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Emailing 10,000

Marketing, social media, advertising

458

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Is there any way I can email 10,000 potential customers of my product if these 10,000 people are highly targeted and their emails are in a public database?

Ps. The public database is not a spam database and just includes people who have joined a national organization for the profession they are in.

My question is, will this get me introuble and how can avoid that?
 
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458

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Oh sorry... I was more implying will it work and how can i stay out of trouble. I will call them if this flat out wont work.
 

Leary

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Just do it, you might generate a 1% reply rate and from that if your product/service is good a 20% conversion. That's potentially 20 new customers to build upon. One of my previous employers did that with a list of 500 to advertise his $20kpa software package and drummed up two new customers. That's an additional $40kpa for an email and a couple of quick meetings/demonstrations (about 3 hours work all up).
 

Likwid24

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The bill permits e-mail marketers to send unsolicited commercial e-mail as long as it adheres to 3 basic types of compliance defined in the CAN-SPAM Act: unsubscribe, content and sending behavior compliance:
[edit] Unsubscribe compliance

A visible and operable unsubscribe mechanism is present in all emails.
Consumer opt-out requests are honored within 10 days.
Opt-out lists also known as Suppression lists are only used for compliance purposes.

[edit] Content compliance

Accurate from lines (including "friendly froms")
Relevant subject lines (relative to offer in body content and not deceptive)
A legitimate physical address of the publisher and/or advertiser is present.
A label is present if the content is adult.

[edit] Sending behavior compliance

A message cannot be sent through an open relay
A message cannot contain a false header

Content is exempt if it consists of[citation needed]:

religious messages;
political messages;[8]
content that broadly complies with the marketing mechanisms specified in the law; or
national security messages.

There are no restrictions against a company emailing its existing customers or anyone who has inquired about its products or services, even if these individuals have not given permission, as these messages are classified as "relationship" messages under CAN-SPAM.[9]

If a user opts out, a sender has ten days to cease sending and can only use that email address for compliance purposes. The legislation also prohibits the sale or other transfer of an e-mail address after an opt-out request. The law also requires that the unsubscribe mechanism must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after the transmission of the original message.[10]


Looks like it's legal if you follow the guidelines.
 
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mlangley

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You're better off getting opt-ins. If you go the route of just straight out emailing the 10,000 addresses you'll definitely get reported for spam, you can get off black lists by verifying that you're legit and obtained the emails from a third party, but it's still a hassle.

Bottom line, build your own list. Create interest in your product, give away a free report for their email opt-in, then sell them your goods.
 

458

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You're better off getting opt-ins. If you go the route of just straight out emailing the 10,000 addresses you'll definitely get reported for spam, you can get off black lists by verifying that you're legit and obtained the emails from a third party, but it's still a hassle.

Bottom line, build your own list. Create interest in your product, give away a free report for their email opt-in, then sell them your goods.

Should I email them an opt-in email? If not, how would I get them to opt-in.
 

mlangley

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Should I email them an opt-in email
You could go that route. If you do, I would have a bulk mailing service take care of it for you. The reputable services are on white lists of major ISPs. Some ISPs have systems in place to black list you if you mail too many of their addresses within a certain time frame.

Also if you do this, in your email be transparent about where you got their email address and be clear that this will be the only email you send them if they don't opt-in. This should cover you under CAN-SPAM.
 
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458

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Ok sounds good. Do you know of a company that I can upload my email addresses from excel? Some only let you add one at a time.
 

VinceT

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I wouldn't use a list that you didn't create. I used an old list once with MailCheat(Chimp) (only about 1yr old that was opt in) to send a new company announcement, because there were so many bounces they suspended my account. People change emails once every couple years. But since its coming from a national place the addresses are probably better. Test it out on a small amount to see what happens. Odds are unless its an awesome email you will get spam marked, and unsubscribes.
 
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Stu_Hefner

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What does the public database consist of? Is it a business directory? If your services is b2b and the database is business listings, I would try try to start contacting them either by email or phone but I would resist the urge to send out a generic message as it will be more likely to be marked as spam. I've contacted emails on public databases before in failed ventures, it works well if you are more formal and seem like you are genuinely contacting them and not 1000 people.

Other than that, emailing your own list will be the most benificial. (ie: Aweber, MailCheat(Chimp))

There are plenty of direct mail marketing solutions that have a variety of lists for consumers and businesses targeted specifically for all kinds of niches, categories which will not impose the CAN-SPAM act.

Do a google search for them and see if you can find anything that you like.
 

SportsFan438

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Dont mean to Hijack this thread.

I am starting a company and want to use email marketing to target merchants. I am wondering if this is the only option I should use, as my budget is small and mostly allocated towards marketing to customers. Also I need the email addresses for the businesses in a large city, is there any specific place to look other than going website by website? Thanks
 

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