From damaging your reputation to violating rules for email marketers, here are eight answers to the question, “Is it legal to buy email lists?”

• Results in Complaints and Unsubscribes
• Legal but Not Ethical
• Depends on Where and What You Do With It
• Use Inbound Marketing Instead
• It’s Not Worth the Risk
• Nothing Good Will Come From It
• Check Data Protection Laws First
• Might Violate the Can-Spam Act

Results in Complaints and Unsubscribes 

In many countries, email marketing laws require that individuals have explicitly given their consent to receive emails from a company. This means that companies cannot simply purchase email lists from third-party providers and start sending emails to those addresses. 

Buying email lists can also result in a high number of complaints and unsubscribes, which can harm a company’s sender reputation and lead to email deliverability issues in the future. It’s important to note that email lists are often full of outdated or inaccurate email addresses, which can cause bounced emails and other delivery issues. 

Instead of buying email lists, companies should focus on building their own email list organically by offering valuable content and incentives for people to sign up for their email lists. This approach ensures that the individuals on the email list have given their explicit consent to receive emails and are more likely to be engaged with the company’s content and offers.

Mike Schmidt, Civil Trial Law Specialist, Personal Injury Trial Law Specialist, and Civil Trial Specialist, Schmidt & Clark

Legal but Not Ethical

Buying email lists is just a bad idea all around. While it’s not actually illegal to buy email lists, marketing to an audience that never consented to your emails allows them to take legal action. 

In fact, you’re likely to annoy people who never asked to hear from you in the first place, which can actually damage your reputation and turn people off from your business. 

Plus, these lists are often outdated or inaccurate, which means you’re wasting your time and money sending emails to people who may not even exist anymore.

Jess Rodley, Director of Operations, Dialed Labs

Depends on Where and What You Do With the Lists

Can you buy and sell email lists in the US? Sure, there isn’t any law prohibiting that. In the rest of the world, you run into significantly more issues because of GDPR, especially if you try to send marketing emails to the list that you’ve bought. 

That is super illegal and can land you in a lot of hot water. Overall, these days I would caution against buying email lists as they are largely more trouble than they’re worth unless you’re doing something rather niche only in a non-GDPR country.

Dragos Badea, CEO, Yarooms

Use Inbound Marketing Instead

If you’re asking, “Is it legal to buy email lists?” you’re asking the wrong question. What you’re really trying to get at is, “How can I grow my audience and connect with leads that will buy?” 

So, the answer there is to use inbound marketing. By sharing content with your audience, you can rank more highly in search engine listings and build a loyal audience who already knows who you are BEFORE you email them. So, they’re much more likely to respond instead of marking you as spam and moving on to the next email. Build your list, don’t buy your list.

Matthew Stibbe, CEO, Articulate Marketing

It’s not Worth the Risk

After spending years as a marketer, I’ve seen many people tempted by the ease of buying an email list. Yes, it is legal to do so; however, any gain from such a list is likely to be short-lived. 

Without solid proof of the validity and value of the list, most emails will end up in a person’s trash. From my experience, it’s always best to build your own email list from scratch using quality content and promotions and offer valuable information to potential customers—that’s when you’ll see actual progress with your email marketing campaigns.

Lorien Strydom, Executive Country Manager, Financer.com

Nothing Good Will Come From It

No, it is not legal to buy email lists, and it puts your business at risk. It can lead to spam complaints, loss of reputation, and even legal action. Not only is it illegal to buy email lists, but it’s also bad for your business. 

You risk sending out emails to people who haven’t given you permission and don’t want to hear from you. Instead of buying an email list, I’d suggest focusing on building your own. 

Use content marketing and social media to draw in people who are interested in what you offer and are more likely to engage with your brand.

Shaun Connell, Founder, Writing Tips Institute

Check Data Protection Laws First

In many countries, buying email lists is legal, but it is important to note that the legality of purchasing email lists can vary depending on the jurisdiction and the specific circumstances involved. 

Sometimes, the purchase of email lists may violate privacy and data protection laws, particularly if the individuals on the list have not given their consent for their personal information to be used for marketing. In addition, sending marketing emails to individuals who have not given their consent may also violate anti-spam laws.

Dan Johnson, Business Development and Sales Manager, Pearl Scan

Might Violate the Can-Spam Act

The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003, which is extremely comprehensive, offers email users protection and stipulates rules for email marketers in the United States. 

The CAN-SPAM Act imposes stringent restrictions on unwanted emails, although it does not outright forbid the purchase of email lists. You could incur fines of more than $43,000 for violations. Be aware that you can experience similar problems with the CASL Act and the GDPR if you send emails the same way in Canada or Europe.

Inga Broerman, VP of Marketing, BluLogix

From between 6 to 10 words to 7 words being the ‘sweet spot’, here are 12 answers to the question, “What is the ideal length of an email subject line?”

