Build Your Email List via Sponsored Mailings but Not Email List Rental

It's tempting to dramatically increase the size of your mailing list by renting records that are portrayed as "double opt-in registrants who are willing to receive email offers from organizations like yours." The trouble is that these rented lists may include spam-trap seeds. (Many self-appointed sheriffs set-up dummy email addresses in the hopes of receiving and exposing unsolicited email.) If you're caught sending even a single email to a spam-trap address, your mail server may get blacklisted. Depending on your mail server set-up, that could affect both your bulk email and individual email. (You'll hate having to explain to the Chairman of the Board why his email won't get delivered to his colleague with a Yahoo address.)

As an alternative to list rental, try sponsored mailings instead. Ask organizations with like-minded recipients to send to their own list an invitation to subscribe to your mailing list. (To get a decent response rate, you'll need to offer an incentive in return for the subscription.) The benefit of this technique is that spam complaints and blacklisting, if any, are likely to be directed toward the mailer, not you. Thus, you will be able to grow your mailing list while limiting the risks associated with list rental.

Note: Don't pay a flat rate. Instead, try to structure the mailing sponsorship so that you pay only for performance, such as 75 cents per new (i.e., unduplicated) double opt-in subscriber to your mailing list. That way, you only pay for successful registrations, transferring low-response and duplication risk to the list owner and mailer.