Here are all the good reasons why you should pay money for a list of email contacts:
…crickets…
That’s right, there aren’t any.
It’s tempting to think that email is like traditional direct mail — that you can buy a targeted list and be in business.
But it isn’t: every medium is different.
An email inbox feels a lot more like personal property than a postal mailbox does. Having strangers drop things in your inbox is more analagous to having them walk in your front door. I’m afraid we have to get our email contacts the old fashioned way, by earning them.
I was reminded of this when I stumbled across an excellent post on the suhject by Corey Eridon of marketing software maker Hubspot. I’ll let him take it from here.