Specialty Lists

The best source of commercial specialty lists for email are reputable organizations that have collected opt-in addresses through affiliations, their own customers or memberships, or through special interest groups or surveys. Examples of this tier of email address would be members in a professional society, subscribers to a trade publication or special interest publication, recent purchasers of related products or services, consumers within a certain demographic or psychographic profile, or individuals with an expressed interest or history in an area of interest.

These lists are generally available for rental and not for purchase. The sending of the email is managed by the list owner or a designated representative - normally a list broker or list management company. This allows the list owner to limit misuse of its property. Generally, the process follows these steps:

1. The desired audience is defined by the marketer
2. A count is provided by the list owner
3. A copy of the proposed email creative is provided to the list owner by the marketer
4. The list owner approves the copy for transmission
5. The email is scheduled by the marketer and list owner
6. The list owner sends the email broadcast
7. The list owner sends a broadcast report to the marketer

This form of list is typically the most expensive. Because it is expensive and because you must pay each time you email to the list, it is important to send a message with a compelling "call to action". This allows you to count your responses and to determine whether there is sufficient value in this form of marketing.