Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

25 points? Really?

Here's the short answer. Buying a list is a waste of money. I can 99.5% guarantee that.

Renting a list is also a waste of money, UNLESS you have some very realistic expectations as to the value of a lead, and you are willing to do everything flawlessly in your campaign.

Norwood,

Renting is a great way to blast your message to an audience that doesn't normally receive it. However, your hesitation is justified.

I wouldn't be necessarily worried about if/how many messages were sent, but rather to whom and whether you have sufficient tools on the back end to measure and capture the results.

Sites like MarketingProfs (free plug) have great subscriber lists (we personally saw great hit rates from our last campaign with them), but you certainly take a chance that a good portion of folks who receive the email are probably not in your marketplace at all. The problem exasperates the more niche your market may be.

We recently put out a whitepaper on defining MROI and the argument of Expense VS Investment. If you're not sure of the target audience, or of your tracking tools, then I'd highly consider researching alternatives to renting.

Purchased lists can be "expensive" when comparing "costs", but I'd argue strongly that they are a FAR better investment.

Feel free to send me an email, we refer our clients to several different providers that may help, as well as "hand build" HIGHLY targeted data ourselves.

-Terry

P.S. Coincidentally, I'm in Norwood, MA right now; it's cold :(

Hello,

There are some very good email lists in the tech space. These are people who opted-in to receiving 3rd party advertisements. You should only rent lists that are sent out by the list owners bonded email service bureau.
The list owners service bureau will provide a report of how many were delivery, clicked etc. Most services that allow you to send the emails out your self are not spam compliant.


Take a hard look at your existing customer base. Who are they, title, focus, industry, company size etc. One rule in direct marketing is your next customer with look at lot like your last customer. Matching your best customer to a list is key. You have to be right on the money with the list, message and offer for it to work. Testing is key.

Should you rent an email list?

Not everybody should!! It all depends on your brand image with your target audience. If you are relatively unknown then I don't recommend you rent a list.

I have found that most people who fail at email/direct marketing have no clue on what list they used. This is one area you need an expert at DM. Someone who understands your market and how data is gathered.

****The list you use accounts for 75-85% of success or failure.

Questions to ask your list broker:

Where are the names coming from? Where can I register? Who has used the file successfully in the last year? Look for focused publications or websites with real content that offer an email option.

Direct marketing: 100% tractable!!

Hope this helps!!

Thank you
Tom