Opt-In Email Lists Vs Purchased Email Lists

[KHALID HASSAN]

In recent articles we have touched a little on the subject of opt-in email lists and the advantages these lists offer over purchased email lists. We have even looked at the Hybrid Connect plug in that helps us build up our organic email lists, but just in case you're still not sold on the idea of using opt-in email lists over purchased, we decided we would give you a complete breakdown and do a cross-examination of the two different methods used to collect email data and why you really should only be using organic methods. Collecting Email Organically For some this option may be ruled out right from the word go, simply because you haven't the time or the ability to collect data from your customers. However this is a complete misconception, we always have time and there are always ways and means to achieve everything. As they say, 'there's no such things as I can't'. I was always told this as a child... 'it's not that you can't, it's that you don't want and' now that I've grown (a little!) I completely and utterly agree with this statement. Often when we want to do something, we want to do it now. Especially in the world of marketing and sales, time is money and we embark on different marketing campaigns in order to increase ROI and income. For a small business, or business that has just started out, the concept of collecting email addresses from scratch may seem impossible due to the fact that they may have very few or even no customers yet and the time they have to 'waste' waiting doesn't prove cost-effective. But, everyone starts from somewhere and in order for you to grow your business to where you want it to be, you need to be determined, hard-working and honest right from the start. If your a company with no online marketing background whatsoever or simply don't have the resources to do it yourself, why not outsource and seek the services of a marketing agency, this will at least be a starting point. It is much more beneficial to start off with 10 customers who will respond to your emails, rather than start with a 1,000 email subscribers where only 10 will respond. In the long run your efforts and patience will pay off, this form of organic marketing can only lead to a strong business with a strong customer base. Check out the advantages in a nutshell: Build a strong and trustworthy reputation which will in turn in turn boost future sales and product interest as your customers will get to know your business and it's products for what it really is Respect your customers and their privacy who will in turn respect you resulting in a long-term relationship rather than a one off liaison Send emails to people who are actually interested in you as a company and will actually respond and engage with you Send emails to people who are actually interested in you as a company and will actually respond and engage with you Actually saves money, effort and time by focusing only on those who will respond to your mail Allows you to specifically target your campaign as you know your audience and are informed about their interests and buying trends purchase email list Whether you call them third party lists or purchased lists, you can't hide the fact that these types of email lists don't belong to you. For those who may have an easy target-able product or service, or need to build up followers quick, this form of data collection may seem tempting but in our eyes it is merely a short term solution to a future long term problem. You may know that your product or service is the best and that to be honest, it can sell on it's own it's that good but the people on that list don't know that. Number one you run the risk of having your mail spammed before they even get a chance to read it and number 2 you should have more faith in your company and afford it the time to build up a steady and sustainable reputation. Take me for example, I'd like to think of myself as a professional online shopper, I get emails daily from many different stores that I have given permission to send me updates. I hardly ever check my spam box but when I do I will find some dodgy looking deals that have crept their way in there and they immediately get deleted. I'm a sucker for deals and love shopping, but even I am not tempted by some of the best deals from third parties I don't know. I will however respond to and most likely click through to sites that I know and have a history of doing transactions with as I prefer to search on my own to find new stores, products or services. Have a look below at some of the others reasons why third party lists aren't always the way to go: First and foremost, like myself, many users will be unresponsive - they don't know you! Waste of time, money and effort - most of the emails you send won't even get opened, it's not quantity here but quality that counts You run the risk of ruining your reputation by pestering potential customers who would have preferred to come find you off their own accord Your open and click through rates will be very low and most likely you will get spammed Have You Guessed Which One We Prefer Yet? With so many different ways to collect email addresses organically, there really isn't much point nor many excuses to having to turn to buying mailing lists. At the end of the day the whole point of sending emails is to increase ROI and we all know that email marketing provides the highest ROI of all forms of marketing strategies. These things just take time and by getting it right from the start you will build up a valuable reputation that will last a lifetime.