How Much Does It Cost to Buy an Email List?

Published on 6th April,2023          Last Updated on 11th October,2024

Most companies need to buy an email list for their email marketing or advertising campaigns. Using intelligence tools is often the fastest way to buy an email list, but when it comes to precise targeting of decision-makers, only high-quality lists will yield effective results. Factors like the refresh rate of data, consent and opt-in data, GDPR compliance, and data replacement guarantees significantly impact the cost of buying an email database.

Cost of Buying an Email Database in Markets Like the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand

The cost of buying a list of emails depends on the quality of the addresses and types of people on the list. A consumer list costs anywhere between $100 and $400 CPM. CPM is the price charged for every 1,000 email addresses that you purchase. At the same time, you have to pay significantly more to buy a business database, which costs approximately $200 to $1,000 for the same number of addresses. The more targeted the email database is, the more expensive it becomes.

In addition, there are often other costs associated with managing an email marketing campaign, such as managing and tracking your emails. You’ll get tracking results that show things like open and click-through rates as well as valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t. This service could cost you $500 to $3,500.

Generally, such sellers of databases or software tools offer multiple pricing options based on your team size, use case, and specific requirements. Certain companies also offer free trials for you to test out their email accuracy, providing anywhere from 5 to 25 free emails.

If you look closely, many companies such as Cognism, DnB Hoovers, Clear Bit, SiSense, etc., do not openly mention their prices on their websites but rather require you to contact their sales team to get a quotation based on your requirements. This is a common practice for business database service providers or software companies.

On the other hand, there are companies that do provide pricing details. Most of these tools provide monthly credits to access their pre-built databases and buy an email list according to your preferences.

The pricing list below of top online databases, will help you quickly glance through the cost of email lists:

Companies like Cognism, Demand Science, Zoominfo, Clearbit, Sales Navigator, Full Contact, 6 Sense do not reveal their pricing on the website. Users need to contact their sales team for information on pricing.

Buying a B2B Contact Database

Volume and Speed vs Accuracy

Today, marketers can find numerous platforms to buy contact databases. Many of these databases are enriched with business intelligence and can help fuel your sales pipeline with a list of leads and decision-makers that you can market to.

These purchased contact databases are pre-built and equipped with millions of contacts, which you can easily search through using filters. You get very quick access to large volumes of data, most of which have simplified interfaces that you can navigate and download in bulk. Many platforms even provide free trials and integrate with most CRM systems, making it a quick way to get started with email marketing campaigns.

However, the question is: are these databases accurate enough? And what factors determine their accuracy? If you look at online reviews, there are numerous complaints about data inaccuracy even when you buy a company database that claims around 98% accuracy or real-time refresh of data. Contact data often turns stale because most providers refresh their data quarterly. Monthly refresh cycles are rare, let alone real-time refresh of data. This forces you to make a choice between having large volumes of data quickly and ensuring accuracy.

Best Place to Buy Contact Lists

Automated Tools or Custom Research

Get to know the most trusted and up-to-date databases in the industry. Discover the top problems and solutions, and critically evaluate sources to buy contact lists for the highest quality leads.

When looking to buy b2b email lists, you may come across software platforms that offer monthly subscriptions. Before signing up, you need to factor in important criteria such as data accuracy, niche targets, opt-ins, and pricing.

Software tools like Zoominfo, Cognism, Lusha, and Clearbit are powerful sales intelligence platforms that help marketing and sales teams find and connect with the people they want to do business with. These tools provide fresh, relevant, and accurate company and contact-level data, including business emails and mobile numbers for decision-makers in regions like EMEA, US, and APAC. Marketers use these software solutions to buy contact lists on-demand and supercharge their outbound marketing campaigns. Salespeople also use these databases to find mobile numbers and emails and identify decision-makers in companies they want to target.

Buy Custom Contact Databases

Ascentrik Research, on the other hand, has a unique, customised approach to email lists. Our goal is to solve the most widespread problem of stale data. We achieve this through a dedicated team of data researchers, combined with automated processes, for building email lists at scale.

Once we know what kind of data you need, we source and enrich your data for you—providing data in its freshest state. We believe that the best database is custom-built to meet specific client requirements.

