![\"buy-email-list-introduction\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/ceblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/09155851\/buy-email-list-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Are you tempted to buy an email list? It sounds easy, right? You just purchase email addresses and start sending people <\/span>marketing emails<\/span><\/a>. A shortcut, if you will.<\/span><\/p>\n But there\u2019s always a problem with shortcuts. The time you save by not building your email list organically harms your bottom line, reputation, email reputation, and other things that make your business strong.<\/span><\/p>\n You should never buy an email list. Period.<\/b><\/p>\n Yes, it might seem to save time in the short term, but it\u2019s a dangerous road to put your business on. Your email list should be your most powerful marketing asset<\/a>, and if you buy an email list, you put that in jeopardy.<\/span><\/p>\n Imagine that you\u2019re sitting in front of your computer. You open up your email account and see a message from a brand you\u2019ve never heard of. You might open it out of curiosity.<\/span><\/p>\n Or you might just delete it unread because you don\u2019t trust it.<\/span><\/p>\n Either way, once you figure out that you never signed up to receive emails from that brand, you\u2019ll be understandably irritated. Someone you don\u2019t know has appropriated your email address to sell to you.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s kind of like door-to-door sales. Most businesses don\u2019t use this strategy anymore because it\u2019s an irritant. People don\u2019t like strangers ringing their doorbells. If you didn\u2019t invite someone to your house, why would you open the door for them?<\/span><\/p>\n The same thing applies to email marketing. When you buy an email list, you\u2019re knocking on the doors of people who didn\u2019t ask you to drop by.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at some of the specific reasons why you should never buy an email list.<\/span><\/p>\n Someone might have told you about the best places to buy email lists. You\u2019re stoked. No more relying on people to find your website and sign up. No more creating free content.<\/span><\/p>\n The company might even say you can buy a targeted email list. In other words, they\u2019ll mine their emails for people in your desired demographic. Sounds great.<\/span><\/p>\n However, you won\u2019t get qualified contacts.<\/b><\/p>\n A qualified contact is someone who is familiar with your business and wants to learn more about what you do. He or she has the capacity and desire to buy from you, even if it isn\u2019t until weeks or months down the line.<\/span><\/p>\n You can\u2019t get that when you buy an email list, no matter how targeted. This is because those people don\u2019t know your brand and are therefore not necessarily suitable as prospects.<\/span><\/p>\n Sure, you might get lucky with a few. That\u2019s true in any numbers game. However, you\u2019ll have a much stronger, healthier email list if you gather your contacts organically instead of buying them.<\/span><\/p>\n Spam is \u2014 quite literally \u2014 a four-letter word. When your emails get marked as spam too often, email clients like Gmail and Yahoo! will start diverting all of your emails to recipients\u2019 spam folders. If that happens, your open rate will plummet and many of your contacts won\u2019t see your emails at all.<\/span><\/p>\n Nobody likes spam. It sends the message that you don\u2019t care about consumers\u2019 rights and desires and that all you care about is selling more product. You don\u2019t want to become that business.<\/span><\/p>\n If you buy an email list, most people won\u2019t recognize your name in their email inboxes. For many consumers, that means an instant trip to the spam folder.<\/span><\/p>\n Build your email list organically instead. Send emails only to people who actually want to hear what you have to say. They won\u2019t spend you to spam because they\u2019re interested in your brand voice.<\/span><\/p>\n When you buy an email list, you\u2019re not purchasing exclusive rights to those emails. Companies that sell email lists make money by selling the same contacts over and over again, and the people on these lists often find themselves subjected to barrages of marketing messages.<\/span><\/p>\n In some cases, those contacts will close down their email accounts and open new ones just to cut down on the noise.<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, some people have email addresses exclusively for marketing content. They don\u2019t want to clog their personal or business accounts with emails they didn’t ask for. Your deliverability will take a huge hit when you buy an email list.<\/span><\/p>\n This isn\u2019t just because of spam, either. You might have your emails sent to recipients\u2019 promotions or updates folders, which aren\u2019t opened as often as primary inboxes.<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, if you\u2019re buying these \u201csecondary\u201d email accounts that people use for marketing, your emails will likely get lost in the hundreds of other emails.<\/span><\/p>\n Engagement matters when it comes to email marketing. The problem is that you already have the odds stacked against you.<\/span><\/p>\n First, you have to convince people to open your emails. That\u2019s hurdle number one. If they delete your emails or send them to spam folders, you don\u2019t even get a shot at engagement.<\/span><\/p>\n Next, you want recipients to act based on each email\u2019s content, whether that\u2019s clicking through to read a blog post, take advantage of a discount, or check out a new product. Clicks are true engagement.