- Opt-in or Opt-out?
- Why Not Spam?
- Email List Development
- How to Find Email Addresses Online
How to Find Email Addresses Online
If you run contests as part of your existing promotional efforts, make sure all entrants provide their email addresses.
Sometimes it is also a good idea to join forces with your competitors or with complementary business associates to create a joint address list for prospecting use by all. In a mall setting, for example, the mall operator or a cooperative of all the tenants could effectively work to collect customer addresses to be shared with other tenant businesses as a reciprocal service. Probably the best way to do this would be to have a joint mailing once a month or so, in which short, separate messages are carried for all the participating tenants. Once prospects become customers of yours, of course, you should put them on your customer list and handle them differently.
If your customers are businesses or organizations rather than individuals, and you have a well-defined market with just a few hundred potential customers you have already identified, call them and have a chat with their receptionists in which you ask for their email addresses. You can also request their fax numbers, as well as their street and Web addresses. Try also to get the name of the proper contact in their organization. Most will provide the information without question. If asked, just be honest. Tell them what you sell and ask for permission to put them on your mailing list. If what you provide is of interest to them, they will rarely say no. If what you provide is not, they will rarely say yes. All in all, this is a good thing. Why would you want to waste your time and money sending promotional messages to those who will never buy?
Make email your default contact method. It is so much cheaper than any other method that you would be foolish to use anything else when you have a choice. Note: By a large majority, most folks still do not have email addresses, so you need to continue to use your other methods. Just make it a point to get the email address and use this method when you get the opportunity. It will pay tremendous dividends.