Let’s look deeper at the factors involved when you need to buy b2b data:

Table Of Contents:
How to Buy a B2B Database: Evaluating the Most Cost-Effective Methods
When Does a Company Need to Buy an Email Database?
Accuracy Through Customization: How to Buy Quality Email Lists
Cost of Custom or Bespoke Research for B2B Email Lists
Buying Email Lists for the UK, US, and Other Key Markets

How to Buy a B2B Database: Evaluating the Most Cost-Effective Methods

We will go through all the methods available, to evaluate the most cost-effective option:

Method 1- Download from Data Brokers:

When marketers need to purchase a business database, the quickest method is using online software tools or data brokers. These database providers require you to sign up and apply various filters to narrow down to the exact data you are looking for, like industry, job title, etc. Once this is done, the software tool scans through its available database and gives you a list of contact details. Although this is the quickest way to buy a b2b database, there are many disadvantages to it.

Risks Associated with Buying a Business Database That Is Stale

• The biggest downside when you buy a business database is that anywhere from 10% to 30% of the data is often stale. It may hamper your business’s functioning by lowering the reach and effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. These large databases cannot be updated in real-time, and hence contain a lot of inaccurate information.
• This inaccuracy can also increase your costs in the long run, necessitating you to re-validate your data records.
• Another issue that many users have raised is the credit system used by these companies. Purchasing additional credits can become costly.
• If you are targeting a niche industry or specialised job functions, you likely won’t find this data in pre-built online databases. Therefore, when choosing a quick download of pre-built databases, one must be vigilant about all these factors.
• When people buy a b2b database, they do not actually own the list but rather pay a fee for accessing a list from an email database containing millions of contact records. This may lead to identical data being used by competitors, thereby reducing the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
• Invalid email addresses often result in targeting the wrong leads. Without proper consent, recipients may mark your emails as spam or unsubscribe, harming your campaign.
• Such lists are also likely to contain spam traps—addresses set up by mail services to catch spammers. Sending emails to such addresses can cause your IP and domain to be blacklisted, making it challenging to restore your reputation.
• If there are serious issues with your IP address or domain, you may have trouble sending even legitimate emails in the future.
• Violations of GDPR and CAN-SPAM regulations can lead to significant penalties, further damaging your brand reputation.

Before you buy b2b data from a data broker, you must consider all the above factors that affect your marketing and sales campaigns.

When Does a Company Need to Buy an Email Database?

Companies often need to buy an email database when planning email marketing or advertising campaigns. Having access to a well-constructed email list provides direct contact with millions of potential customers, spanning different industries and geographies, and allowing for a wider marketing reach.

There are two main factors that determine what type of email list a business might need to buy. The first scenario is when you need data on demand to send out bulk emails quickly. In these cases, many organisations opt to buy a B2B email list from large online databases or data brokers that offer pre-built solutions. These databases allow you to instantly access pre-existing contact details, which can be filtered based on parameters like industry or job title. However, it’s crucial to ensure that each data record is verified by your vendor or software before it is downloaded to your CRM to avoid the risks associated with inaccurate email data.

Alternatively, some companies are highly focused on data accuracy, compliance with regulations like GDPR, and ensuring proper consent through single or double opt-ins. In such cases, it’s recommended to buy B2B data from custom data partners who can verify each contact and ensure that the data meets stringent quality standards. These custom data research partners can build a business database that adheres to compliance requirements, providing verified, fresh, and highly targeted contacts based on your specific campaign needs.

When you decide to purchase a business database or buy an email list, it’s essential to evaluate your needs—is speed your priority, or is quality and compliance more critical for your marketing efforts? Choosing between a quick, pre-built solution and a custom-built, GDPR-compliant email list can greatly affect the success of your email campaigns. Custom data solutions provide B2B email lists that are designed to fit niche requirements, thus ensuring that your outreach is directed at the right decision-makers.

Accuracy Through Customization: How to Buy Quality Email Lists

How to buy quality email lists?

When you need to buy a company database for your ABM (Account-Based Marketing) or other specialised marketing campaigns, ensuring data accuracy is critical. To buy an email list that effectively serves your needs, you should consider a customised approach—one that provides precisely verified information tailored to your goals.

Key Factors for Buying Quality B2B Email Lists:

• Pay Only for Successful Contacts: When you buy a B2B email list, it’s important to pay only for successful contacts that include valid information—such as phone numbers, email addresses, company names, and any other criteria that you specify.
• Replacement for Invalid Data: If any contact details turn out to be invalid, make sure that your data partner offers a replacement. This is crucial when you buy an email database to avoid paying for outdated or incorrect information.
• GDPR Compliance and Opt-Ins: Make sure the business database you purchase complies with GDPR and other data privacy regulations. Also, ensure recipients have provided explicit consent through single or double opt-ins. Compliance ensures you do not face legal issues and that your emails reach the right audience.
• Niche Requirements: If your email list includes highly specialised industries or job roles, be sure that your B2B database provider can meet these specific requirements before you commit. Custom data research is often the best way to meet niche needs, as many pre-built databases may lack this level of specificity.
• Support Throughout the Campaign: When you buy B2B data, it’s not just about obtaining a list; it’s also about how well the data partner supports you during your marketing efforts. Look for partners that help you integrate data, provide support, and adapt to your needs during the campaign.

