SEARCHING FOR QUALITY MARKETING LISTS

Featured Sections:

1. How much does a list cost?
2. Check the quality of a list so that your company does not get blacklisted.
3. Compare lists, and the selects available.
4. Overview of some TOP responding email lists.
5. Industry Leaders comment on why quality marketing lists are a necessity.

"Data Marketing has become one of the best and cost-effective ways to create a nurturing campaign to engage with customers. Marketing lists allow you to segment and differentiate between targeting your audience and then delivering the most appropriate message to the appropriate group, driving the best results."     Amy Miller, Director, Digital Engagement,"    Informa

Click to see more comments from Industry Leaders in Section 5↓

#1 How Much Does A List Cost?

The owner of the data dictates the pricing of a list, so the cost varies depending on Industry, Selections, Geo, and, most importantly the Type of List: Email - Postal - Telemarketing. The advertised price on most lists is on cost per thousand bases (noted /M). If working with a list broker, they can generally negotiate a lower price based on the volume they do with each vendor.

Before reviewing prices, you must make sure you are comparing apples-to-apples.

You can buy thousands of records for around $100. But, wait before you get excited, these files are a combination of records harvested from unknown sources and are not permission-based, they are considered "JUNK LISTS". Often, the people on these lists have not given their consent to be listed or opted-in. Continue reading because, in the next section, there will be more information on how to determine safe lists.  

If the Price is too low, the data is most likely old or illegally gathered.

There are 3 ways to buy/rent data:

• 1 year Lease of Data: Pricing: $300/M - $400/M Worldwide data.  A 1-year lease allows you to use the data for 12 months on an unlimited basis. Due to GDPR some listowners will only supply generic emails, so make sure you confirm that before ordering.  Here are some of the data fields you will receive information on: Company name, Job Function, Full Postal address, Phone No., Email where available, Website URL, Primary Industry, Head Office, Employee Size, and Revenue. This data is phone verified regularly by individuals in English speaking countries.
• Outright Purchase: There are a few vendors that might allow you to purchase postal and email data, but this is not the norm in the data industry. This pricing varies a great deal from $100/M to $1,000/M, it all depends on the type of data (postal, phones, email) you want to receive, and how many selects (job title, job function, employee size, etc.) you specify. 
  
   
• Renting Data For a One-Time/Multiple Use: With this option, a client rents the data for 1-3x use on their chosen dates. We encourage our clients to use this option since it allows companies the most flexibility in planning a marketing campaign. A client can rent lists from multiple sources pulling different selects and test them against each other.
  
  

There are 2 main types of lists - Compiled & Response:

Compiled lists are a combination of records from a variety of different sources. For example, - Dun & Bradstreet, Hoover, and ZoomInfo. Some compiled lists are sold on a monthly subscription basis, but they do not give you the flexibility to test different industry-specific files to see which are the best for your offer.

The pricing below is based on one-time use.      

Compiled Email List Prices: $ 40/M - $425/M         

Compiled Postal List Prices: $ 65/M - $375/M

Response lists are a combination of individuals from Industry-specific publishers/magazines and conference companies who have responded to a specific offer and have opted-in to receive 3rd party promotions. These lists are a valuable asset to the owner because they use the same files for their internal promotions. The owners will never release the email addresses to an advertiser. Instead, the advertiser's HTML must be sent to them so they can do the email deployment, and the postal list delivered to a bonded mail house.   

Response Email List Prices: $ 300/M - $500/M Worldwide,   

Response Postal List Prices: $ 150/M - $325/M Worldwide

The minimum on each list varies, but most vendors use a 5,000 record minimum.

As mentioned above, we highly recommend renting data for one-time use. Start with a small test, analyze results, and change selects to improve responses on later marketing campaigns. Once you have a good understanding of your specific audience or ideal target, the your ROI will be.

Back to top of page >

“For our company, our data is as much our product as our content itself is. Advertisers not only choose to spend their advertising dollar with us because it will appear alongside quality, timely, and industry-pertinent information but also because they know that their message is getting into the right hands. When they rent an email list or advertise in one of our publications, they can expect that it will reach people interested in hearing from our industry partners. We have clean, quality data, and that makes the difference.”     Rachel Chapman, Audience Development Manager,     Document Magazine |  Mailing Systems Technology  |  Parcel Magazine  |  Personal Fitness Professional Magazine

Most of you have probably received an email that looks just like this, several times a week -Have you ever tried to figure out the source of the list?

