Should you buy an email list?

Generally, no—buying an email list is rarely beneficial and often harms your email marketing in the long run. Here’s why:

1. Low engagement and high unsubscribe rates

• Since people on a purchased list haven’t opted in, they’re less likely to engage with your content. This often results in low open rates, high unsubscribe rates, and a risk of your emails being marked as spam. Such low engagement can damage your sender reputation, impacting your entire mail program​.

2. Compliance and legal risks

• Email marketing laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM require you to have permission before sending emails. Purchased lists don’t meet these requirements and could lead to fines or other legal consequences if users report your emails as spam. Compliance is crucial to avoid penalties and maintain a positive brand reputation​.

3. Spam traps and blacklisting

• Purchased lists often contain outdated, invalid, or even fake addresses set up by ESPs as spam traps. Hitting a spam trap can lead to blacklisting, which is difficult to reverse and harms deliverability for future emails sent from your domain​.

4. Impact on deliverability

• Low engagement and high complaint rates harm deliverability, meaning future emails are less likely to reach inboxes. Purchased lists tend to result in high bounce rates, which is monitored by ESPs and impacts your sender reputation.

Alternatives to buying an email list:

• Focus on organic list-building techniques, like offering valuable lead magnets, using social media, and optimizing website sign-up forms. Building a list this way may take longer, but it ensures better engagement and compliance.
• Verify any collected emails with tools like EmailListVerify to maintain a clean, high-quality list, improving your sender reputation and deliverability over time.

In short, building an organic list is the way to go. It may take time, but it creates lasting value, keeps you compliant, and leads to healthier engagement overall.