Email Marketing
10 Tips For Renting An Opt-in Email List

We've been conducting opt-in email list rentals for clients since 1999, and would like to share some of our experience by giving you 10 tips for renting an opt-in email list for your business.

1) Use an email list broker - As a result of list owner relationships and volume buying, a list broker should be able to offer you at or below published rate card pricing, saving you money (Charlwood eMarketing guarantees this). A reputable email list broker who has been in the business for a number of years has invaluable experience gained from seeing the results of various offers sent to different email lists used by their clients. They are unbiased given that they don't own the list, and can recommend the best targeted list for their clients. A list broker can steer you to top performing lists with high open rates, special targeting, fresh names and good delivery guarantees. Some brokers will even educate you on what subject line to use to drive open rates, how to optimize your landing pages and use testing strategies to improve response for each list based on their experience.

2) Ensure that the list is Can-SPAM Compliant - In order to protect your business from SPAM complaints, you need to ensure that the list is Can-SPAM compliant, and a publicly available privacy policy is posted at the list's web site. Be sure to check the opt-in policy of the web site where the subscribers are sourced, and if they have a Privacy Officer in place to deal with complaints, unsubscribe's or any issues.

3) Use only reputable or brand-name lists - Be sure that the email list is sourced from a well-known magazine or web site with a brand name identity if possible. If you are not able to visit the URL where the opt-in emails are subscribed, then be wary. Sign up yourself to ensure that the user is not inundated with pop-up ads or automatically signed up for more than one list or sent more than one or two emails a week. Check if the list has won awards or been recognized, e.g. endorsed by the BBB Online or Truste? Check the Register of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) at SPAMHaus.org if you suspect that the list may SPAM its subscribers.

4) Ask about targeting and testing options - How well does the description of the typical visitor of their web site match yours? Is your offer relevant and enticing to this audience? Will the list allow for a A/B split run test of more than one subject line, from address and email text or HTML creative? Can they target by domain extension, zip code, job title or employee/revenue size? The more targeting the better.

5) Look at subscriber data - Do they offer demographic or psychographics information or third-party research and to offer you insights on their email subscribers? Check Alexa.com for traffic rankings, page views and other useful statistics.

6) Investigate HTML capability - Can the web site send out graphic (HTML) emails, or text only? The nature of your offer will determine which is best to use. Although HTML emails will be filtered more often, their higher response for visually impactful offers typically get higher click-throughs than text only.

7) Ensure database integrity - How clean is the database, and how recent are the names? How many times a week do they mail? What is their average expected open rate? What is the turn-over rate of the email list?

8) Confirm response tracking options - Are responses tracked using a third party ad server? Can they track opens, unique vs. absolute clicks and pass-along's? Do they send you a delivery report to confirm the number of emails you purchased were actually delivered?

9) Check that you have the total cost - Does the CPM rate include deployment and tracking? Can you get a better rate on the same site through a list broker? Get total costs including targeting select and suppression file fees which are required by the Can-SPAM Act (you need to send the list your past opt-outs to ensure they are not re mailed).

10) Get case studies - Can the list give you examples of creative and even general response rates for competing or similar products advertised on their site? If not, at least they should be able to provide a list of past or current advertisers. Check to see how similar this list is to your offer/industry and if any of your competitors are on it.  

Contact us for a specific opt-in email list recommendation and quote.