Have you ever asked them if the file is opted-in and compliant with regulations worldwide?   

I have asked these questions and never got a straight answer.  One time the person asked me, What is opt-in?

STAY AWAY FROM FILES LIKE THIS

#2 - How To Check The Quality Of A Marketing List To Make Sure It Enhances Your Brand.

Before you go ahead to rent or purchase a marketing list, you must do your research to ensure that the file you intend to use is compliant and opted-in. This research is critical because you must be sure the list complies with the regulations of individual U.S. States and Countries worldwide. Reputable list vendors will always get permission from each individual on their list that they would like to receive 3rd party promotions about products and services that may be of interest to them. You are not allowed to harvest a list; meaning gather information from public sources. 

To protect your brand and confirm you are doing everything legally, you must know the following about each list you are thinking about using.  

• Source of the list - How did the people end-up on the list?
• Did they consent/opt-in to receive 3rd party messages?
• When was the list last cleaned and updated?
• How old is the file?
• Is the list being whitelisted under different names?
• Who holds the records, and are they doing proper hygiene maintenance?

When working with reputable vendors, they will be able to answer these questions quickly and give you backup information to support their answers. Quality list vendors understand the importance of keeping clean, updated data. They are not interested in one-off sales but about building a relationship by having a list that will produce the leads needed to reach your marketing goals.

If you are using email lists, you must make sure you have answers to all the questions above so that your company does not get Blacklisted.

For clarification, a blacklist is a list of IP addresses and domains that get classified as sending spam. Companies use blacklists to prevent spam messages from getting into the inboxes. Thus if your company domain gets Blacklisted and labeled as a spammer, it will be tough to get any emails delivered. To have your company removed from a blacklist, you will need to find out why your company domain got listed and try to fix it . Every blacklist has different steps you will need to do to get your company removed.

Spamhaus is the leading company tracking email spammers and spam-related activity. This banner from Spamhaus illustrates how messages go into the inbox or spam folder after passing through the blacklist. 

When using external lists you need to know the following information to make sure the file is good to use and will reach your target audience.

• Determine the Source of any list you want to use. How are people added to the list, what actions they take and what information did they supply?
• Did they subscribe to a magazine, did they pay for the magazine or did they have to qualify to receive it? Review the qualification form, which will show what selection criteria are available on the list. If the magazine is given out to every Tom, Dick, and Harry stay away from it.
• Did they sign up for a newsletter, is it free, and did they give any other details that would specify title, industry, and buying influence. If the newsletter is free and the subscriber did not provide any information about themselves, it normally will not respond well because the list can not be segmented and is too broad.
• Did they attend a conference, how much did they pay to attend, and what questions do they answer upon registration? If anyone can enter the conference for free and does not give out any details about themselves, stay away from it.  Free shows are notorious for bringing in people who are just looking for free giveaways.
• Where is the list stored? Once you have all the answers to the above questions, confirm who is responsible for keeping it cleaned and updated regularly.

Lists that have criteria that the individual selected will always respond better because the information is more accurate and up-to-date.

Think about the last time you subscribed to a magazine or signed-up to attend a conference.   If you are paying $2000 + to attend a conference you are going to spend some time answering the questions accurately so that you get the most out of the show.  Quality conference files normally respond very well. 

Publications and conferences are usually straight forward about the titles they are advertised under. With Compiled files, you have to do a bit more digging because several compilers will allow list managers to whitelist the file under any name they choose. You want to make sure you do not rent duplicate data, so ask a lot of questions about the origin of the file and make sure it is the cleanest data. If you can find a quality compiled list it will be a great way to test different audiences without breaking the bank. 

Do your research or ask your List broker because they usually have a compiled list in-house that has been vetted and works well for a variety of offers. 

This research is very time-consuming but vital for your brand. Regularly talk with the list vendors to discuss their best performing lists. They can provide valuable feedback on what is working well for other advertisers. List brokers can help in this area since they regularly meet with list vendors to keep updated on the highest quality and best performing lists.

