Should a small firm buy a lead list?

Usually no. A bought lead list is a spreadsheet of names, job titles and email addresses, and it has three problems: other buyers can get the same list, it goes out of date as people change jobs, and writing to everyone on it treats strangers as a batch. A small firm does better choosing a small number of companies that have a reason to need it.

What do you get when you buy a list?

A file, or access to a database, with a row for each person: name, job title, company, email address, sometimes a phone number. You choose the rows by industry, company size, place and title.

What the list can’t tell you is why any one of those people would want to hear from you this month. It describes who they are, and says nothing about what is happening at their company.

Why are the results usually poor?

• Other buyers have it too. A list that is for sale can be sold again to anyone else. The people on it may already be hearing from other firms that bought the same rows.
• It goes out of date. People change jobs, and companies change. Some of any list is wrong by the time you open it, and you can’t tell which part.
• It invites one email to everyone. With a thousand rows in front of you, the natural next step is one message sent a thousand times. That message has to be general, and the reader can tell.

Is it legal to email a bought list?

In the United States, the CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t make it illegal to email a bought list of business contacts. The responsibility stays with you, though. According to the Federal Trade Commission’s guide, you must honor an opt-out within 10 business days, you can’t sell or pass on the address of someone who has opted out, and you can’t contract away your responsibility for what is sent in your name. A seller’s assurance about its list doesn’t change that.

Other countries have stricter rules. This is general information, not legal advice. There is more in Is cold email legal in the United States?

When is a list useful?

As a directory. If you’ve already chosen a company and need the name or address of the right person there, a database can save you an hour. You look things up one at a time. You don’t write to the whole file.

What should you do instead?

Start from reasons, and let the names follow.

• Pick a small number of companies you’d be glad to work with.
• For each one, look for something that gives it a reason to need you now: a second site, a new line of work, a role it’s hiring for.
• Find the one person there who would care.
• Write to that person about that reason. There is more in How to write to a company you’ve never met.

Each email takes longer this way, and each one has a reason to exist. It is also the work Defrost does for you: we find companies that fit, check for reasons they’d need you, find the right person and write an email in your name, and you approve every email before it goes. Here is what we do.

Questions people ask

Is it illegal to email a bought list in the United States?

The CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t make it illegal to email a bought list of business contacts. You are still responsible for every email sent in your name, and you must stop writing to anyone who opts out. Other countries have stricter rules. This is general information, not legal advice.

Is a list from a well-known data company any different?

It may be more accurate. The limits are the same: other buyers can get the same contacts, people still change jobs, and no list tells you which companies have a reason to need you now.