Buying an accurate email list often involves a mix of pre-built databases that can be downloaded quickly and customised databases tailored for niche industries and specialised job titles. Both types of databases should always be verified just before download to ensure freshness and accuracy. This blend of pre-built and custom email lists ensures that your data is relevant, compliant, and ready to use for your marketing campaigns.

Cost of Custom or Bespoke Research for B2B Email Lists

B2B Email Lists from Ascentrik

Lead generation is an essential part of any successful marketing or sales strategy. Many companies need to buy a list of emails to effectively connect with potential customers for their campaigns. However, simply purchasing a generic email database often results in lower accuracy and outdated data. At Ascentrik, our research-based approach ensures that you receive targeted B2B email lists customised to meet your specific requirements.

With Ascentrik’s research-based data, you gain access to contact and company-level details that help you connect quickly with your ideal prospects. Whether you need data segmented by industry, job title, or location, we provide tailored solutions to suit your outreach campaigns. Our custom data research ensures that you receive B2B email databases filled with precise, high-quality information.

Our research-based lead lists include data by industry and job title in key markets like the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Middle East, and Africa. We offer access to top C-suite level data, including names, emails, phone numbers, zip codes, and more. You can also filter these lists based on specific demographic and firmographic factors, ensuring that the leads you acquire are truly relevant to your business.

Benefits of Choosing Ascentrik’s Custom B2B Email Lists

• Guaranteed GDPR Compliance: Our B2B email lists are 100% GDPR compliant, ensuring that your marketing campaigns are legally sound and that recipient consent has been secured via opt-ins.
• Verified Data: Every email list we provide is verified before integration. Our email databases are cross-checked to confirm that email addresses and phone numbers are accurate and up-to-date, especially for markets like the US and UK.
• Real-Time Data Accuracy: Our B2B database includes a timestamp of the most recent verification, so you always know the freshness of the data. Unlike some vendors who only offer credits if 5% of their emails bounce, Ascentrik provides a 100% replacement guarantee and charges only for verified, successful records.
• Integration and Intelligence: Our business databases are flexible, allowing integration with any software and format that suits your CRM or sales systems. We also provide additional sales triggers, such as alerts for recent events, industry trends, and other potential sales opportunities.
• Customised Pricing for Niche Needs: The cost of buying an email database can vary based on the complexity of your requirements. For common categories, pricing is more straightforward, but niche targets demand custom research, making them more resource-intensive in terms of time and cost.

Choosing Ascentrik’s customised email lists means your email bounce rates are minimised, and open rates increase, ensuring that your lead generation campaigns, email marketing, and cold-calling campaigns become highly effective. Because of the custom research and precision involved, the cost of buying a B2B email list from Ascentrik may be higher compared to simple email finder tools, but the quality and impact it brings to your campaigns are unmatched.

Buying Email Lists for the UK, US, and Other Key Markets

Ascentrik has extensive experience providing B2B email lists for industries across the UK, USA, and other key regions. Our made-to-order approach allows you to buy email lists for various sectors, including media, real estate, finance, construction, oil and gas, retail, healthcare, IT, and many more. If you are looking to buy a list of emails for the UK, US, or other specific regions, here’s what Ascentrik provides:

• Custom Email Databases: Our databases are built-to-order using a blend of custom data research by full-time data experts and cutting-edge automated tools. This ensures that the outcome is not just an email list but also the success of your marketing campaigns by providing highly tailored data.
• 100% Accuracy Guaranteed: The B2B contact databases provided by Ascentrik are always fresh and accurate. Manually built email databases are never stored or reused, and once handed over, all data is deleted. This exclusivity ensures that no competitor has access to the same contact list.
• Consent-Based Data Collection: We focus on GDPR compliance and ensure explicit consent from each contact through single or double opt-ins. This guarantees that when you buy an email database from us, you receive only the highest quality data that is legally safe and ready for use.
• Niche Targets Available: As a reliable data partner, we can source not only broad industry data, such as B2B salespeople or software engineers, but also the most specialised niche data like maternity nurses working in New York or event marketers focused on the oil and gas sector in the UK. Such niche targeting is something that you will not find in a typical pre-built company database.
• Exclusive Data Ownership: When you buy a list of emails from Ascentrik, you receive exclusive ownership of your contact list. Once the data is delivered to you, it is deleted from our systems, giving you full privacy and eliminating the risk of data duplication.
• Long-Term Cost Benefits: The cost of buying a B2B email list from Ascentrik is well worth the investment, as our pricing structure ensures long-term value. Your data will not become stale, your email bounce rates will be minimal, and you will avoid the extra cost of data re-verification.

