Email marketing is a strategy where companies send emails to their customers or subscribers to inform, retain, engage, and attract new users.

Where to get an email address database

Gathering contacts for an email newsletter should follow the law and ethical principles. You can:

  • build your own;
  • buy a ready-made one;
  • use free options available publicly.

Which option to choose is entirely up to you. But keep in mind that your choice determines the outcome of your entire marketing campaign.

How to build your own database

When you collect contacts yourself, you control their quality. You can make sure the addresses are current, genuine, and match your target audience. Here are a few ways to gather contact information for email newsletters on your own.

  • Sign-up forms on your website. Invite visitors to subscribe to your newsletter so they can receive updates, promotions, and other useful information.
  • Lead magnets. Create valuable free content — ebooks, infographics, video tutorials, or templates — and offer it to users in exchange for an email subscription.
  • Webinars and seminars. Host a webinar or seminar and ask attendees to leave their email addresses to register.
  • Contests and giveaways. Run events with a guaranteed prize or discount drawing where participants have to leave their contact details, including an email address, to enter.
  • Social media. Use popular social networks to attract subscribers by posting content that sparks their interest and encourages them to subscribe.
  • Blog. Publish interesting, useful content on your blog, then invite readers to subscribe for updates.
  • Partner programs. Team up with other companies and bloggers to offer your newsletter as an extra bonus for their audience.

But above all, it's important to make sure you're collecting email addresses with the recipients' consent and following all data protection and email marketing laws and regulations (Russia's Federal Law "On Advertising", and Federal Law "On Personal Data").

Paid email address databases

Paid email address databases are lists of contacts that companies or marketers can buy from providers for a fee. They usually include email addresses plus some extra information — names, age, gender, interests. Paid data providers keep the data accurate and up to date, regularly refreshing it and removing outdated or invalid contacts. Being able to choose specific audience segments and additional criteria for forming groups lets you fine-tune your newsletter to your business's needs. Some sites also offer extra tools and analytics for tracking and analyzing campaign results, letting you gauge effectiveness and optimize further.

It's worth saying here that a high price tag doesn't always deliver the expected result. Before choosing a provider, gather as much information about them as possible so you don't end up a victim of fraud.

Free address databases

The simplest approach is to find ready-made lists of email addresses online and use them for your own purposes. It's worth remembering the old but very wise saying: "the only free cheese is in a mousetrap." Keep that thought in mind as you keep exploring these ready-made contact groups.

Ebaza

This site hosts addresses split into groups. It's very convenient to browse data lists sorted by gender, age, or user hobbies.

All of this sounds great, but it's completely unsafe, since there's no information about how current the data is, or even when it was uploaded. Of course, you can take the risk and send a campaign, but there's no guarantee you'll get any results at all. There's a good chance you'll just be wasting your time.

Popstar

Here you'll find plenty of Russian and international email addresses. They aren't split into groups, but you can see the total number of emails and other extra information.

If you're willing to put in the work and study everything carefully, you can achieve good results.

Base-email

Thanks to convenient sorting, you can easily find the information you need by user location. Contacts are split into groups by country and city — but they were last updated all the way back in 2020.

Pros

Using data for newsletters that you don't have to pay for is very appealing to some companies compared to building their own database, despite a number of limitations and risks. Let's look at a few potential upsides of free email address databases.

  • Saving time and resources. You don't need to spend days, weeks, or even months building and growing your own database, since the free option is already ready to use.
  • A quick start. Using ready-made contacts lets you start sending messages almost immediately.
  • Broad reach. Most databases contain a huge number of contacts, giving you access to a broad audience who might be interested in exactly your products or services.
  • The ability to test the market. You can gauge demand for your products or services without a big financial outlay.
  • Extra features. Some providers offer additional features and tools for analyzing and managing your campaigns.

Cons

  • Low data quality. They may contain outdated, inaccurate, or unverified contact information, which can reduce the effectiveness of your campaigns.
  • Low conversion rates. Since the contacts are often outdated, it's unlikely recipients will even open your emails, let alone respond to them.
  • The risk of breaking the law. The data may have been collected without the recipients' consent or through unauthorized methods, which can lead to violations of data privacy law and cause irreparable damage to your company.— Federal Law "On Advertising" No. 38-FZ of March 13, 2006 (latest revision) — Federal Law "On Personal Data" No. 152-FZ of July 27, 2006 (latest revision)
  • Reputational risks. Using free databases for newsletters can damage your reputation as a trustworthy email sender, especially if your emails get flagged as spam or unwanted mail.
  • Limited segmentation and personalization options. Free databases usually don't offer features like audience segmentation and message personalization, which inherently affects the outcome of the entire marketing campaign.

Conclusion

It's fair to say that using free databases for email newsletters can cause more problems than it solves, which is why we still recommend using proven methods to build your own subscriber database.