequently asked questions in the Q&A were about how to purchase lists and where to buy them.

We here at Bronto, live by a permission based marketing policy, and we too often assume that all good marketers out there know that purchasing lists is a big no-no in the email world. As we’ve covered in recent posts, the White House was recently busted for spamming the public, and even Microsoft has committed the sin of mailing unsubscribed contacts. In an effort to compile further evidence against such bad practices, I want to share an email I recently received from a friend, this time from IBM:

This is what’s known as an opt-out campaign – not a best practice for email marketers. How would you feel if you received this message in your inbox? While I appreciate their transparency in admitting how they acquired my friend’s email address (now he knows who to complain to, thanks Jigsaw!), this doesn’t exactly give the recipient warm fuzzies. It reads like “We have purchased your name and are going to send you stuff you didn’t ask for unless you tell us no.” This is not a good way to start a relationship, and reflects badly on both IBM and Jigsaw.  (Sidenote: Jigsaw has been hit in the past with criticism and controversy regarding how they harvest email addresses to businesses – see here and here.)

Ironically, the From name and signature on this email is “IBM Marketing Permission Requests,” as if they are actually asking your permission rather than telling you they’ve got your name and you will receive their uninvited mail until you unsubscribe.  And what are the benefits of staying subscribed? What am I going to receive from IBM besides “Marketing campaigns” – special offers, updates and news on their products and services? How often will I receive them? It seems they not only dropped the ball on doing an opt-in versus opt-out campaign, but also on showing the value of being a subscriber and setting expectations up front.

The moral of the story: purchasing lists and sending bulk unsolicited email is bad news. Buying lists opens up a whole host of problems with deliverability, sender reputation, and potential damage to your brand.  Most purchased lists are loaded with honeypots (dummy email addresses that ISPs will recognize as spamtraps and use to block you), not to mention the fact that these people have not given you permission to email them.  When people receive emails from organizations that they didn't ask for, they are going to mark as spam, unsubscribe, and likely complain to friends and colleagues. In this day and age with Twitter, Facebook, and other instant viral internet communication, you can't afford to risk this damage to your brand. If you need more reasons why, read this great article by Mark Brownlow that explores the grey areas around renting, purchasing and inheriting lists.

As I mentioned recently to a small nonprofit that is just getting started in the email marketing game, I definitely understand the temptation and desire to buy over build, especially if you have little to no lists, like in startup organizations or if you're just getting started in email marketing. I've worked in startups and other small organizations that made the mistake of buying lists and I can tell you firsthand that it was not worth it... the blacklisting, the mass unsubscribes, and the damage to our overall reputation as a company did not outweigh the revenue we made from those emails. If that was not enough, we then spent way more money on undoing the damage we caused. But IBM, you are no small potatoes, so why are you using this tactic? For shame!

Julie Waite
Email Marketing Strategist at Bronto