What matters more with an email marketing list quality or quantity?

Email Marketing List: Quality vs. Quantity

Sales organizations often think that having a large email marketing list gives them a business advantage. And, while a large supply of prospects is typically a good thing, there are some problems with placing too much emphasis on a massive email marketing list and not enough emphasis on quality, qualified prospects.

The following is an overview of challenges that come with prioritizing quantity over quality, along with insights on how to grow your email marketing list in a smart, strategic way.

Targeting versus Mass Communication

The larger your contact list, the harder it is to identify precise segments of people with shared interests. You can do it, but you have to increase the weight you place on rich prospect profiles and buyer personas. You must understand the deep needs of different prospects for each solution, their buyer journeys and how your solution affects lifestyles.

Mass communication leads to low response rates. It also contributes to high levels of unsubscribes. To get people to pay attention, offer content that is useful and relevant to your audience’s concerns. Segment your list, and ensure you can quickly add contacts to the right segments as you grow your list.

Cleanliness Counts

Young people often relish the thought of making money and living in a big house. In contrast, aging adults often grow tired of the struggle of keeping a large house and yard clean. Similar scenarios exist in marketing.

Ambitious companies want to grow a massive contact list because of the promise of a big payoff. However, as you build your contact list, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a clean database. Duplicated, incomplete and inaccurate records are some of the common problems with databases.

Just like a daily cleaning schedule is effective to avoid your home reaching a point of chaos, a proactive strategy to database maintenance is ideal. Have a system to validate and verify new records, and to review existing records on an ongoing basis.

Conversion Efficiency and Satisfaction

“Time is money” is a long-established principle that guides efforts at sales efficiency. Marketing and sales reps don’t like being stuck with large lists of unqualified prospects that lead to a lot of wasted effort. Not only do you risk unsatisfying customer experiences, you risk frustrating your team members, which only exacerbates the problem.

To achieve ideal response rates and to make happy customers with your emails, focus on those that your company can best serve. Don’t add anyone and everyone to your contact list; add contacts that you have the capacity to earn business from and satisfy with your solutions. This approach helps ramp up your efficiency and improves the morale of your team members.

Conclusion

These are some of the key factors to consider as you weigh the benefits of quantity versus quality in building your email marketing contact list.

As you prioritize prospect targeting, the validated and verified contacts available from Data Axle USA are a big help. Grow your list effectively; build a consumer list or build a business list!