An interesting little scenario arose today… I received an email from an industry publication asking me to subscribe to its weekly newsletter. It was a well-written offer, in fact, I was tempted - until it occurred to that I was subscribed, and had unsubscribed last November.

It seems the email was sent through another company (although the from name belonged to the certain publication), so I suspect it was a list rental of sorts. However, it should have been arranged that anyone who had previously unsubscribed to the publication’s list should not be included on the rental list. Since the email was branded from the publication - this is definitely a violation of Can-Spam.

As an email marketer, I’m definitely sympathetic - things go wrong sometimes, but here’s the real kicker: I hit reply to politely let them know what had happen, only to find my email bounce back to me! Anyway, I’m feeling nice, so I won’t out the culprit. I will, however, provide a list of tips for list rentals…

Tips for List Rentals

My personal feeling is that if you can avoid renting lists, you should, renting a quality list is expensive, and you always run the risk of ticking people off. However, if you need to, there are steps you can take to get the most of your money:

1. Suppress your house file unsubscribe list from rented lists - If I’ve unsubscribed, it means I’m not interested in hearing from you. Usually, when someone is mailing to a list on your behalf, they should ask for this.
2. Ask that the list owner use its normal ‘From name’ for the email - The from name should always match the company with the relationship with subscribers to avoid spam complaints. Your brand should be introduced in the subject line.
   
3. Use a reputable list broker - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Ask about how often the list is rented out, how often it’s mailed to, how names were collected. Being perceived as a spammer (or in association with them) can hurt your brand reputation.
   
4. Make the most of your rental, ask for an opt-in - Make the primary call-to-action a request to subscribe. You could try to sell a product, and that may bring in X amount of dollars, but if you convert the rented names to join your own house list, you can sell to them time and time again.
   
5. Handle replies appropriately - It becomes a bit confusing - are subscribers replying to the list owner, or the company who is renting the list? The reality is a lot of the replies will most likely be list items: people asking to be unsubscribed, auto-replies, etc. However, some people may want to inquire about the company crafting the message. First, the reply-to address needs to be valid! Secondly, whoever is handling replies should have a clear understanding of what to do with emails. Consider adding a reply email address inside the body to help subscribers who may want to contact you directly.
   

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