<\/span><\/p>\n When you buy an email list, you can be sure that engagement rates will plummet. Wouldn\u2019t you rather each of your 500 subscribers read and click through on your emails than 2 percent of your 500,000 \u201csubscribers\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n Keep in mind that, when you buy an email list, you\u2019re not getting subscribers. You\u2019re getting contact information. There\u2019s a huge difference.<\/span><\/p>\n People who receive unsolicited emails might not open those emails or click through based on the content, but they might remember your brand\u2019s name. That\u2019s dangerous. It can hurt brand awareness as well as reputation.<\/span><\/p>\n Think about the business around the corner that\u2019s constantly clogging your mailbox with badly designed flyers. You might avoid that business precisely because of the unwanted intrusion.<\/span><\/p>\n Email marketing works the same way. Consumers who have a negative first-time experience with your brand, such as receiving unwanted emails, might \u201cblacklist\u201d your business entirely because they don\u2019t like your tactics.<\/span><\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to buy an email list to market your business successfully. In fact, you shouldn\u2019t. Taking a shortcut might seem like a sound business strategy at first, but it won\u2019t benefit you in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n The better strategy is to build a valuable email list from the ground up. Use your existing traffic to grow your email list. Convert visitors on amazing offers, keep them riveted with awesome emails, and clean your email list regularly<\/a> so your deliverability remains high.<\/span><\/p>\n Here are the seven steps necessary to build a valuable email list the healthy way.<\/span><\/p>\n Start with the people you want to reach. If you\u2019re marketing to college graduates between ages 22 and 40, you\u2019ll want to make sure your brand messaging appeals to young up-and-comers.<\/span><\/p>\n Get as specific as possible. You can have multiple lead magnets on your website, each of which appeals to a target demographic. For instance, maybe you have products that span many psychographics. You\u2019ll want a lead magnet for each one.<\/span><\/p>\n Once you know your target audience, create a separate email list for each one. The people who receive one set of marketing emails might not be engaged with the content you send to another target audience. Segmenting your list will help improve deliverability and engagement.<\/span><\/p>\n Creating buyer personas<\/span><\/a> can make building an email list easier. Once you have your buyer personas, you can create an email marketing strategy for each. That way, your marketing materials remain cohesive throughout your brand.<\/span><\/p>\n Content remains king no matter how many people say that it\u2019s dead. The content on your site can have a huge impact on whether you build a valuable email list, so make sure it\u2019s highly targeted and useful.<\/span><\/p>\n Start with your blog or other educational content. Create articles, videos, podcasts, and other media that provides actionable tips or advice. Don\u2019t repeat what your competitors are doing. Make your content bigger and better.<\/span><\/p>\n The same goes for your offers and lead magnets, which we\u2019ll cover more in the next section. People won\u2019t hand over their email addresses for free. They want something in return, whether it\u2019s a whitepaper, e-course, instructional video, or toolkit.<\/span><\/p>\n Each segment of your target audience deserves its own lead magnet and offer. The lead magnet is the valuable gift you\u2019re offering for free, such as an e-book, while the offer is the way in which you phrase your headline and call to action.<\/span><\/p>\n For instance, let\u2019s say you run a business that sells mattresses. Some of your customers might want memory foam, while others want coil mattresses. Some of your customers are getting ready for their first college apartments; others are elderly.<\/span><\/p>\n You need ways to appeal to all of those audiences. Create lead magnets about sleeping habits, sleeping positions, affordability on a tight budget, easing back pain while sleeping, and more. Target them to your buyer personas and create captivating offers.<\/span><\/p>\n Questions are a great way to appeal to curiosity:<\/span><\/p>\n The bold questions are the headlines and the unbolded statements are the calls to action. Play with different wording and design until you get the right combinations.<\/span><\/p>\n Your website isn\u2019t the only way to grow your email list. Instead of buying an email list, use your social clout and paid ads to drive more signups.<\/span><\/p>\n Instead of directing people to a sales or landing page, send them to a page that invites them to sign up for your email list. You don\u2019t have to buy subscribers. You can collect them by engaging with your audience.<\/span><\/p>\n Believe it or not, news spreads. If someone loves your email content, he or she might recommend you to someone else. The better your emails, the more signups you\u2019ll get \u2014 and without spending money on a paid email list.<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, ads cost money, but the ROI on collecting emails the right way can be incredible. In fact, email marketing outperforms most other methods of capturing and converting leads.