   To summarize, here are a few things to watch out for -

1. If the price for the data is low, then the list is probably not a quality file.
2. The list supplier is willing to release their email data to you. *** Reputable vendors will not release their email addresses to advertisers because it is a valuable company asset.
3. Selling of a conference attendee list before the conference takes place.
4. If the vendor does not have clear answers on the source of the data and if each record is opted-in and compliant.

Communicate regularly with list suppliers or ask your List Broker to check in with list owners to make sure they are doing their due diligence in keeping everything up-to-date and compliant.

For example, if you are doing an email campaign, check the OPEN rates against past results and make sure you don’t see a sudden drop-off. Any drastic changes could be a sign the publisher has changed the way they are collecting the data. Monitor and analyze each marketing campaign and ask questions if you see some unpredictable results.

Back to top of page >

Download PDF of Marketing List Guide

#3 Compare Lists And Selects Available.

Every Business list has different selection criteria to choose from.

Compiled lists are a combination of general information from yellow pages, directories, and various sources. These sources have general select criteria available - Title, SIC code / NAICS code, Industry, Employee Size, Revenue, Geography. If you can find a good clean compiled list, it can be great for reaching particular industries within specific geographical regions. Example: Reaching Pharmaceutical Manufacturers in NJ and MA.

Response lists contain people who signed up for a magazine, attended a conference, or became a member of an association. The selects available on a file are questions asked on the qualification or registration form. 

Some response lists can help you target people that have specified they are interested in what you have to offer. Magazine subscription forms will have subscribers fill out Purchasing Authority select that indicates what items they will be interested in purchasing.

Here are the purchasing selects available on Mailing System Technology Magazine list.

When looking to see if lists can reach your target audience preview Media Kits, Qualifications Forms and Data Cards. 

Click the links to see the different data cards for these Lists and the selects they offer -

Compiled Lists -

• Business Executive Database
• GV Business Executives - Worldwide

Response Lists -

• American Machinist Magazine
• Beverage Industry Magazine
• BioProcess International Magazine
• Document Magazine
• FMA Communications
• Heat Treat Today
• Informa Connect Industrial Manufacturing
• LabX Magazine
• Logistics Management
• Personal Fitness Professional Magazine
• SMT Today
• Society of Manufacturing Engineers
• Transportation Email List - Terrapinn Conference

There are over 60,000 + lists available to rent.

Above is a sample of different marketing lists available with numerous and varied criteria that can be selected when the listowner is pulling a list together.

If there is a specific select you want and you don’t see it, talk with the list owner or your list broker because they might know a different way to reach those people.  Some publishers / conference companies will even give suggestions of other sources to look at. 

Here are the reasons, reputable publishers and conference companies understand the importance of being honest and making sure you are only targeting people interested in your offer. 

1. They want to make sure your campaign yields a good response.
2. They do not want to bombard their list with irrelevant offers.
3. They will only do things that will help grow this valuable asset.

Back to top of page >

"When looking for marketing sources to promote our auction and equipment sale events, I focus on purchasing advertising from trade publications and highly-reputable organizations with opt-in audiences where we can target by specific job functions and industry classifications. At Hilco Industrial, we rely heavily on marketing analytics from our website to measure engagement, lead conversion, and ROI on all of our marketing efforts. This allows us to compare the efficacy of sources against each other and determine which ones are worth purchasing in the future. Quality sources from reliable trade publications have substantially better outcomes and are imperative to our success as marketers."     Ania Caprio,  VP of Marketing,   Hilco Industrial

#4 Overview Of Some Top Responding Lists

Recommendations are made based on what lists will reach your audience, previous tracking history, and budget. When you have a time-sensitive offer, you will have to consider how fast the List vendor can process a list order. Most List brokers know which files can be processed quickly to make sure the campaign stays on schedule.

Below are the lists that have had the BEST response rates by verticals, so far this year. These details will regularly be updated as new successful tracking comes in.  