• Between 6 to 10 Words
• No More Than 9 Words 
• As Long as It’s Not Cut Off
• There is No Ideal Length
• Use Emoji to Reduce Characters in Subject Line
• It Needs to All Be Visible On Mobile Phones
• 25-30 Characters
• Short and Sweet
• Conduct Split Testing to Determine Your Answer
• Ask a Question and keep it Under 50 Characters 
• Between 40-60 Characters
• 7 Words is The Sweet Spot 

Between 6 to 10 Words

The ideal length of an email subject line is between 6 to 10 words, or about 50 characters. This length ensures that the subject line is short enough to be displayed fully on most devices, while still providing enough information for the recipient to understand the purpose of the email. 

Longer subject lines may be truncated, causing important information to be omitted, while shorter subject lines may lack sufficient detail to entice the recipient to open the email. The best subject lines are clear, concise, and to the point, and they should accurately reflect the content of the email.

Ilija Sekulov, Marketing and SEO, Mailbutler

No More Than 9 Words Or 60 Characters

The main goal with an email subject line is to make sure everything you want said is captured on the page, regardless of which view, browser, or device your targeted reader is using. If we’re looking at mobile email browsers in particular, 60 characters is the absolute maximum that will typically be visible before the rest of the content fades and users will need to make an extra click to read the rest. Going longer than that is a waste of effort, as it will not be read–the email will work or not based on the first visible segment.

Dragos Badea, CEO, Yarooms

As Long as It’s Not Cut Off

The most important thing is that the subject line doesn’t get cut off in the reader’s view of the unread email that shows up in their inbox. Luckily, you can send yourself a test email to see whether or not this happens. If your subject line is too long and the reader can only see some of it before they open the email, they may not even bother opening it.

Drew Sherman, Director of Marketing and Communications, RPM

There is No Ideal Length

Do things that others aren’t doing, whether that’s creating really short subject lines or really long ones–there’s value in a subject line that looks different from the many others in a person’s inbox. Don’t focus too much on the character count, but rather do whatever you feel will allow you to connect with your recipients.

There are no concrete rules in terms of subject line lengths that are the most ideal. If your subject lines are longer, include the most relevant parts at the beginning. Test varying lengths with your audience to get a better feel for what best resonates with them. In the meantime, focus more on offering value rather than the length of your email subject lines.

Dakota McDaniels, Chief Product Officer, Pluto

Use Emoji to Reduce Characters in Subject Line

The ideal length of an email subject line is typically 40-50 characters, and should accurately convey the content of the message. An uncommon example would be utilizing an emoticon to provide a simple yet effective representation of the contents. Using such emoji or symbol allows for a considerable reduction in character counts while still impacting readers on an emotional level.

Kate Duske, Editor in Chief, Escape Room Data

It Needs to All Be Visible On Mobile Phones

The ideal length of an email subject line is generally considered to be between 41-50 characters. This allows the subject line to be concise and to the point while still providing enough information to entice the recipient to open the email.

However, it’s important to note that the ideal length can vary depending on the audience and the content of the email. For example, a subject line for a promotional email might benefit from being shorter and more attention-grabbing, while a subject line for a newsletter might be more effective if it’s longer and more descriptive.

Ultimately, the most important factor is to ensure that the subject line accurately reflects the content of the email and encourages the recipient to take action. Lastly, there are some excellent tools out there allowing you to check how effective your subject line will be; my favorite is most definitely: SubjectLine.com, which scores your effectiveness out of 100 and works really well.

Shane McEvoy, MD, Flycast Media

25-30 Characters

25-30 characters is ideal, because it caters to the growing number of people who open emails on mobile devices. Thus, if a sizable portion of your target audience is using mobile devices, then it is in all parties’ best interest if you use shorter subject lines. Otherwise, you run the risk of users seeing an abbreviated version of your subject line, which could automatically decrease their interest.

Andrew Chen, Chief Product Officer, Videeo

Short and Sweet

The sole purpose of an email subject line is to be straightforward and outline exactly what the email will entail. This doesn’t mean a description of exactly what the content includes, but more of a clue, question, or hint as to what the reader should expect. The language used should be attention-grabbing and be no more than 9 words long.

Annie Everill, Digital Marketing Executive, Imaginaire

Conduct Split Testing to Determine Your Answer

The answer to the question about email subject line length can vary wildly. Some studies have mentioned a 7-word subject line, while others cite a 1-5 word subject line.

It’s important to remember that each person and audience segment is different, so split testing is vital to determine your brand’s specific answer. For example, I tend to open emails with shorter subject lines. It might be because the email looks more personal, which is a big thing in our highly digitized world. It’s important to keep in mind who your audience is, what they want, and how they interact with your brand.

