# **Fundamentals of Cold Outreach: The Importance of an Accurate Email Database**


Email marketing is one of the best ways to promote your business and get new customers. With this marketing strategy, you’ll be able to connect with customers in a personalized way and grow your sales at an affordable cost. Another benefit of email marketing is that you’ll be able to stay in contact with your audience, and this can boost customer loyalty.

Compared to social media marketing, emails have a higher click-through rate. But one thing that can hurt your email marketing campaign is the quality of your database. So, what’s the importance of an accurate email database? And how can you maintain a quality email list? Read on to find out.

## **Importance of a Quality Email Database**

Here are some reasons why you should maintain an accurate email database:

### **1. Increases Email Deliverability**

To boost your email deliverability, you’ll need an [**API to verify the authenticity of emails**](https://emailvalidation.io/email-validation-api/). Your emails have to reach the inboxes of your customers. Otherwise, the entire campaign will be ineffective. And not just that. If most of your emails bounce, servers will notice that you have a poor-quality email list and will fail to deliver more emails. You can avoid this by making sure all your emails are up to date.

### **2. Complying with Email Marketing Regulations**

Another reason why you need an accurate email database is to comply with email marketing regulations. These are different in different countries. For example, in the UK, the regulations are known as the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations of 2003, while the US has the CAN-SPAM Act. The main purpose of these laws is to deter spammers. That means acquiring people’s email accounts and sending promotional emails will attract significant fines.

With most laws, you’ll either need express or implied permission to add people to your email list. Implied permission refers to people with whom you already have an existing relationship. For example, they could be an existing customer or may be active on your website.

If you don’t have implied permission, you’ll have to get express permission. A popular way of doing this is to add a pop-up to your website asking visitors to subscribe to your email list.

Many laws also require companies to use correct headlines. They shouldn’t have misleading details meant to trick people into opening the emails. Note that this doesn’t mean your headlines can’t be creative.

### **3. Improves Email Personalization**

Email personalization refers to how you tailor the messages to individual customers. A popular way of doing this is to include the subscriber’s name in the subject headline or in the message itself. By getting an accurate email list, you’ll be able to personalize your emails properly. Keep in mind that using the wrong name will likely worsen your click-through rate and may even make people unsubscribe from your email list.

Another aspect of personalization is adding details that are relevant to the customer. For example, a person living in London won’t be interested in offers that are available in another city. You also have to take note of their interests and preferences. If you keep sending irrelevant emails, a good chunk of your customers will likely unsubscribe, leading to fewer sales. You’ll also get a poor reputation if you fail to personalize your emails correctly.

## **How to Build and Maintain a Quality Email List**

Building an email list from scratch can be quite complicated. This is why many websites opt to simply buy email lists. While this can seem effective in the short term, it will eventually force servers to mark your emails as spam. This is because the readers won’t be receptive to your emails and likely don’t know about your service. So, how exactly can you build an accurate email database?

### **1. Add Pop-Ups to Your Site**

The first thing you’ll need to do when creating an email list is to add a pop-up to your website. Ideally, this shouldn’t pop up just when people open your website as this tactic hurts the user experience. It should appear just when they’re about to exit your pages.

### **2. Use a Subscription Form**

You’ll also need to place your sign-up form strategically on high-traffic pages of your website. For example, you can add it to your homepage, headers, or footers. Another great position for the subscription form is the sidebar.

### **3. Use Email Marketing Software**

Email marketing tools help you create, track, and send emails to different customers. Most of these tools are now developed with advanced AI, so your tasks will be automated. As mentioned earlier, personalization is one of the key benefits of email marketing. With this software, you’ll be able to categorize your customers based on things like geographical location and age. This way, your emails will always be relevant to your readers. You’ll even be able to send birthday offers as the tools will store all the important details about your customers.

### **4. Work with a Digital Marketing Agency**

Many small business people like to do most of the marketing on their own. But this can be a very bad idea. First, you’ll be spending a lot of time creating your email list, and this time could be better used doing what you know best: running your company. Your results will also be subpar as this isn’t your expertise. Instead, you should enlist the services of a [**digital marketing agency**](https://hackmd.io/@youtubewizard/S1zGaif16). These experts will be able to create quality email lists and understand how to increase the open rates while minimizing your unsubscribe rate. And they can also handle other marketing methods, including SEO and social media marketing.

# **Conclusion**

Building and maintaining an accurate email database is extremely crucial for businesses and websites. This will help you avoid hefty fines and will also boost your click-through rates, making the entire marketing method effective. It also increases email deliverability and lets you personalize the messages properly. Some methods you can use to create a quality email list include using pop-ups, adding subscription forms, and working with a digital marketing agency.