Grooming Your E-list

Collect e-mails offline
The collection of e-mail addresses should be part of both your online and offline activities. Ask for an individual’s e-mail address when interacting in person, by phone or through mail. Determine where you can find your constituents offline, and have a presence there.

Many organizations are looking at e-mail appends to grow their lists. E-mail addresses are obtained by matching records from the marketer’s database against a third-party database (e.g., provided by FreshAddress, Acxiom or Navigant) to produce a corresponding e-mail address, which then is appended to that constituent’s record. Let the buyer beware: E-mail appends increase your risk of spam complaints. One solution is to get explicit opt-in from your appended e-mail addresses. You’ll get fewer names but a higher permission level, which boosts list quality.