MindComet

List Rentals Are Not the Answer

Ahh list rentals… If you ask me they’re a sign of desperation that usually stems from an out-of-touch marketing department who “demand results”. Well guess what? As far as I can tell, utilizing a list rental service is not the way to go if you want results.

But if you do ultimately decide that renting a list will help you reach your goals, then you should keep a few things in mind. If you are going to rent a list, know what to look for in a vendor. From reading this article on clickz, they point out a few things to look out for when choosing a legitimate vendor.

1) Look at their prices. If there’s a sliding scale for the amount of email addresses your message will be sent to, then you should avoid them. Know what other vendors are charging. Get an average and an idea of what you should be spending. If something seems to good to be true, then… well, you know the rest.

2) If the vendor gives you the addresses to send to, then they’re bunk. They’re an asset to the vendor and they should treated it as such. If they’re handing them out willy-nilly then you should be alarmed and not do business with them.

3) Make sure if the list is double opt in. Double opt in lists traditionally make for better results, but this is usually applied to house lists. This is difficult (nearly impossible) for a vendor to prove without giving you their list. Also, if they insist their contacts are opted in, the question remains, “opted-in to what?“

4) If the vendor doesn’t give you their IP address, then don’t do business with them. Period. If they do provide you with an origin IP, take it as a sign of confidence on their part. You can check their sending IP at the following sites: Senderbase.org, ReputationAuthority, and BarracudaCentral.org. If you don’t check the IP addresses reputation and it turns out it’s blacklisted, your brand may be perceived as spam by users and ISPs alike. Once the send is completed and you’re looking to gather up your reports to see how the send performed, do not use baselines from organically grown lists as a means of measurement. You will almost always be disappointed in your results if you do this.

All in all, list rentals seem shady to me… no matter how much the vendor pleads the lists’ legitimacy, I’d be very apprehensive to pay for it. The best way to get results is to send timely messages with relevant content to users who opted in to specifically receive your emails. It takes time, patience and attention. Again… time, patience and attention.

Has anyone ever sent a successful list-rental campaign?

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Oct. 01, 2009