The purchase of e-mail addresses is a popular marketing tool – above all in order to conduct aggressive advertisement. For this method is fast, simple and uncomplicated, as well as helpful, to obtain an entire list of contact data at once. However, if you also take into consideration the risks, it soon becomes apparent why this approach also entails many disadvantages, and even achieves the exact opposite. We have summarized the reasons why purchasing e-mail addresses does not yield any advantages.
Reasons why purchasing email addresses does more harm than good
Which company has not toyed with the idea of simply buying a list with e-mail addresses and so easily reaching a multitude of new customers who also purchase from them. Unfortunately, this is not so simple, since the recipient of such e-mails usually has little interest in advertising mail, and deletes it or marks it as spam. Pursuant to this, if e-mail providers receive too many spam complaints, they will put the marketers onto a black list and prevent them from sending further e-mails in the future. 
In addition, most data on such lists is false or incorrect and it is already marked as spam before being sent – worst case scenario, the IP-address is even blocked. But the legal aspect must also be considered, since sending e-mails without the explicit permission of the recipient is anti-competitive in Germany and as such prohibited.
Of course some marketers are successful when they purchase e-mail lists and send promotional offers. Nevertheless, this success is mostly short-term, since this method damages the reputation on a long-term basis. The fifth most important disadvantages are summed up as follows:
1st Disadvantage: Purchasing addresses damages the marketer’s image sustainably
First of all, most of the contacted people are not interested in advertising mail at all and label such e-mails as spam. This pushy marketing per e-mail damages the reputation of the company.
2nd Disadvantage: Data is often false and useless
Address sellers promise an abundance of data – which is actually true at first glance. But often the information and the data is just false and as such, useless. On those lists, even e-mail addresses which are not active anymore are likely to appear. If these inactive addresses are then used for a mailing campaign, the marketer is branded as spammer.
3rd Disadvantage: E-mail service provider is impaired
As a rule, e-mail service providers state in their general terms and conditions that customers are not allowed to send spam. However, in case of a mailing campaign, the IP-address leads back to the service provider. This means that by sending spam, not only is the image of the company itself harmed, but the provider’s reputation as well.
4th Disadvantage: Competitors probably acquire the same addressees
There are plenty of other companies, that probably own exactly the same e-mail addressee lists - competitors are perhaps among them as well. Whoever wants to be successful here must do it better and become creative as well as active.
5th Disadvantage: False customisation of data
The objective of an e-mail is to establish a trustful and personal relationship to the person contacted. This is difficult to achieve with a purchased e-mail list, since these lists often contain errors. Whoever customises the e-mail and addresses the recipient personally must reckon that the information is not correct and that the addressee does not have that particular hobby or does not even work where the seller of the addresses has specified. This erroneous information results in the marketer being classified as dubious.
Conclusion
Only if the inventory of email-addresses is monitored and not more than one weekly distribution is carried out, the intrinsic value of addresses is given in the long-term as well.
Frank Große
You might also be interested in:
Telemarketing in & outs
What is Telephone Marketing? Basics
Sometime telephone marketers make common mistakes like not introducing themselves to the person they’re calling. People want at least a name they can associate with the call. Another mistake is a telemarketer pretending to be someone they are not. More...
Direct marketing via e-mail & newsletter
Understanding e-mail marketing
If you send e-mails or a newsletter to your own clients, then that´s usually OK. Basics Newsletter Marketing It becomes problematic when you send e-mails to unknown recipients. Because in most European countries you are only allowed to send advertising e-mails with opt-in. Opt-in means that the recipient expressly agrees to receive advertising e-mails. A newsletter is a sort of subscription. More...
Direct marketing via advertising letters by mail
Top Tips for Writing and Sending: Response mechanisms
Make sure your response mechanism is appropriate – ie. it’s not the best idea to send a letter to a list of senior citizens asking them to go to a website, download a demo that will email them a 20% of discount voucher to be redeemed in an online computer games shop! Some of the best response mechanisms for corporate mailings include market research information, survey results or relevant reports on industry or technological developments. More...
© 1982-2023 CEBUS Marketing - Anna Calandri - All rights reserved. We are committed to maintaining quality and performance standards. This website generally does not collect any personal information. Only when you submit a request to us or sign up for a service will personal data be collected and stored. More...