Email lists you inherited or bought are usually unusable

Aug 29
3 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

Introduction

A business buys a list of contacts in its sector, or acquires another business and inherits its mailing list, or a new marketing person arrives with a list from a previous employer. In each case there are several thousand addresses and an obvious temptation.

None of these situations gives you what you need. Consent obtained by somebody else, for their own purposes, generally does not transfer to you, and lists compiled from public sources were never consented to at all. This is among the most straightforward things regulators enforce, because the evidence is in the recipient's inbox. A single complaint is enough to start an enquiry.

1. Email lists you inherited or bought rarely carry consent that works for you

The core problem.

Consent must generally be specific about who will be contacting the person. Somebody who agreed to hear from one company has not agreed to hear from yours, however similar the businesses are.

2. Treat purchased lists as unusable

The simplest position.

Vendors frequently claim the contacts are opted in. In practice the consent, where it exists, was for the vendor or for a broad set of unnamed third parties, which is generally not valid. Complaints from purchased lists are a common enforcement route.

3. Be careful with lists compiled from public sources

Availability is not permission.

Addresses gathered from websites, directories and professional networks were published for a purpose that is not your marketing. Public availability does not create a lawful basis to send marketing.

4. Handle an inherited list from an acquisition carefully

More nuanced and still constrained.

Where a business is acquired as a going concern, contacts may in some circumstances continue to be marketed to, depending on the jurisdiction and on what they originally agreed to. Take advice rather than assuming the list transfers freely.

5. Never use a list an employee brought with them

A problem in several directions.

It is likely a breach of their previous employer's rights, it carries no consent for you, and it exposes both of you. This happens frequently in sales roles and should be refused explicitly.

6. Check what the rules allow for business contacts

Sometimes more permissive.

Several jurisdictions treat marketing to corporate addresses differently from marketing to individuals, with lighter requirements. Establish whether that applies where you operate, because it may make some outreach legitimate.

7. Consider a re-permission approach cautiously

Frequently proposed and legally awkward.

Emailing an unlawfully held list to ask for consent is itself marketing to that list. Where the underlying basis is absent, the re-permission message may be the very thing that is not permitted.

8. Build your own list instead

Slower and worth considerably more.

Contacts who chose to hear from you engage at completely different rates. A list of four hundred people who opted in outperforms four thousand who did not, on every measure including revenue.

9. Delete what you cannot rely on

The clean resolution.

Holding a list you cannot lawfully use is a liability with no benefit: it is in scope for any breach and for access requests. Removing it costs nothing because it was never going to be usable.

Check the position before any acquisition rather than after. Data is part of what you are buying, its usability is a legitimate question in due diligence, and discovering afterwards that the customer list cannot be marketed to changes the value of the transaction.

Conclusion

Assume the list is unusable unless you can evidence that consent covers you specifically.

Treat purchased lists as unusable in practice, recognise that public availability is not permission, take advice on lists inherited through an acquisition rather than assuming they transfer, refuse lists brought by new employees outright, check whether business-to-business marketing rules are more permissive where you operate, be wary of re-permission campaigns to lists you should not be emailing, build your own list because it performs better anyway, delete what you cannot rely on, and raise data usability during acquisition due diligence.