Email Marketing Lists

[redrosephotos]

I came across a site called targets located today which claims to be a site that will sell you targeted marketing lists.

On the face of it I could get about 10,000 email addresses for people who are a certain age, certain sex and certain social status in a certain area for about £200.

So my question is one, has anyone had any experience of email marketing and its success?

Two, has anyone used these companies who sell these lists before? My concern is they may not be that legit.

Thanks

Brent

 

[MokaBox]

Hi RedRosePhotos,

I bought a very cheap list of 23,000 Estate Agency email addresses for about £350.00. I paid for it because I was testing the use of videos in emails and wanted to see how open rates and click-thru rates were effected by putting the word "video" in the subject line. My company is also developing a bulk email sender for videos, so we needed a large database to test it out on.

The purchase was worthwhile for the experiment, but would have been useless for any other reason. We had 23% bounce-back, and just one person contacted us from the bulk email. If my memory serves me right we had just over 1% opt out. None of the larger Estate Agencies were on the list, and almost all of the addresses were "info@" rather than an actual person. For some reason we were only able to send out 10,300 emails too... but that was a problem at our end.

I wouldn't recommend buying these really cheap lists, as always you get what you pay for with these things.

 

[redrosephotos]

Thanks for the response.

My thoughts were it would be a waste of time and money but I'd never heard of these targeted lists before and it struck me as being potentially useful if you could target certain demographics. A bit like the Facebook advertising tool I suppose.

Personally I think leaflet drops to certain areas - middle class areas etc - are likely to be more successful than emails to the same demographic and it's probably cheaper as well.

Whether either actually lead to business is another matter.

 

[MokaBox]

I think that whatever you do, whether it is an email newsletter to your customers and potential customers or a leaflet drop, it needs to be regular before you start to see results. Consistency is key.

In one of my businesses I get well over 50 emails every day promoting a certain product and services related to it. Most of them are trashed before I even open them, but every so often I'll open one up and have a read.

I guess it's the same with leaflets, you just have to stick at it and some of your leaflets will drop through a letterbox at the right time and in the right place.

 

[Alan]

and almost all of the addresses were "info@" rather than an actual person.

Generally speaking, unless some one (a person = individual subscriber) has signed up to a marketing list, you can't send them an email, however corporate addresses (non personal addresses) (as far as I understand) are fair game, as long as you don't disguise who you are and provide an opt out

the laws are here

• You cannot transmit, or instigate the transmission of, unsolicited marketing material by electronic mail to an individual subscriber unless they have previously notified you, the sender, that they consent, for the time being, to receiving such communications. There is an exception to this rule which has been widely referred to as the soft opt in (Regulation 22(2) refers).
  
• You cannot transmit, or instigate the transmission of, any marketing by electronic mail (whether solicited or unsolicited) to any subscriber (whether corporate or individual) where:
  -Your identity has been disguised or concealed; or
  -you have not provided a valid address to which the recipient can send an opt-out request.
  -That electronic mail would contravene regulations 7 or 8 of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2013); or
• That electronic mail encourages recipients to visit websites which contravene those regulations (Regulation 23 refers).

 

[Wait]

llocally, you're right. Business to customer emailing is spam unless they have volunteered for the list. I'm dubious about the buying and selling of data lists and wonder about its legality. As for business to business (b2b) that is fair game.

One thing to bear in mind when you have the data (and hopefully its genuine and organically grown through sign ups), having it is not going to guarantee sales. You also need a great sales letter.

Writing and composing such sales letters is an art form in itself, so perhaps your money would be better spent on getting a good letter than on a potentially dodgy email list.

 

[Alan]

having it is not going to guarantee sales. You also need a great sales letter.

Can I say, totally tongue in cheek, that my experience of sending email to signed up prior customer of an e-commerce (that I no longer operate) the most sucessuful sales letters said something like - 50% off use this coupon XYZ555 before the end of the month -

 

[Wait]

That's pretty much all you need sometimes.

 

[Murray Cowell]

Email marketing definitely works, and I'm telling you that as an expert in email marketing, who will be glad to help you if you need any guidance in this area. About mailing lists, all I can say is don't buy a cheap one because there might be phony accounts in it. Try building one yourself, starting with friends and family and they can provide with addresses from their friends as well.

All the best!

 

[Mike W]

Email certainly works ....but only if it's done properly and sent to the right people.

There are many rogues out there selling some dross data, preying on the naivety and greed of the unknowing. But the old adage applies to most - if it seems too good to be true...

Buying data is all about knowing and understanding who's who. Email Marketing is all about knowing and understanding what you're doing.

 

[Databroker]

Michael - the best response on this post.

With lists, you need to know the market and the pro's and con's of each supplier. Only direct marketing professionals will know this.

Email Marketing - With it working or not working for one company is of no relevance to your company, target market and sales message.

Many people offer incorrect advice on "spam" and the laws and ethics of email marketing. Again, speak to experts to get the advice you need.

Forums promote opinion which by its very nature is divisive. Opinion can be useful of course but combine it with experience and the science of data and direct marketing. In short, speak to impartial data and direct marketing companies who are DMA members. That would be a step in the right direction.

hope it all works out
John