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To Blast A Bulk Email List or Not To Blast A Bulk Email List...

by kap4343
7 replies
Salute Warriors!


I have been learning affiliate marketing for about 4 weeks now. Warriors Forum kept getting mentioned, so I'm happy to finally be here.


So here's my dilemma:


I am a newly licensed insurance agent who has joined a unique program to build an agency. The program can benefit non-licensed reps, but the IDEAL target are licensed agents. My team leader recently gave me a huge database of licensed agents in the states we are approved to work in. Although the list appears to be about 3 years old, most insurance licenses are good for about 4 years prior to renewal.


After skimming through the sheets, I'm estimating about 50k+ personal email addresses, 70k+ business email addresses, and 50k+ usable phone numbers. I don't mind cold calling, but I DO really want to bulk email this list for an email marketing campaign.


The company already has a funnel system so I just need to get traffic there and opted in.


Would you blast this list? If so, could I use a Free Forever Plan like Mail Chimp or SendinBlue? Or even test the waters with a free trial Aweber or GetResponse account?


Thanks in advance guys!


-KP
#blast #bulk #email #list #list…
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Three year old list - bulk emails - no, I wouldn't bother but sounds like that's your plan so my advice is this:


    IF you can find an autoresponder company that will you blast a bulk email list, use it. Most reputatble AR companies won't allow it as it could damage their deliverability.


    If this is your plan, do it quickly and see what happens...my guess is it won't result in much in the way of business. Then you can cold call the phone numbers you have and see how that goes.


    Insurance agents are a bit like realtors and a few other licensed professions - someone it always trying to sell them something. My own guess is your real opportunity is approaching licensed agents yourself to create your own fresh leads.


    There are some good thread on this forum about cold calling and email lists...you can find them with the search function. Good luck - let us know it goes.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Unless you collected the emails yourself then don't bother.
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  • Profile picture of the author fasteasysuccess
    Not a good idea if not given permission to email, Plus, if you bulk email that list and have too many spam complaints, you can literally get your email autoresponder shut down over night and banned.
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    • Profile picture of the author kap4343
      Yeah possibly getting my autoresponder shut down is the only reason I've hesitated so far.

      Here is my logic- there is a work email address field and a personal email address field in the list. Most agents gave a work email like johndoe@statefarm.com, but about 1/3 also included their personal email address.

      The list is from state registries. So aside from some work numbers not being in service due to the age of the list, most personal email addys and personal phone numbers should be fairly legit. (I've called some personals already and it's not too bad on accuracy).

      If I could send an initial value email, zero sales pitch, with an opt-in button that shouldn't come off as spammy right?

      Maybe send out conservative bursts of 300 subscribers per day and get a feel for it?
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  • Profile picture of the author Sapph
    I would not send this list any mass emails.

    Instead, I would use a mail merge tool like Gmass or Yet Another Mail Merge and send personalized non-salesy emails to small batches of people at a time. With each batch, test and improve your subject line and message.

    In case you're not familiar with mail merge tools:
    They let you send emails to a list of people from Gmail = much higher deliverability. Each contact receives it as an 1-on-1 message from you.
    You can personalize words or phrases in your email for each contact (similar to email marketing platforms).

    I would also not include an opt-in button, this makes it look like a marketing email. Instead, I would share a few genuinely helpful insights (related to your product) and ask an open-ended question at the end of your email to open the conversation.
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  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    Three years is pretty old. I would start with the business addresses and take a random portion of them and have cleaned by a reputable list hygiene service. Then send a portion of them a message to test the waters.

    I've always found when sending B2B that if you ask a question (rather than sending an offer) for which based on the correct answer will give you an opening to being able to present your offer. This way it's less likely that someone will complain simply for asking a question VS being sent an offer.
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