Warming up cold leads

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone had advice around list purchase data. In a perfect world they data wouldn't exist in my database, or duplicates, so I'm working on both of these issues. I've a heard a few things and would like all of your thoughts:

1. Send emails via a different automated system (downside your sender name can be hurt in the process)

2. Workspaces - split out this data so it's separated from your other data (today I have them in a smart list I call "temporary exclude" so they don't get our everyday emails only ones I specifically want these lists to receive

3. Develop best practices around list acquisitions - I'm working on this team as we noticed someone recently gave us a list with competitors on it

Does anyone else have best practices or suggestions?

Best,

Kelley

[Phillip_Wild]

Hi Kelley

Purchased lists can be tricky. While there is no doubt damage to your sender reputation (through spam scores) by sending to these lists, they potentially could still generate a positive ROI. Potentially!

On your points:

1. Any time you send off the same IP to these cold leads you will be hurting your reputation - which in turn will reduce the deliverability of your other sends. You could always purchase an additional IP from Marketo (or use another IP outside of Marketo) which will mitigate this issue.

2. Workspaces - I'm not so familiar with this but a speaker mentioned at Summit it was a good way to segment these leads and ensure they are treated separately.

3. Best practices - not sure exactly what you mean here to be honest. By definition, purchased lists are not best practice since the leads won't have opted in specifically to your communications. While potentially legal, it's never ideal.

As a side note, you could always upload the list to Facebook and use it as a custom audience, and drive to a Marketo landing page for requalification. That would ensure only the qualified leads are being marketed to, but would get your message in front of the list. However, Facebook generally has about a 50% match rate in my opinion, so the other half won't ever see your message.

I hope this helps!

Phil

[Roxann_McGlump1]

Hi Kelley,

Use of purchased lists is against Marketo terms of service (Marketo Use Policy ) so I would strongly recommend that you not use them.  If you are going to use them, then you would need to do an opt-in pass asking leads to fill out a form to consent to receiving emails from you.  If they don't opt-in, you would need to refrain from emailing them.

[Carmi_Lopez-Jo1 · Accepted solution]

Hi Kelley.  As Roxann McGlumphy noted, this is a violation of our use policy;  We have some recommendations in this article Best Practices for Purchased Data​which include:

• Generate personalized URLs and send to purchased leads by postal mail
• Use purchased data to fill in additional details about leads who only provide an email address at the time of opt in - this makes for great targeting!
• When operating in a small market of known leads, purchased data can be useful for research purposes to track information about your target market
• Purchased leads can be contacted by phone to obtain email permission.

It is important to note that purchased lists may also pose a risk of reputational damage as they tend to generate a higher rate of complaints, invalid addresses and spam trap hits, all of which can result in your mail delivering to spam folders or being blocked.

[Anonymous]

Carmi Lopez-Jones, per your 4th bullet point: you're saying people would rather get an unsolicited phone call than an unsolicited email? I'd like to hear rationale around that.

[SanfordWhiteman]

They may not "rather" get a call, but it may be illegal to contact a person via email (and, even if not illegal, can result in sweeping damage to your sender reputation), while as long as the call is not covered by the Do-Not-Call list, the risk is minor.