Purchasing email lists for a campaign...

[360interactive]

Anyone got experience of this? I was contacted by a company on Friday offering 20,000 email addresses of so called 'decision makers' in a particular industry. I've always fancied giving email marketing a go. Cost was £399 or 600 ish if they managed your campaign.

I know email marketing works to a degree, but want views from those that have tried it.

 

[shemseddine]

I suggest you build your own list. Research and find people's emails online and create your own list. This will be more likely that they're real email address but if you buy them, they could be old or inactive.

 

[Cynic]

This is not a good idea. Like the poster above said. focus on building your own list

 

[quartzdata]

Whilst I agree that building your own list is the best way (via opt in, not via web harvesting), it does take a considerable amount of time and effort.

With regards the offer you have received, this seems too cheap for a bona fide list - there is a good chance it will be full of generic (info@, sales@) addresses and aged data. There are risks to using such data in that you may fall into spam traps and/or recieve a very high hard bounce rate which in turn may cause you reputational damage (at worst) or your email provider cancelling your account.

It is not all doom and gloom, like some may say - there are reputable lists owners out there (ensure they are DMA registered) and with B2B you have a better chance of sourcing good quality data in your sector.

Drop me a PM if you wish.

Many thanks

Ian

 

[Murray Cowell]

As a professional in the field, I can tell you I have done many email marketing campaigns and so far I've had great results. You should definitely consider in order to expand your business, and if you need advice or assistance with this, I would be more than glad to help!

Contact me on my website, inboxincome.co.uk and we will get in touch.

All the best!

 

[altwebdesign]

Take a sample of the data and test it, as someone already mentioned above the generic emails are of no use to you.

 

[360interactive]

This is not a good idea. Like the poster above said. focus on building your own list

The problem with this is time, and my lack of it!

To collect 10,000, 5,000, 1,000 or even 100 email adresses will take considerable time and effort.

The company in question is Meridian Delta.

 

[SkoshBusiness]

If it is too good to be true then it probably is. I am in favour of buying lists initially, but if you do then make sure you use a reputable company and get a sample of the data first to check its accuracy.

At £400 I would be very sceptical. Personally I would expect to pay 4-5 times more for decent, accurate data.

 

[360interactive]

I went for it in the end, we'll see how it goes. £400 isn't the end of the world if it all goes boobies up.

Sample sent over was ok, they make a lot of guarantees. Apparently the price was cheaper than the norm as it is the end of the month for them. I'm under no illusion however that using that line is a classic sales pitch and that the costs are likely to be similar no matter when you enquire!

I have yet to receive the data or programs, so i'll let you know how it pans out.

 

[SkoshBusiness]

Good luck with it. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Mike W]

I went for it in the end, we'll see how it goes. £400 isn't the end of the world if it all goes boobies up.

Sample sent over was ok, they make a lot of guarantees. Apparently the price was cheaper than the norm as it is the end of the month for them. I'm under no illusion however that using that line is a classic sales pitch and that the costs are likely to be similar no matter when you enquire!

I have yet to receive the data or programs, so i'll let you know how it pans out.

You won't receive the data and you won't receive a program. They'll do it and send it for you. Might be ok, probably won't be. Have a couple of clients who've been there, done that...

As you say, though, £400 isn't the end of the world. It is their normal price btw.

If you ever want any help in future, let me know. I'll be quite a lot more transparent than they will be. And if you ever want any advice, just holler.

Regards

Mike

 

[Mystro]

We used them for one of the business i work for, real bad results, when we looked at the list and people that clicked they would never have bought our service

Save your money, ask for a refund .....

with the lists they have so many campaigns will be going out over the month your mail will just be another spam message people will delete

 

[360interactive]

You won't receive the data and you won't receive a program. They'll do it and send it for you. Might be ok, probably won't be. Have a couple of clients who've been there, done that...

As you say, though, £400 isn't the end of the world. It is their normal price btw.

If you ever want any help in future, let me know. I'll be quite a lot more transparent than they will be. And if you ever want any advice, just holler.

Regards

Mike

Thanks Mike, although I have received the data and the program, this was part of the deal so I could send it myself and see the actual data etc.

I've received the data and it pretty much is exactly what they promised, i'll just have to see how many bounce backs I get. For me it's worth the money even without the emails as it gives me the address and contacts to also do a mail campaign which is an option.

Mystro, I guess it's difficult to identify which companies would go for car leasing. Mine is a little easier as all I really need is the contact of the manager for what i'm trying to sell. Every single care home in the country could have what i'm trying to sell.

We'll see. At the moment i'm too busy to get it going but i'm hoping to give it ascot in december maybe offering a new years deal.

We'll see!

 

[zigojacko]

Avoid all types of sellers of email lists.

They're always many years out of date, the emails are often scraped or generic. The chance of getting any leads from it are minimal (basically none). Any legitimate emails on the lists have rarely opted in for such thing.

Most are scams. There are thousands of complaints online about companies that "sell data". Here's one for the company you mentioned for a start.

 

[smarterbarcodes]

Its tricky this one, how do you know they are good contacts until you have contacted them? I'd be interested to know how things go, keep us informed please :0)

 

[SkoshBusiness]

Yeah let us know how you get on as I will be needing to look into purchasing data for one of my clients. Without meaning to hijack the thread does anyone on here have any good, reputable recommendations?