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How Much Does It Cost To Buy an E-Mail List?

Last Updated: April 24, 2023

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Direct marketing through email is a measurable, successful, and cost effective way to increase your brand awareness. You may already possess an email list of customers that you use to promote your business. But, it's additionally possible to piggyback on the marketing research of others and buy an email list. This strategy allows you to reach a base of potential new customers and can provide an excellent return on investment (ROI). This buying guide provides an overview of buying email lists, gives basic pricing information, and puts you in touch with quality email list brokers.

What You Need to Know About Buying an Email List #

For starters, you never actually buy an marketing email list. Instead, you pay email list providers for access to lists that have been acquired via marketing research firms, surveys, and other means. The broker then emails a customized marketing message on your behalf and provides you with information on how many messages are actually opened.

It is in fact possible to purchase email lists that contain up to a million contacts for less than $100. But, while these might seem like a good deal they're actually "junk lists" with names and addresses that have been harvested from web sites. A legit email marketing list is an "opt in" list, containing customers who have chosen to receive email information from companies. Brokers selling these types of lists will obey the Can Spam Act and also allow customers to "opt out" of receiving emails in the future.

In some instances, email list providers grant you unlimited access to a list for a specified time period. They might also sell you an expired list for cheaper, but don't expect a great response rate with this type of list. Finally, in addition to paying for the actual email marketing list there are other costs associated with an email marketing campaign such as email list management and tracking click through rates.

Reasons to Buy Email Lists #

As previously mentioned, an email list purchase is a cost effective means to boost your company's marketing reach, but it can also help your business to:

  • Make adjustments quickly: The click through rates provided by an email advertising broker makes it possible to find out almost immediately how effective your marketing campaign is. Tinker with different approaches�such as contests, newsletters, and surveys�to find out which work best and make changes as needed.
  • Narrow your focus: Focused email lists allow you to select the customer criteria (i.e. age, household income, and purchase history) that are most relevant to your marketing campaign. The more carefully filtered your list is, the better ROI you can potentially achieve.
  • Target multiple audiences simultaneously: While targeted email marketing lists focus on specific groups of consumers, email blasts let you share special deals, upcoming events, and other company information with multiple audiences in a single mailing. For example, you can send different versions of messages to existing customers, new customers, those with strong credit ratings, consumers in a certain area, etc. The possibilities are endless.

Email List Purchase Average Costs #

Most email list providers offer pricing based on the cost per thousand impressions (CPM).

  • To buy an email list with approximately 2,500 to 5,000 names and addresses, you might pay around:

  • $200 to $400 CPM for a consumer list

  • $300 to $600 CPM for a business list

  • The cost of your actual email mailing campaign (that is, the mailing, tracking, management, and other services that are separate from the list itself) might be approximately $500 to $3,000.

Email List Purchase Sample Costs #

Check out what actual businesses paid to buy an email list:

  • Average cost of $1,000 to $1,500 for 10,000 contacts, design, and management
  • Around $1,000 for 10,000 contacts plus distribution
  • Approximately $1,500 for about 40,000 email addresses
  • Average price of $1,500 to $2,000 for around 25,000 contacts and two mailings

Use Our Free Service and Find Mailing List Brokers Near You #

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