Its one of the most common questions Im asked about online fundraising. Should we rent an email list? The question usually comes when a big moment happens for your campaign and you want to make the most of your opportunity.
Its the right instinct to have, but unless youve invested in building your relationships with supporters, you wont see the results youre expecting.
Speaking of results, you first need to understand what your goals are. Never take action without a clear objective. Are you trying to raise money and you expect to break even or possibly come ahead? Are you trying to prospect for new donors? Are you trying to grow your email list?
Renting an email list can certainly help you with all of these goals, but it may not be the best course of action.
When you rent an email list, youre borrowing someone elses audience at a premium. Email list rentals are typically priced on a cost per thousand emails basis and the price varies greatly depending on the size and quality of the underlying list.
Campaigns can pursue a traditional rental agreement, where you pay an upfront cost to send an email to the list, but there are two alternatives to consider if theyre available to you. The first is a no risk rental. In this instance, you wont pay more than what you raise from the email, until you break even. At that point anything raised above and beyond the rental cost is profit.
The second, more attractive option, is a revenue sharing rental (commonly referred to as a revshare). Every dollar you raise will be split along a percentage with some going to you and some going to the list owner, after the list broker and credit card processing fees have been paid.
These options will likely be unavailable to you unless youre working for a nationally known candidate or hot-button race.
Email rentals are perfect for the instance where youve got email copy that is already performing well either because of the timing, the importance of your campaign, or the notoriety of the signer and now youre ready to scale quickly.
You should always test your email fundraising copy before you pay to send it to a rented list. Its a lesson Ive personally learned the hard way. Never pay to send an email you dont already know is going to work.
If youre able to get a surrogate like a nationally recognized politician or well-known celebrity to sign a fundraising email for your campaign and it performs well on your list you should consider sending it to a list rental.
Finally, if you cant afford a rental or its not yet the right circumstance, email list sharing is an excellent way to grow your email list and it helps your fellow Republicans.
Otherwise, you should focus on the slow, steady hard work of building an email list through driving traffic to your website with petitions and surveys.