To determine the ideal length for your audience, try split testing different subject line lengths and tracking the engagement. This will give you valuable insights into what works best for your audience, allowing you to optimize your email campaigns for maximum impact.

Axel DeAngelis, Founder, Jumpcoast

Ask a Question and keep it Under 50 Characters 

A good rule of thumb is to keep subject lines under 50 characters and make sure you are including relevant information that catches readers’ attention or asking a question!

A business offering an online course could use a simple subject like “Grow Your Career with Our Online Course,” which is shorter than 50 characters but still conveys what the recipient can expect from opening the email.

On the other hand, longer subject lines can also work if done correctly. For instance, saying “Grow Your Career Now – Learn Industry-Leading Digital Marketing Skills in Our Online Course” gives a better idea of what they will find when they open the email.

My last sneaky tactic to make sure I get the email opened on cold outreach is to include a personal question in the title, such as “Hey Sarah, is this true?” That is a surefire way to make sure to get the email opened.

Stephanie Jenkins, Founder, Stephanie Jenkins Photo

Between 40-60 Characters

Take a look at your email inbox on your laptop or PC and make a note of the subject lines that quickly grab your attention. Now, do the same on your mobile. If the same emails catch your eye and have you convinced that they have indeed gotten the length of their subject line right, go ahead and count out the number of characters.

Let me cut it short for you – in all probability, the number of characters in these subject lines is between 40 and 60. This is the ideal length for two reasons. One, a subject line of this length is easily visible across devices, and secondly, this rule guides you into delivering the topic of your email in a quick and impactful manner.

Ariav Cohen, VP of Marketing and Sales, Proprep

7 Words is The Sweet Spot 

Most email service providers recommend a short subject line. To optimize your email subject line for mobile devices, a recommended subject line length would be no more than 9 words or 60 characters.

A study done by Marketo suggested that the sweet spot for subject lines is 41 characters or 7 words. Make sure the subject line is unique and catchy, and work in a personal name if possible.

Chris Brooks, Senior SEO Specialist, Vervini

What is the most common mistake brands make with their email marketing campaigns?

To help you identify common mistakes with email marketing campaigns, we asked marketing professionals and business leaders this question for their best advice. From not ignoring email personalization and data to including a strong call-to-action, there are several do’s and don’ts that may help you conduct effective email marketing campaigns for your business.

Here are 12 do’s and don’ts of email marketing:

• Don’t Ignore Email Personalization and Data
• Make Emails Natural and Avoid Branding
• Don’t Neglect Mobile Users
• Allow Users Control Over Their Subscriptions
• Avoid Spelling and Grammar Mistakes
• Don’t be Desperate for Engagement
• Test Your Email Content for Effectiveness
• Avoid Obnoxious Subject Lines
• Do Not Use Black Hat Techniques
• Make Your Emails Load Fast
• Don’t Leave Out The Value When You Email
• Include a Strong Call-To-Action

Don’t Ignore Email Personalization and Data

The most common mistake brands make with their email marketing campaigns is that they do not work on email personalization and don’t rely on data when setting up email campaigns. This results in low open rates, high unsubscribe rates, and high spam complaint rates. To avoid making this mistake, brands should focus on email personalization and use data to segment their email lists. This will help them send more relevant and targeted emails that are more likely to be opened and clicked on. Additionally, brands should also use data to track the performance of their email campaigns so they can continually optimize and improve them.

Iryna Kutnyak, Quoleady

Make Emails Natural and Avoid Excessive Branding 

The first step for a successful email campaign is that people open your email. Second, people need to start reading your content. This sounds easy, but in reality, companies fail on precisely these two steps. Why? Because the email is recognized as an advertisement right away. Email is the one channel where the brand does not help. 

People read emails from people. We consider emails from a company (especially if we do not know them well) as spammy. Therefore, do not brand your emails. Do not use HTML markups too much. Do not try to deliver a shiny brand experience. Instead, mimic how a natural person would write. Just plain text and probably an image. Keep it short. Do not include multiple topics. Just send out the one fact you want to convey without much background noise. People will appreciate reading information. Not an advert.

Stephan Wenger, B2B Marketing World

Don’t Neglect Mobile Users

One common mistake brands make with their email marketing campaigns is neglecting mobile users. If someone cannot read an email at a glance, they will likely simply not read it period. Having messy or warped content anywhere in the preview can put people off from reading an email out of fear it is spam or malware too. Always remember that text, graphics, etc. look different on a computer screen, versus a phone screen.

Tony Chan, CloudForecast

Allow Users Control Over Their Subscriptions

One of the worst email marketing mistakes your company can make is limiting the control users have over their settings. Let your users manage their subscriptions and give them the chance to choose the type of content they want to receive. Not assuming that all of your customers want to sign up for all your emails or newsletters shows them that you care about their preferences and helps you keep them interested. Your customers should feel excited when they get one of your emails, not annoyed.

