Building a list and pufferfish

(Scratches head) Hmmm...one of my favorite authors Jeanne Jennings has a new article describing four ways of quickly building a list.

She's not explicitly recommending them, but simply pointing out the pros and cons of email appends, buying compiled lists, list rental and newsletter sponsorships.

The first two in particular often give you email addresses which aren't procured with an explicit opt-in. In other words, the people at the end of those email addresses might not be expecting your email.

As Jeanne points out, sending to those names risks spam reports and blacklists. Any list building method not based on gaining an explicit opt-in strikes me as like eating fugu, the Japanese pufferfish dish.

It's expensive, not a particularly rewarding experience, and runs the risk of killing you. I don't read many success stories involving appends and compiled lists (but jump in to correct me if you know of some.)

If a poor quality list of appended or compiled email addresses does land you on a few blacklists, good luck trying to get off them.

This all boils down to your basic email philosophy.

If you care about things like brand, the email experience, customer relationships, sustainable sales and similar, then you don't cut corners when building your email address list.

And if you are going to indulge in quick fixes, then do your research and ensure you go with a reputable vendor. Make sure your fugu was prepared by a trained chef.

More on list building | Tags: email marketing, email appends, list rental, compiled lists, email appending

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