Reported Below:
List Name - Click Thru Rate

(calculated from the number of emails sent)

Industry: Beverage/Food

• Baker & Biscuit Magazine - 7.35%
• BevNet Magazine - 6.37%
• Dairy Foods Magazines - 4.90%

Industry: Biotechnology / Pharmaceutical

• BioProcess International - 5.20%
• LabX - 4.59%
• Pharma Intelligence - 6.30%
• Terrapinn Life Science Conferences - 4.89%

Industry: Metalworking

• Foundry Management & Technology - 4.33%
• Metalforming Magazine - 5.29%
• Stamping Journal - 5.08%

Industry: Energy

• Informa Connect Energy - 5.35%
• National Driller - 3.25%

Industry: Transportation

• Bulk Transporter Magazine - 7.33%
• Bus & Motorcoach News - 7.75%
• Informa Connect Maritime, Shipping & Transport - 8.70%
• Mass Transit Magazine - 3.28%

Other Industries:

• Chemical Processing Magazine - 4.60%
• Game & Developer - 9.66%
• GV Business - 10.33%
• Laser Focus World - 4.49%
• Mining Magazine - 6.22%

Keep in mind the response rates reported above are World Innovators’ orders placed for various clients. Every campaign must be analyzed on its own merits because there are so many different variables that come into play. Marketing is all about testing, and even when you find something that works, you must regularly review and analyze the results.

With people getting hit with marketing messages at every turn, it is important that you target the right audience with an offer that will benefit them in some way. It is tough to reach your marketing goals with one-off promotions, so we strongly recommend talking to vendors about Multi-channel or Multi-frequency campaigns.

Sending people multiple messages allows you to nurture them into becoming a lead with a stronger chance of converting to a buyer.

Here are some packages that have worked well 

• Postal campaign + Email that hits after the postal piece is received.
• 3 x email blast - HTML w/ images & Short personalized note.
• Email blast and then send a postal piece to the people that open.
• Email blast and E-newsletter Banner

Always ask vendors what packages have worked best with their subscribers. In all of these package arrangements, spacing of the promotions is crucial. 

Too close together, you look like a stalker.

Too far apart, you lose the momentum of a multiple touch campaign.

Before you start any marketing campaign, sit down, and set-up a cohesive strategy that will help each touch build off the last and nurture your prospect into becoming a buyer.

Be authentic in your messaging and make it educational and appealing.

This is where a reputable list broker can be a valuable asset by finding you the appropriate lists and providing guidance on your marketing piece.

Back to top of page >

#5 Why Quality Marketing Lists Are a Necessity.

Here are comments from industry leaders on how quality marketing lists can help bring in a steady flow of marketing qualified leads.

"Reaching the right audience is essential for marketing to be effective. With any investment in marketing materials it is critical to pair it with high-quality lists." Catherine J. Himberg, Harvard Kennedy School

“For our company, our data is as much our product as our content itself is. Advertisers not only choose to spend their advertising dollar with us because it will appear alongside quality, timely, and industry-pertinent information but also because they know that their message is getting into the right hands. When they rent an email list or advertise in one of our publications, they can expect that it will reach people interested in hearing from our industry partners. We have clean, quality data, and that makes the difference.”   

Rachel Chapman, Audience Development Manager,     Document Magazine |  Mailing Systems Technology  |  Parcel Magazine  |  Personal Fitness Professional Magazine

"Data Marketing has become one of the best and cost-effective ways to create a nurturing campaign to engage with customers. Marketing lists allow you to segment and differentiate between targeting your audience and then delivering the most appropriate message to the appropriate group, driving the best results."     Amy Miller, Director, Digital Engagement,     Informa

"Email marketing allows our company to specifically target the audience which assists us in getting our message to the correct individuals. This enhances our ability to gain new buyers & registrants at our auction sales."     

Lyn Bishop, VP of Marketing,     Heritage Global Partners

"Get it right, and you can gain new customers and make a good impression. Get it wrong, and you can get blacklisted and even put your business at risk.
With the advent of GDPR, we are encouraging our customers to start on the road to better data practice. 1 Stop Data work hard to make sure all our data is compliant and up-to-date, and that takes significant investment. We want to invest in you too and help you achieve compliance, but we believe that with better data practice, your ROI will improve also."    

Pauline Murphy,     1 Stop Data

 

"A good B2B Publisher can be a good way to reach a desired audience. American Lab and Laboratory Equipment, both under the umbrella of Labcompare have large and responsive audiences that cover many aspects of Lab, Science and Research. All subscribers are “home-grown” and come to us through our own subscription process using “best practices” and adherence to the highest industry and publishing standards."     

Jack Apostolik,     LabCompare

 

"List quality, from the standpoint of a marketer, is largely a function of two things: how well-matched the readers are to the content being shown them and how much those readers trust and respect the sending party, whether it is done directly or through a publisher."     