John Cheng, Baotris

Avoid Spelling and Grammar Mistakes

Simple spelling and grammar mistakes. I just don’t trust a brand when they send me marketing emails and I catch easy spelling and grammatical errors. The company loses my trust immediately because it shows me they don’t respect their customers. If a company can’t put the time and effort into doing a simple spelling and grammar check, why should I expect them to put time and effort into their product, or customer satisfaction? If a company doesn’t respect their customers, why should customers respect them?

Karim Hachem, Sunshine79

Don’t be Desperate for Engagement

You know that feeling you get when you walk into a furniture store and a salesman rushes you before you’ve even had a chance to get your bearings? Don’t be that. There are few bigger turn-offs to email list subscribers than being bombarded with front loaded content. Lambasting consumers with emails right after they sign up for your email listing are surefire ways to get labeled as spam in their minds. And we all know where spam goes. Don’t be desperate for engagement. Design your email flow to be conscious of your readers’ time and personal agency. It’s always better to have one email over a six that got tossed in the trash bin.

Alex Chavarry, Cool Links

Test Your Email Content for Effectiveness

We see many brands fail to test how effective their content converts their users. Use split testing methods to make sure the emails you send to generate leads or convert sales are using effective content to do so. Each target audience reacts differently to branded content. The best way for your business to know what they’re using as marketing content is effective is to test the content against other variations until they have optimal results. When you don’t test your content, you make a shot in the dark. To get the best ROI for your business, invest in strategic marketing testing to ensure your business can do what it’s made to do.

Kevin Miller, kevinmiller.com

Avoid Obnoxious Subject Lines

Obnoxious subject lines will deflate any email marketing campaign. Even the best products and promotions don’t stand a chance with consumers if the marketing campaign does not get its foot in the door. Annoying subject lines will get that door shut in an instance. Effective subject lines should peak the curiosity of the target audience and avoid utilizing a salesy tone. Consumers do not want to be sold over email. Email sales pitches equal spam in their mind. A true value add that is visible from the subject will grab the attention of customers. Every effective marketer should also consider testing subject lines in order to see what resonates with their customer base.

Katy Carrigan, Goody

Do Not Use Black Hat Techniques

When talking about email marketing campaigns, most mistakes fall within the category of black hat techniques for improving visibility online. One common mistake that we have experienced is adding people to newsletters that they haven’t signed up for, as well as buying subscribers. These practices might seem like they increase the reach at first glance, but can be very dangerous and harm the authenticity and legitimacy of your email marketing campaigns. This is so due to the fact that as a result of this practice, your emails will be sent to the “spam” folder, and consequently place the connection between your brand and the spam folder for the people that receive those emails. Make sure you avoid that, and only use white hat techniques to improve web traffic and brand visibility, as there are many ways to promote a successful email campaign.

Marco Genaro Palma, Genaro Palma

Make Your Emails Load Fast

If you’re sending an email to a customer or potential customer, make it a priority to create one that loads within two seconds or less of clicking. If a customer has decided to open your email, you only have seconds to make an impression. This shouldn’t mean that you stuff your email with heavy visual content like stock images and videos to a point where it affects the loading speed., set a cap on the number of images used and compress the media as much as possible to get the best of both – a shorter load time and an attractive email. Furthermore, you can consider using impactful content that grabs and keeps the attention of the recipient instead.

Igal Rubinshtein, Home Essentials Direct

Don’t Leave Out The Value When You Email

Marketing campaigns often include promotions that are content-rich, as we wish to entice our target audience by offering value, but somehow, many businesses make the mistake of removing that element in their email marketing efforts. It is important to understand that your business has more than products to offer your customers, it has knowledge and expertise. By designing your email to offer value, whether it is answering questions, providing the latest industry information, or offering helpful tips, you will motivate your customers to open your email. Neglecting to do this, and limiting them solely to advertisement status, will have your quickly losing interest, and you will see your open rates decline, as well as your subscribers.

Anthony Puopolo, Rex MD

Include a Strong Call-To-Action

Many brands neglect to include a strong Call to Action in their email marketing campaigns. One of the necessary components of driving good conversions through email marketing is including a colorful, ‘loud’ request to users to progress through the sales funnel. The best CTA’s pop out from an email, usually in blue, red, or orange, to get users’ attention about a product’s value. When the next steps to buying or browsing a product get lost in the content of a marketing email, businesses lose out on conversions due to expecting users to work harder than they likely will. 

The key to driving the best conversions is to use obvious CTA’s that make progressing through the sales funnel as easy as possible for users. Focus on your emails’ visual appeal and plant strategic CTA’s that grab users’ attention.

Shawn Munoz, Pure Relief

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