Why Buying Email Lists Is A Bad Idea (And How to Collect Email Addresses Fast & Free)

Now that we’ve looked at the legality of buying email marketing lists, let’s look at the 7 reasons why you should avoid buying them.

1. Email lists for sale are never accurate enough

When you create an email marketing campaign, you’re not trying to reach just anyone. Usually, you’ll have a specific target audience in mind. That’s why a purchased list will never cover your needs effectively.

It’s true that you can buy email lists that are filtered by general demographic characteristics such as location, age, gender, and sometimes even company, position, or revenue.

However, you don’t know the most important thing: are the people on the mailing list you’ve just purchased actually interested in your products or services? Does your product solve their problem? 

When you send emails that don’t have relevant content for the people receiving them, you’ll see a dramatic decrease in your ROI.

2. You risk a GDPR violation

Violating the law is obviously not a good decision. It’s even worse when thousands of people have proof that you’ve violated their privacy in their email inboxes.

The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) defends European people from spammy activity in their inboxes, feeds, mobile phones, etc. Even if your company isn’t based in Europe, you can still be on the hook for violating GDPR if you send emails to Europeans without their consent.

The U.S. has the CAN-SPAM Act which prohibits you from spamming people who opt out of your emails. It also prohibits you from sending emails without identifying information that clearly communicates who the email campaigns are coming from.

So, the main problem with your purchased email contacts is simply that it’s illegal to actually put them to use. You can buy contact details, but as soon as you start using them, you’ll be breaking the law.

In many places, it’s also illegal to use purchased email lists for your Facebook ad targeting.

3. People will mark you as spam

If you’re constantly sending email marketing campaigns to users who did not opt in to receive them, people will both unsubscribe and start to mark your emails as spam.

This means that you have to be careful: when someone unsubscribes, you need to make sure to take them off your email list. If you don’t, you can get in legal trouble, again.

And you can inadvertently re-add a consumer who has already unsubscribed if they’re included in further mailing lists that you buy!

4. Your email automatization software can penalize you

Email service providers like Mailchimp and AWeber keep a close eye on spam complaints. When recipients mark your emails as spam, these providers take notice.

High spam complaint rates can lead to serious consequences. Your account might be disabled, leaving you unable to send any emails at all. Worse, you could be fined or face legal action for violating their terms and conditions.

To avoid these pitfalls, familiarize yourself with what your email service provider considers prohibited actions. Following the rules will help keep your account in good standing and your emails reaching their intended audience.

5. If you can buy it, others can buy it

When you buy an email list, you’re not the only one with access to those personal email addresses. Other businesses, potentially including your competitors, can purchase the same list.

This means that the recipients on that list are likely being bombarded with emails from multiple sources.

As a result, these individuals may become overwhelmed with the sheer volume of unsolicited emails flooding their inboxes. They’re not only more likely to ignore or delete these emails, but they might also mark them as spam. This can hurt your sender reputation and reduce the chances of your emails being seen.

Some people on the list may take more drastic measures. Tired of the constant barrage, they might delete their email accounts altogether or create new ones, abandoning their old email addresses.

This makes the email list you purchased even less valuable, as many of the email addresses could become inactive or abandoned and it’s not up-to-date data.

6. Buying email addresses harms your reputation

Bad customer reviews and legal trouble can do a lot of harm to your brand reputation. 

Angry email recipients can attack your comment section and leave bad ratings about your services, and they may threaten legal action, too. This can prevent new customers from trusting you and choosing to purchase from you.

If you want to generate positive comments and 5-star ratings, you need to send relevant content to potential buyers who have actually chosen to join your email list.

When you buy an email list in an attempt to build brand awareness, it’ll backfire because you’ll only generate negative awareness.

7. Top-quality leads aren’t for sale

Email lists are mass products. That means that you’ll never find purchased lists that have the same open rates as built email lists. 

It’s not like these mailing lists were composed by a human with knowledge of your business. They’re simply scrapped together from all the emails posted on social media pages and other platforms.

If you’re serious about using email marketing to grow your business, you want quality leads.