Do you want to conquer a new market? You must have a well-defined external email database. This email file, which helps to generate leads and obtain a high conversion rate, can be purchased or rented. If you have never heard of renting an email file, this guide is for you! Why do you need a database? What are the pros and cons of renting an email file versus buying? Who are the actors involved? How does it work ? How much does it cost? Focus on this unique concept…
Is an email database important for a business?
The mailing list or email file contains the contact details of all your prospects potentially interested in your services or products. For a company, this list is important to convert a maximum of prospects. In addition to being targeted, contacts must be regularly renewed.
However, getting new addresses takes time and can be expensive. It is for this reason that many companies prefer to resort to purchasing or renting a database.
Effective for transmitting information and exchanging, email marketing is the most popular communication channel for companies. Compared to advertising on social networks with just over 15% satisfaction, compared to nearly 20% for retargeting, email marketing satisfies more than 40% of professionals. Given that around 23 million French people log into an email account every day, this digital marketing strategy is considered less intrusive.
A DCS analysis (or National Union of Direct Communication) carried out in 2019 also shows that nearly 70% of professionals visit the website after receiving an email, while nearly 50% buy a service or product.
Why choose to rent an email file?
Renting or buying a file makes it possible to have new addresses and to conquer a new market. While each of its options has various advantages, leasing remains the most beneficial solution for some companies.
Buying email files
When you buy a file of email addresses, you are the only one to decide on its use. You can in particular carry out a sequencing, a segmentation, then a targeting or the realization of a marketing campaign. For each contact, you benefit from various additional information and have the possibility of using the addresses as much as you wish.
However, you have no control over the quality of the addresses or their origin. In addition, sending an email is more expensive than in the context of a rental. In compliance with the Data Protection Act, you do not have the right to transfer or rent the database to a third party. You must ensure yourself to update the information. However, this task can turn out to be complex and time-consuming.
Rental of an email database
By renting a file, you benefit from an update of the coordinates. The agency that rents its database ensures that the email addresses are recent in order to increase the chances of deliverability. This point marks its difference with the purchase of files, because with this last option, the updating of contacts is not guaranteed.
This solution also allows you to save time and money, because for each email sent, the cost is lower compared to a purchase. You can focus on other digital marketing strategies related to your business, because the agency that offers the rental of the file takes care of the sending, and even the design of the email marketing campaign.
As the file is only available for rental, you cannot reuse it. In addition, you do not have the right to have detailed contact details in order to use them as part of your digital marketing campaigns.
In any case, before choosing to rent or buy a database, you must ask yourself questions about its use. Opt to buy if:
- You want to carry out several operations and follow up with your prospects later by phone or email;
- You prefer to take care of designing and sending emails;
- You have a substantial budget to send emails to all prospects and to carry out various operations.
On the other hand, choose to rent if:
- You need to save time by calling on a service provider to take care of sending emails;
- You have a limited budget to send out;
- You plan to conduct only one contacts operation.
And to avoid having duplicate contacts, ask your service provider for deduplication. You will avoid paying twice for a prospect already contacted.
How does renting an email file work?
Three actors are involved in the rental of email files: the publisher, the advertiser and the agency.
The editor
The publisher is responsible for collecting email addresses and then renting them to advertisers. It can build its database through contests, newsletters, requests for quotes, or online estimates, for example.
This company, which publishes sites, aims to monetize its audience using email files. The concept of Opt’in partner takes on its full meaning from the moment the Internet user provides his personal data and agrees on their use for commercial purposes. Although some Internet users do not agree with this practice which generates spam, it remains beneficial for those who can monetize their audience.
The Opt’in is different from the Opt’out which is prohibited by the CNIL or National Commission for Computing and Liberties, because it does not consider the opinion of the Internet user. This technique aims to force him to tick the partner box or to pre-tick the boxes in his place.
However, some sites that use Opt’in deliberately present discreet pre-ticked partner boxes to prevent the Internet user from unticking them. The quality of the emails depends on whether the Internet user has voluntarily checked the partner box or not. It is of better quality when the latter has checked it because he is interested. The same is true for highly targeted contacts that are more valuable compared to those obtained through contests. Thus, a quality email file will be more expensive.
The advertiser
The advertiser is an actor or a company whose objective is to acquire new customers using marketing or advertising campaigns. Today, many companies involved in financial services or insurance use email rental.
To succeed in your marketing campaign, your average basket must be large and your target must be precise. By meeting these two conditions, you increase your chances of obtaining a satisfactory return on investment.
The agency
The agency can take care of:
- Enrich contacts by cross-referencing numerous files to obtain additional behavioral information. This method improves the qualification of addresses;
- Draw up a campaign report with a calculation of the return on investment;
- Send emails from the addresses in the files;
- Select the files to be used according to the volume and targeting requested by the client;
- Prepare the email templates that she will then send to prospects. They can also set up the landing page that will appear when the user clicks.
How much does it cost to rent a file?
The cost of a database depends on various factors:
- Volume : a file with a large number of addresses is more expensive than one with a low volume;
- The quality of the database : it is necessary to regularly delete inactive email addresses in order to obtain a quality file. Although it is difficult for an advertiser to estimate the quality of a file, the latter must take into account the method of obtaining contacts, unsubscriptions, the number of possible sendings per month, etc. ;
- The degree of targeting : a qualified prospect costs more than an unqualified one.
You must also take into account the various services offered by the agency, such as routing costs, campaign management costs, or the creation of the template, for example.
For individuals, a volume of around 10,000 poorly targeted contacts costs between €50 and €100, while a large volume of 500,000 poorly targeted contacts is worth between €20 and €40. Count between 80 and 120 € for the rental of a database of poorly targeted contacts aimed at professionals.
If the volume is equivalent to 100,000 contacts, the rates vary between 40 and 80 €. For an email file intended for professionals and very targeted, the prices vary between 200 and 400 € for a volume of 10,000 addresses. Finally, they vary between €150 and €300 for a volume of 50,000 highly targeted addresses.
And to master the good practices of email marketing, do not hesitate to train yourself. This certifying webmarketing training will teach you how to optimize the performance of your emarketing and email marketing campaigns in particular and measure your actions.