When clients start asking whether they should buy an email list, we’ll often start a conversation about cold outreach email marketing.

With cold emailing, you send an unsolicited email to a prospect without having previously contacted them, hoping to generate a new lead. It’s why companies purchase email lists and it’s a fairly common practice.

However, if companies buy email lists without understanding that using them to market their product or services is a lot like cold calling, then their performance expectations might be a little out of whack with what’s possible for cold-outreach email campaigns. On average:

• Response rates hover around the two to three percent mark.
• Since fewer than 24% of cold emails get opened, it’s possible more than 75% of yours aren’t actually seen by anyone.

Why Cold Email Lists Often Don't Perform

People typically receive hundreds of emails each day. It’s incredibly tough for anyone’s content to get noticed with that kind of volume, especially when the recipient is only a name or address on an email list. It’s also difficult to turn cold outreach into a warm response, when:

• The content feels too generic.
• The messaging is not personalized.
• The content isn’t concise and could waste the recipient’s time.
• The claims sound insincere.
• The content doesn’t provide value first or offer help to relieve the recipient’s pain points.
• The outreach isn’t creative enough for a look-see.
• The content lacks that “reason why” for a recipient’s urgent attention.

Why Companies Still Opt For Cold Outreach Email Marketing

Email marketing in general can deliver a higher return on investment (ROI) for you because it’s time-efficient to produce. Email still beats social when it comes to lead generation and adding new customers.

It’s also one of the best ways to scale marketing efforts. Using email technology, you can customize, personalize, segment, and automate email lists with just a few clicks. These functions are all ways to increase ROI from email marketing, cold email list outreach included.

Sending cold emails that convert well and deliver results also depends on how effectively you customize the email content and how cold emailing fits into your overall email campaign strategy.

How To Purchase An Email List

Marketers typically work with list brokers who sell or rent email lists for a fee. As part of the service, these companies say they will curate a list of targeted, opted-in, verified contacts to meet your business’s specific needs and goals. That can sound like a good deal.

Buyer beware, though. Find a way to do your own checking on the email addresses on a list because they may have opted-in to receive emails from a company but not your company. You also may find that the contact information is outdated or irrelevant. How do you know? Your emails bounce, you get more spam reports or unsubscribe notices, see little engagement, or get zero leads generated from your cold outreach.

Also, increasing public concerns over privacy and user data are influencing regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the U.S. and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe to tighten up and get more prevalent. Because of this, purchasing email lists could put your business at legal risk. Plus, you’re likely to get flagged by your email provider when using them or jeopardize your new relationship with prospects who can end up not trusting the emails they receive from you.

It’s well worth it to review your legal responsibility when it comes to buying email lists, your inbound marketing and lead generation strategies, and finding new ways to use email in your campaigns.

How To Personalize Cold Emails

If you’re ready to purchase an email list and test cold emailing, we’re here to help you personalize your email content for the best outcomes.

Personalization is a great way to make people care about opening your cold emails. Emails with personalized subject lines get 26% higher open rates on average. It also improves clickthrough rates (CTR) an average of 14% and increases conversions an average of 10%.

Personalizing the content is more time-consuming but it will help improve open rates and protect your company's domain.

To get that personalization percolating, follow these five tips:

1. Spend quality time writing subject lines.

Focus on personalized solutions that prospects are looking for that directly fit their needs. Get your message across in five to seven words that speak clearly to their interests. Include what you want out of your email exchange.

2. Make it feel like you’re reaching out specifically to them.

Write with a personal touch and include specific points that can make a recipient feel that you understand their value and why they're important. This helps them realize they have something to contribute and take responsibility for.

3. Support critical points with social proof and results.

Let legitimate social proof back up your claims as a trusted source vouch for your company, products, and services. Find industry peers or connections who saw results with your solution and who will connect with recipients. Using statistical and real-life results can accomplish the same thing, providing relevant definitive benefits for your solution.

4. Write like you’re having a conversation.

Keep things formal but be as concise and conversational as you can. Leave robotic, cookie-cutter, cut-and-paste copy on the editing floor. Test its authenticity by reading it out loud. Does it sound like you? Have you made your intentions clear?

5. Remember, it’s all about the recipient.

Write cold emails with an understanding of recipients’ circumstances, needs, industry, business, and any other factors that influence why they might need your solution. Rather than making up some circumstance that your product or service can solve, research real issues that they're likely to face and make them the focal point of your email content.

11outof11 for Email Marketing

If you need help with personalizing your cold email list marketing campaign or with any other type of email marketing, connect with 11outof11. Request a complimentary call with an 11outof11 expert. Contact us to learn more.