Benefits of Buying Email Lists for the UK, US, and Beyond

When you buy email lists for the UK, you obtain a highly curated set of contact information specifically designed for a particular industry or business field. These lists are tailored to connect your company with the right prospects across various regions.

Targeted Marketing Advantage: By buying a list of emails specifically tailored to your business, you can focus your marketing campaigns on the audience that matters most. Reaching out to contacts within a particular sector, such as finance or healthcare, enhances your ability to connect with potential clients who are genuinely interested in your products or services. With Ascentrik, your B2B data is not just accurate but also highly relevant, increasing the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Ascentrik allows you to customise and buy your email list no matter how niche your target!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the legal considerations when you buy a b2b database?

Your data provider should not overlook privacy norms, GDPR regulations, and consent based opt-ins. Single and double opt-ins indicate the receiver’s consent towards receiving the marketing communication you will be sending them.

Can I buy an email list to target specific decision makers?

Yes, you can buy an email list that targets specific decision-makers by filtering the data based on multiple criteria such as industry, job title, geographic location, and more. At Ascentrik, we provide premium B2B email lists that include key details like email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses, and much more to help you target the right prospects effectively.

How do I buy highly accurate contact lists?

To buy contact lists that are highly accurate, you should partner with data research providers like Ascentrik Research. We offer custom B2B email lists that come with a 100% data replacement guarantee, ensuring you only pay for verified, successful contacts. Simply fill out one of the quick forms on our website, and we’ll start sourcing data tailored to your campaign’s needs.

How does Ascentrik ensure that buying a business database from us is safe?

When you buy a business database from Ascentrik, you are working with a reputed data partner that ensures data accuracy and security. We offer both common databases for quick downloads and custom databases built through specialised research. Throughout the campaign, our team works with you to ensure that all records reach their intended targets. This approach makes buying B2B data from Ascentrik a safe and effective choice.

Can I buy a contact database with opt-in data?

Yes, you can buy a B2B contact database from Ascentrik that includes single and double opt-in data. This means you can be confident that each person on your list has provided explicit consent before you begin your outreach.

Can I buy a company database from Ascentrik?

Absolutely! At Ascentrik Research, we specialise in building highly targeted company databases for niche industries and specific job roles. Our team of dedicated researchers sources and validates data to create custom email lists that are built exclusively for your marketing campaigns.

In what format will the purchased business database be provided?

We provide email lists in any format you need, making it easy to integrate with your CRM or other marketing tools. Ascentrik also offers custom API integration, ensuring that your purchased business database fits seamlessly into your existing workflows.

Do all email marketing services allow you to send emails to purchased email lists?

No, not all email marketing services allow this. Some providers, such as MailChimp, HubSpot, and Constant Contact, do not permit you to send emails to purchased email lists. It is essential to check with your service provider before initiating your campaign. Working with a GDPR-compliant email database helps improve deliverability and avoid issues.

Is it a good idea to buy a B2B database?

Buying an email list can be highly effective, but there are challenges, including data accuracy, data decay, and issues with unsolicited contact if proper consent is not obtained. When you buy a B2B database from Ascentrik, these risks are minimised because every record is thoroughly researched and verified before delivery, ensuring you receive only high-quality, compliant data.

Where should I not buy contact lists from?

Avoid buying email lists from sources that do not guarantee data accuracy or GDPR compliance. Cheap vendors often provide unverified data, which can increase bounce rates and harm your marketing reputation. Ensure that your data provider offers GDPR compliance and opt-in consent for all contacts.

What should I do after I buy a contact database?

After you buy your email list, you should integrate the data with your marketing software and begin your outreach campaigns. Upload the purchased email list to your CRM or email marketing tool to start sending marketing messages to potential customers. For best results, use a verified and trustworthy third-party email service provider, which will help improve deliverability, reduce bounce rates, and enhance open rates.

Ascentrik can also manage your email campaigns directly through your CRM. We are well-versed in creating and managing campaigns, handling pre-sales activities, responding to queries, and ensuring that your contacts are assigned to the right marketing and sales teams.

To know more about our B2B Data Services, click here. Custom B2B Data