So, you have a list of cold prospect names, or some other groups of names that you filtered out of a source. And you want to add them to your email list. DON'T DO IT! ISPs are cracking down more and more on deliverability, and most of those email addresses are going to certainly create situations that ISPs notice and count against you, possibly up until the point where you end up on the blacklist altogether! Here are some reasons why.

 

Email Providers are Monitoring Your Open and Click Rates

Yes, they are. And if your open and click rates are incredibly low, that indicates to the ISP and email provider that your list may largely be made of people who didn't ask for your email to be sent to them, a big no-no as you know-know. Repeated low rates on clicks and opens can lead to a decrease in your reputation quality score and eventually to your email NOT in the inbox.

 

Spam Counts

Of course, the biggest thing that ISPs and email providers will count against you is the number of messages marked as spam. And when you send to a list that hasn't opted in, many of them will mark you as spam. In many cases, it doesn't take very many complaints in order for your email to get sent to the junk folder or blocked entirely.

 

Caught in a Spam Trap

You'd better know the source of your list, because ISPs have spam trap email addresses out in the world that have made their way onto many of the bought, sold and rented email lists in the world. If you accidentally get one of those names on your list and then send to it, it's game over.

 

Dead Addresses

If you're cold prospecting addresses off of the internet, chances are there are a lot of "dead" addresses on that list (ie: addresses that are no longer valid - or never were). ISPs look at how many "bounces" or "dead addresses" you send to at a time, and count higher numbers against your quality score.

 

As ISPs get better at blocking unwanted email, consumers love it. Marketers however, feel like a channel has been taken away from them. However, we say that, as we've pointed out, good email marketing will always work as effective email marketing. It's taking short cuts like cold prospecting names that can get you in trouble!