John McKenna,     BevNet

 

 

"Quality data is paramount in a high level, multi-channel marketing programs. Without correction and validation procedures in place marketing professionals can easily waste half of their day manually researching contact/prospect data on the web and social media sites, some even go as far as calling to validate records before they are passed on to sales."     

Stacey Vigliotti, Account Director of B2B Marketing Data, Merit Direct 

 

 

"When looking for marketing sources to promote our auction and equipment sale events, I focus on purchasing advertising from trade publications and highly-reputable organizations with opt-in audiences where we can target by specific job functions and industry classifications. At Hilco Industrial, we rely heavily on marketing analytics from our website to measure engagement, lead conversion, and ROI on all of our marketing efforts. This allows us to compare the efficacy of sources against each other and determine which ones are worth purchasing in the future. Quality sources from reliable trade publications have substantially better outcomes and are imperative to our success as marketers."     

Ania Caprio,  VP of Marketing,   Hilco Industrial

 

"The importance of using quality lists cannot be emphasized enough. They are the foundation of any marketing and/or advertising program. No matter how good your product or message is, if you are going to the wrong people, you’re wasting your time and money."     

Ed Sreniawski,  Metal Center News

 

"Using the right list and ensuring that is is quality data is of paramount importance to the success of any DM campaign.  Robust data allows for better targeting that will boost the response rate and engagement.  The more data you have available on any list enables you to connect with the best prospects."      Scott Vail, National Sales Manager, BioPharm International

 

"The ability to pull names together and produce impressive-sounding stats is not difficult. List and data quality stems from a deeper understanding of reader engagement and an ability to explain the processes used to manage and protect against a growing and constantly evolving number of challenges. Quality is more than just hitting a number, but repeatedly demonstrating the ability to implement a collection of strategies focused on delivering accurate and properly targeted results."

Thomas Lynch, President, Industrial Media, LLC

 

"In my line of business, success is predicated on three things: 1. Quality content, 2. An excellent audience, and 3. Creative promotion. The KEY success to building # 2, an excellent audience, is acquiring top-notch marketing lists. As a publisher, I can speak first-hand about the abundance of sub-par lists.  Acquiring premium lists is of utmost importance. My business would fail without them."     

Doug Glenn, Publisher,   Heat Treat Today

 

"It is imperative to feel confident that you are purchasing proper lists for your marketing needs so that you know that you are spending your money wisely. The key is quality, not always quantity. You want to know that every name that you are paying to send to is a qualified match to the list criteria that you have chosen, yielding the proper targets, and therefore the best results for your campaign."     

Marion Illouz, Capital Recovery Group 

 

“Data quality is one of, if not, the most important aspects of a marketing campaign.  Sending mail to an inaccurate address or to people who are no longer at a business — or even deceased — is a waste of marketing dollars.  Emailing to spam traps, bots, bounces or unverified emails will cause your domains to get blacklisted and your IP scores to decline, which in turn will drive your own data’s clicks and open rates down.  The business data landscape is highly competitive with many sources offering “quality” data.  Make sure the vendor has a trusted name, has been in business for an extended period of time, and most of all test, test, test.” Jeff Mungo, SVP B2B Services, Infogroup

 

"Often I receive emails with list offerings, often too good to be true. Not surprisingly, the emails themselves are illegally structured. No company names, no address block, no phone number- reply by email only. Apparent domains are not accessible. Many of these claim to have very valuable lists from industry events, later to find it's not the show management at all! WORK with legitimate brokers that are reputable and established. You will save time, money and many headaches."

Aileen Hough, CSC Publishing

 

After reading this complete Marketing List Guide, we hope you now have confidence in renting/purchasing marketing lists that will ENHANCE your brand and INCREASE sales by reaching your specific audience that will be interested in your offer.

 

You know:

• What is a fair price to pay for a quality list.
• How to determine a quality list that will not harm your reputation.
• How to research the right source that has the best selection criteria to reach your target audience.

 

 

If you have any questions or would like additional information on the best marketing lists to reach your target audience, please feel free to contact:

 

Donna Peterson

Executive Vice President

 

Phone: 1 (860) - 210 - 8088

Email: dpeterson@worldinnovators.com

 

Back to top of page >

---