<\/span><\/p>\n Even if you\u2019re spending money to generate more email subscriptions, you\u2019ll come out ahead. Just make sure you\u2019re clever and engaging when you target your followers or desired audience.<\/span><\/p>\n If you don\u2019t have the cash to spend on ads, no sweat. Just use the organic methods we\u2019ve talked about throughout this article to grow your email list. Don\u2019t buy subscribers. Bring them to you with quality content.<\/span><\/p>\n Attractive headlines<\/span><\/a> employ unusual verbs and adjectives and make your promise clear. They speak directly to your target audience.<\/span><\/p>\n The more specific you get, the better.<\/span><\/p>\n Remember our mattress company example? You could play with lots of headlines on your email collecting landing pages to strike the right balance between engaging and informative.<\/span><\/p>\n You see what we mean. Play with words and keep your target market squarely in mind when crafting your headlines, whether you\u2019re using a Hello Bar, a sidebar widget, or a signup form in the middle of a blog post.<\/span><\/p>\n Calls to Action are all about getting people to take action based on your headline and offer. You want consumers to feel compelled to learn more about your brand, regardless of their position in the sales funnel.<\/span><\/p>\n A great way to do that is to make your <\/span>CTA<\/span><\/a> stick out. Don\u2019t be afraid to go big and bold. A CTA button in a bright color that stands out from every other element on the page can produce massive engagement rates.<\/span><\/p>\n Now that you\u2019ve created awesome content, identified your target audience, and settled on headlines and CTA copy, it\u2019s time to test. You might have a great landing page headline and a fantastic CTA, but you won\u2019t know whether it can convert even better unless you run A\/B tests.<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, you can start\u00a0<\/span>using Crazy Egg\u2019s A\/B testing tools<\/a> today to make your headlines the best they can be. Write two fantastic headlines, then put them against each other. Continue refining the language over time so you’re always maximizing your site traffic.<\/span><\/p>\n Do the same with your CTAs. Change the language, button color, button size, button position, and more. You might even want to play with font choice and hover effects.<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re not sure whether you need Crazy Egg and A\/B testing, you can see the results for yourself. <\/span>Sign up for a free trial<\/span><\/a> and take Crazy Egg for a spin. Set up recordings, user behavior reports, and A\/B tests to make sure you\u2019re giving your visitors every reason to convert.<\/span><\/p>\n There is no reason to buy an email list. Not only is it a poor alternative to organic email list building, but it can also harm your brand, reduce email deliverability, and get your messages flagged as spam.<\/span><\/p>\n If you want to know more about how to improve your email marketing over the next year, check out this video from Neil Patel and Adam from <\/span>Viewership<\/span> on that very topic.<\/span><\/p>\nHere\u2019s Why You Should Never Buy an Email List<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"buy-email-list-why\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/ceblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/09155858\/buy-email-list-3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n1. You won’t get qualified contacts<\/span><\/h3>\n
2. You’ll increase the chances of getting marked as spam<\/span><\/h3>\n
3. Your contacts won’t be exclusive<\/span><\/h3>\n
4. The engagement rate won’t be high<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"buy-email-list-engagement-list\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/ceblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/09155904\/buy-email-list-4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n5. Bought email addresses can have a negative impact on brand awareness<\/span><\/h3>\n
How to Build a Valuable Email List<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"buy-email-list-how-to-build\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/ceblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/09155845\/buy-email-list-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n1. Identify your target audience<\/span><\/h3>\n
2. Create unique offers and great content<\/span><\/h3>\n
3. Build valuable lead magnets<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"buy-email-list-lead-magnets\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/ceblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/09155908\/buy-email-list-5.jpg\")
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\n<\/span><\/li>\n4. Use other channels like social media and ads to help grow the email list<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"buy-email-list-roi\"](\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/ceblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/09155911\/buy-email-list-6.png\")
<\/p>\n5. Create attractive landing page headlines<\/span><\/h3>\n
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6. Add a CTA button<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"best-landing-page-service-landingi-templates\"](\"https:\/\/ceblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/23115141\/best-landing-page-service-11.png\")
<\/p>\n7. A\/B test different CTA buttons and copy<\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"CTA](\"https:\/\/ceblog.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/16094851\/Screen-Shot-2018-09-16-at-10.48.21-AM.png\")
<\/p>\nConclusion<\/span><\/h2>\n