Buy or rent e-mail address files

There are dozens of companies that sell or rent e-mail address files. These files are most often represented in two main categories: individuals (B to C) and professionals (B to B). They are sometimes segmented according to the age, socio-professional category or postcode of the recipients.

These files are not illegal, but you must contractually ensure that the e-mail addresses used have been collected regularly.
The recipients of these files must have been informed of the transmission of their personal data to third parties at the time of collection.
Furthermore, it should be noted that files for rent are generally of better quality than files for sale. The latter are used by many companies without any control over the frequency of sending.
So beware of overly attractive offers. Thousands, or even millions, of email addresses to be bought at knock-down prices cannot constitute a quality file. There is even a good chance that the file has been collected unfairly.

E-mail rental

Renting, on the other hand, is more advisable. The files to be rented are not sent to the client companies. You select the target group and the service provider takes care of the mailing for you. Generally, these files are up-to-date and used more reasonably. In addition, the recipients have the possibility of unsubscribing from the file managed and held solely by the hirer. The files to be rented are therefore normally made up of people who wish to continue receiving advertising messages.

Pricing for the rental of email addresses

You should know that there are several ways to charge for the rental of an email address file.

For precise targeting

• CPT (cost per thousand): this is the most common and technically simplest form. simple technically. The rate is based on the number of emails sent. The price is expressed per thousand emails sent.
• CPC (cost per click): The rate is based on a fixed cost per click in your emailing. You only pay if the recipients click.

For less precise targeting

• CPL (cost per lead): the hirer is paid on the number of contacts he brings you (prospects), on a quote form for quote form for example.
• CPA (cost per action): the hirer is paid on the sales directly generated by the emailing (fixed rate per sale or percentage of turnover).

Email harvesting software

Several companies have created (paying) software that scans web pages and directories for email addresses. In just a few minutes, these software programs return thousands of email addresses found in the form of a list to be used. This practice may seem tempting, because when you start emailing, the first thing to do is to build up a list of addresses. But you have to be careful with this practice because these programs don't care what kind of email they list for you. They take everything, as much as possible, but prospecting by emailing without prior consent is limited to the B to B sector (excluding communications to individuals) and must only be sent to generic addresses (info@domainname.com, contact®domainname.com). It is therefore strictly forbidden to send communications to email addresses designating natural persons. If you do so, it is spam.