The Dangers of Renting an Email List

When was the last time you bought a list of email addresses? Maybe you're thinking about it right now or maybe you've been thinking about it for a while. The truth is buying an email address list isn't really necessary to succeed online. You can get free lists and build an effective email marketing business without ever spending a single penny. Here's why:

Email lists are a dime a dozen. Most marketers see this as a major selling point for their product or service. Buying an email address list means having access to thousands of subscribers based solely on whatever demographic and/or psychographic info you've provided to a rental email address broker. That doesn't mean those subscribers have actually heard of your company, your products, or have any interest at all in what you're saying. They signed up because they found an ad for something they're interested in.

So just how do you go about renting a highly targeted email list? Buy a membership from a professional email marketing firm. They'll send you a link to fill out once you've paid your one-time fee. At that point, you're finished paying. They own the rights to the list, and you're done paying to rent an address.

But don't think you can't market to people of another persuasion or share your messages with people not affiliated with your company at all. There's no rule against it. In fact, when it comes to building large opt-in lists, it's often best to keep your messages tailored to the recipients' interests. People share different things. For instance, some emails would be great if sent to someone else's brother, sister, or cousin. But that same email could fail if sent to a high school student with no connection to you whatsoever.

It's also smart to rent an address for your campaign, as well. When you own your own list, you can leverage the power of a single, highly targeted email marketing campaign. When you rent a list, a third party company will manage all your marketing communications. You won't have to lift a finger! All your work will be taken care of by professionals who have worked with large lists before and know how to do it right.

There are several benefits to renting an address, beyond the obvious fact that you don't have to deal with the problem of getting subscribers. Because you're paying only a one-time fee for a large database of subscribers, you have the opportunity to drive more targeted traffic to your site. With a traditional marketing approach, you must deliver the  marketing   content to everyone on your list, whether or not they have requested it. The problem with this is that people often ignore your email, which makes it tough to generate any serious conversions. When you rent an address, you can set an opt-in rate that works to your advantage. You can then vary your open rates based on the type of subscribers you want to sign up.

Renting a list isn't the be-all end-all when it comes to internet marketing. While you can certainly build a list faster and easier by renting a database, it's also important to remember that  marketing  is a process that never ends. Marketers need to constantly test new tactics, new product lines, and new strategy in order to stay relevant in the market. While the rent-a-list model does offer marketers an easy out of the box solution, it shouldn't be relied on as the be-all-and-end-all that marketers use.

When you decide that renting is the way to go, it's important to keep in mind the long-term results you can expect from your online marketing efforts. By taking the time to plan out your goals and methods, you'll be able to focus on attracting subscribers to your mailing list, rather than spending all your time trying to generate traffic. Internet marketers should be careful when it comes to jumping into buying email addresses, especially if you want to maximize your conversion rate. Renting an email list might seem like a good idea at first, but it can be one of the most detrimental ways to grow your business.