Welcome to the Murky World of E-mail List Sales

He also recommends being wary of firms that seem to have no presence other than their Web sites.

“Have you met any of these people in person?” Bliss asks. “Have you ever heard of any of them speaking at a show? Have you ever seen them quoted in the trade press? Do you know anybody who's done business with them and will talk about it positively? Can you independently verify the company's claims?

“When I think of the companies I would recommend for any type of e-mail services, you see them at shows. They're exhibiting at conferences.”

Other signs of possible trouble: when the company's Web site doesn't provide identifiable information about its executive team; the seller's e-mail address doesn't match the company name; or the firm's messages come from a free Web-based service, such as Gmail.

“Why aren't they communicating to you from their legitimate domain?” Bliss says. — KM

Be Careful

Buying e-mail names is fraught with danger. Although the Can Spam Act doesn't outlaw unsolicited e-mail, industry best practices require permission and so do Internet service providers.

Moreover, marketers risk getting lists filled with spam traps and bad addresses, a signal to ISPs that a company is spamming. Once you get a reputation as a spammer, ISPs will block your messages from recipients' inboxes.

So exercise extreme caution when prospecting to e-mail files built by other companies.

Legitimately sourced e-mail names are expensive and rare compared with postal names, says Rick Buck, director of e-media and privacy/ISP relations for e-mail service provider e-Dialog. “So even if you can get a list to work, you typically don't have a lot of names to roll out to,” he says.

Buck's first recommendation is to hire a list broker. “There are a bunch of people out there who have been at this for years who know what's good and what's garbage,” he notes.

Buck adds it's imperative for marketers to get documentation on how permission was obtained to contact the names on behalf of other advertisers. Also, the vendor should send the messages, not the advertiser.

“If it's a legitimately sourced list, it looks more credible if [the firm that built the list] mails them and says: ‘Hey, we've got something we think you'll be interested in,” says Buck. “Another reason not to mail the list yourself is if it has a lot of bad addresses, it's your reputation that's going to take the hit.” — KM