How to Rent Email Lists (Without Going Completely Broke)

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The decision to rent email lists can be one of the most effective decisions a marketer can make. It can also be one of the most expensive.

Without having a clear idea of how those leads were gathered, nurtured — and at times beaten into email submission — it’s difficult to know whether your investment will yield any ROI fruit at all.

So, whether you reach out to an email list broker or negotiate with an email list owner directly, here are some questions to ask that will save you money when you rent email lists.

5 Things You Gotta Know Before You Rent Email Lists

#1 – Where the $^@# Did These Leads Come From?

Not all email leads are created equal. Did the person renting the list gather them through PPC ads? Or from an organic blog traffic? Or through a sign-spinner on the street corner?

And drill down even further. What type of PPC ads? How long ago? What campaigns were used to acquire these leads? (What was the primary motivation for people signing up the list?)

If yer talking to 3K people who signed up for free coupons and you’re selling a luxury yacht, you may find a bad market-to-message match.

If the email list was generated from some random email database, or a bootleg CD off of eBay — yes, it happens — be sure to run far, far away.

#2 – How Can We Segment These Email Leads?

Email segmentation is akin to the Harry Potter dark arts. Very powerful; often misunderstood. The best way to nail this part of the email list rental equation is to KNOW your would-be customer.

How old are they? What’s their gender? How much do they make? What magazines do they buy? Are they single, married or newly-divorced?

An experienced list broker will help — if not, steer clear — you find the RIGHT list. (Not force a bad list down your throat.) If you’re dealing with the list owner directly then ask for some demographic data — usually Google Analytics or surveys — that can help you parse out the list.

If they can’t segment the list, and you’re mailing to a bunch of random folks, make sure that a heavy discount is baked into the price.

#3 – Can I See Your Data?

Data is absolutely your friend.

You want to know their:

Open rates
click rates
conversion rates
list growth over time (not just size…but growth)

You also want to know about previous promotions. How have other businesses succeeded? Which messages worked? Which didn’t? Ask for samples.

You want your email to seemingly blend in with the other communications they get?

#4 – Are You Gonna Send the Email for Me?

It may sound enticing to have a list broker, or owner, send a you an Excel sheets with same names on it to have you email. But resist the urge. It won’t work.

You want to have the broker/owner send the email. Not only because it could possibly violate your email sender Terms of Service, but because it puts the onus of responsibility on the sender…not you. They NEED to make sure things get delivered. (You got enough to worry about.)

#5 – Can We Do a Test?

This is another one I insist on.

I like to do a test of about 1k-5k, depending on the size of the final send. This lets you tweak things and see if you can hone in on a message and presentation that converts.

What “converts’ means will depend on your goals? (Lead gen, sales, impressions, etc.) But if the test didn’t meet your goals or deliver the ROI you require, then keep testing till you get it right. (Especially with b2b email lists. Those suckers can get expensive fast.)

#6 – Anything Else You Can Do For Me?

This probably won’t be available if you’re working with a list broker. but if you’re working with a list owner, you might be able to get a few sweeteners added to the deal.

Such as:

Website ad placement (not terribly effective but not bad either)
Endorsement in the preface of the promotion email
A re-send to people who didn’t open the first email
A joint venture webinar

The possibilities are endless. So, are the ways to burn through cash when renting email lists.

Make sure if you do decide to rent email lists that you go with your email marketing eyes wide open. There be dragons in the email list rental waters. But there be profits too.