Raise Your Response Rate — and Your Reputation

The Blog

Ideas you can use.

Most marketers accept that purchasing lists, or using “public” lists, is a bad idea — CAN-SPAM risk and brand risk. There’s another reason to migrate to organically built lists: organic lists perform better. In a Red House drip campaign for a B2B client, identical emails went to two lists — previously unengaged inbound leads versus a tradeshow-and-webinar compilation. The organically built list achieved open and click-through rates as much as 150% higher.

The reasons go beyond prior engagement. Organic lists are more accurate; purchased and outdated lists bounce. With CEO turnover running at 18%, a list left unmaintained for a year or two has lost 18–36% of the CEOs it claims to reach. And the damage is double: a low-quality list harms your technical reputation (bounce, unsubscribe and complaint rates that can get your IP blocked) and your professional reputation (the perception that you spam). Building a list takes effort — a comprehensive inbound strategy feeding an organized outbound plan — but the resources are usually closer than they look.