How to send cold email to your purchased email lists

Some marketers scoff at the idea of incorporating purchased email lists into their email marketing strategy. However, done correctly within the parameters of the CAN-SPAM Act, cold email outreach to purchased email lists can be an effective strategy to expand your audience and grow your opt-in list.

If you’re a medical supply company wanting to sell medical supplies to hospitals or a software development company seeking out businesses in need of your software, emailing to purchased email lists may be a great way to introduce yourself and broadcast your value proposition to a large audience quickly. Not only is it fast, but it’s also cheap, boasting a median return on investment of 122%.

What is Cold email?

Cold email is defined as an unsolicited message to a receiver without prior contact or who has not subscribed to receive communications from you. When landlines were the dominant form of communication, marketers would purchase phone leads in their target market and in Wall Street jargon, “pound the phones” pitching products relevant to the consumer. In 2003 the Do Not Call Registry was introduced giving consumers the option to “opt out” of receiving unsolicited phone calls.

In the age of the Internet, email is the dominant form of communication and email lists have replaced phone leads. In short, the cold email is the equivalent of the cold call. In 2003 the CAN-SPAM Act established national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail.

Cold Email and CAN-SPAM

There are three basic types of compliance when emailing to purchased email lists defined in the CAN-SPAM Act — unsubscribe, content, and sending behavior.

Compliant cold email should be transparent and have a clear objective. It should include:

  • Subject lines that are relevant to the email content
  • Contact Information
  • Correct email headers
  • Content that’s relevant and personalized
  • A specific request

Your emails should not automatically subscribe recipients to receive ongoing communications and must provide the option to opt-out of receiving any further communications via an unsubscribe link.

A Service Designed for Emailing Purchased Email Lists

Hotsol Email Marketing was built for the specific purpose of allowing businesses to send communications to purchased email lists. Opt-in permission-based email services were not built for email marketing to purchased email lists and using them can do irreparable damage to your sender reputation. We build an individualized architecture for each client, configuring unique domains and dedicated IPs to send your emails. Your corporate website and IPs are never at risk. Our team monitors IPs for blacklisting issues and delists them if any issues arise.

Writing Cold Email

An effective cold email is a personal conversation with a commercial tone. It’s not a pushy promotional pitch. Well-written cold emails offer value and convey your core message to your prospects. Some best practices to follow are:

1. Don’t send a general message to your prospects. Make it relevant. Do some research and personalize the content and greeting as much as possible. A Hello {First Name} gives you credibility and makes your recipients feel like you are speaking directly to them.

2.  Write a concise subject line that summarizes the message inside the email and helps recipients understand importance. Don’t use SPAM words like “Read Now!” or “Urgent”.

69% of recipients mark emails as spam based solely on the subject

3. Write short, concise messages to improve user experience, click-through rate, and deliverability.

The average time spent reading an email is between 15-20 seconds.


Clean your purchased email lists to rid them of spam traps and honeypots. Scrubbing your data will improve email deliverability and increase your chances of landing in the inbox.


Put email marketing into action for your  business. Let’s get started!