Signs that an E-mail Deal Smells

So you’re sitting there at work one day doing whatever it is you do and an e-mail arrives from someone you’ve never met claiming to be a data vendor offering you millions of records including e-mail addresses.

The rep wants to schedule a conference call to discuss a possible deal. Moreover, the rep is offering you 100 free records to prove his or her data’s quality.

You’ve never heard of this person or the company he or she claims to represent. The firm named in the e-mail has never exhibited at any of the tradeshows you frequent and its representatives have not taken part in conference panel discussions. Not that you know of, anyway.

Should you do business with an unknown firm offering millions of compiled e-mail addresses? Don’t answer. That was rhetorical.

A compiled e-mail list will undoubtedly contain spam traps. Mail to it and you risk getting labeled as a spammer and blocked from getting your messages delivered.

Last year, this newsletter ran a series of articles about marketers claiming they had been ripped off in bad e-mail list deals.

As the stories began to appear, people started forwarding prospecting messages they had received from would-be data sellers—my inbox is now full of them—and asking if the messages looked fishy to me. Many did.

Moreover, some patterns began to emerge. Many of the messages were constructed similarly and contained telltale signs they were coming from the same, or a related outfit.

As a result, I decided to throw some tips together of some warning signs that should make you wary of an e-mail deal. Here they are:

*The rep is pitching you from a Gmail account or has an e-mail address that doesn’t contain a version of his or her company’s name. Why would an executive from a legitimate vendor not have a company e-mail address?

*The vendor will not send messages on your behalf to the list they’re repping. It’s an indication their servers may be blacklisted as sources of spam and they can’t get their e-mail into recipients’ inboxes.

*The prospecting pitch contains no physical address, or if it does, the address turns out to be a rented mailbox or a mail-forwarding service. A suite number that is too high to be an actual office address is an indication the rep is operating out of a rented mailbox. Also, it’s fairly easy to do a Google search on an address. If it’s a P.O. box, the box-rental company will appear in the results. In larger cities, Google Maps will return a photo of the address. Take a look at the neighborhood. Does it look like a place out of which a major data seller would operate?

*The company wants full payment up front. Anyone who has ever dealt with a contractor knows never to pay 100% up front. If things go bad you have no recourse. Half down is appropriate.

*The company’s Web site offers no identifiable details about its executive team, such as where they went to school or where they have worked.

Bottom line: If the deal smells funny. Walk away. There are plenty of reputable vendors out there.