When you’re just getting started in business, it can be tricky to find an email marketing service that allows you to use lists that you purchase or import. Even just switching email service providers can be challenging for this reason. The simple act of uploading an email list can leave you dealing with customer service and trying to convince them to let you do so. Despite all this, it’s typically worth the headache. Email marketing has been proven to be effective and cost efficient in reaching your audience.
Email is often one of the first steps, if not the first step in your lead conversion funnel. So, doing more email marketing (and in particular, doing it in a strategic and thoughtful way) can usually generate more leads and ultimately more sales. Converting your website traffic into email lists and converting email lists into sales is one of the primary tasks of digital marketers.
Using Imported and Purchased Email Lists
When using an imported, or purchased list, you want to be extra careful to ensure that you’re following the applicable laws in your country. That means keeping an unsubscribe button at the bottom of ever email you send, and respecting people’s opt out decisions. Never send another marketing email to someone after they’ve opted out of your list – that could land you in hot water.
The ethics of using a purchased email list can sound a little murky at first, but as long as you’re not spamming these contacts, you should be okay. It’s not dissimilar to sending cold emails, which you likely do manually every day. These efforts are designed to help willing buyers learn about your product or service – and it should be a message they’ll be interested in. By being highly targeted, and specific in your messaging, you’ll be able to quickly find many new customers or prospects. Prove that you’re solving an actual customer problem, and your new customers will thank you for finding them.
Email List Hygiene
The first step in sending to a new list, or a list that you haven’t sent an email to in a long time is some basic data hygiene. Make sure that the information you have is up to date, that there isn’t incorrect email addresses in it, and that you’ve contact first names, last names, and emails all in the correct column. By running through your list, you should be able to catch the most basic mistakes, and improve email deliverability.
Sending Cold Emails
Cold emails are just emails that the recipient didn’t previously request. It’s often the first piece of outreach that a company makes when touching base with a new prospective customer. The key with sending cold emails is to be compliant with the spam laws of your country. That means that you must take whatever measures required in your country to protect the privacy and wishes of your email recipient.
It’s vitally important to maintain high deliverability rates when sending cold emails. The deliverability rate will be determined by your sender score, which is a rating of how trustworthy your domain is as an email sender. If you send bad emails, get reported as spam, have spammy keywords, or have low email deliverability, your sender score can get negatively impacted. It’s very easy to lose credibility as a sender, and almost impossible to get it back. So be careful!
What services allow you to upload lists, or use purchased lists?
There are a few good options for those who want to upload a pre-existing list, even a purchased list. While there aren’t as many options as you might like, you’re sure to find one that meets your needs and budget below.
Clickback Mail
If you’re looking for a solid all-in-one solution for your email prospecting needs, Clickback is a great choice. They take care of scrubbing your list, doing automated hygiene checks, and allow you to import lists.
It’s a little expensive – pricing starts at $280/month for up to 25,000 contacts, and goes up from there. If you’re looking for a really solid option for your purchased list, Clickback is it though.
MailClickConvert
With dedicated IP addresses, reputation monitoring, and built-in list cleaning (with over 500 million verified contacts), MailClickConvert is a solid option. Prices start at $200 per month for up to 100,000 emails, so it’s a pretty price competitive provider as well.
MailClickConvert claims high email deliverability, which is extremely important to producing a return on investment for your purchased email list. Give them a close look – this could be your best bet.
Hotsol
If you need to send a lot of emails, Hotsol is probably your best option. With plans starting at 250,000 emails per month, and going as high as you want to, you’ll certainly find a solution. Pricing starts at $200/month too, so it’s a somewhat affordable option.
Hotsol includes features like advanced email list management with segmentation, A/B testing, and auto-responders, as well as all the standard features you’d expect. Another advantage is that Hotsol offers dedicated IPs, so you’re able to achieve high deliverability, and not get caught in spam filters nearly as often. This product is definitely worth taking a look at.
Conclusion
Since email marketing is here to stay, and something that the top performing companies are all taking advantage of, you should definitely be doing so as well. With a purchased email list, it can certainly be tricky to find a fit for an email service provider, but the above named companies should be good fits. In order to make a purchased email list produce a return on your investment, you need a provider that specializes in uploaded lists, so you can achieve good deliverability rates, and achieve your sales goals. Make sure your contacts are relevant to your business, and that your content is providing some utility to them and you’ll find that email recipients are great leads.
The most important consideration when using a purchased email list is compliance with anti-spam laws in your country. Make sure that you thoroughly research this before sending emails to your list. Anti-spam laws are designed to keep businesses and consumers safe from unwanted email. You MUST make sure that your messages are relevant to your list, and that you have clear unsubscribe links on all emails in order to avoid getting blacklisted.