You should only ever email customers who have made it clear they wish to be contacted. So how do you get leads in the first place?

The best place to collect customer information is on your website. Simply ask customers if they’d like to join your mailing list when they check out, or if you want to collect leads for a newsletter, provide a sign-up form on your site.

You must make sure any email lists you buy are double-opt in lists. These give contacts at least two chances to agree to receiving emails regarding relevant products or information. In our experience, cheap email marketing lists are a waste of money. They’re often out of date and many contacts will have opted out since the list was put together.