Bad Ideas: Why Giving Your Email List to a Third Party Is Just Dumb

A story recently broke on 404 Media that made deliverability experts everywhere cry a little inside: YouTube channel Channel 5 admitted to handing a CSV file of its email subscribers over to a third party so that person could market a new product to them.Putting aside the specific names and political figures involved (which are irrelevant to the underlying email mechanics) this incident serves as a prime example of what never to do with your email list.If you own an email list, hand-delivering a .csv file of your subscribers' contact information to a third party is fundamentally, egregiously stupid. It harms deliverability, breaks the law, betrays subscriber trust, and destroys the value of your own audience.On the one hand, I'm surprised that this needs to be said. On the other hand, I need to recognize that not everybody has a history and understanding of email marketing best practices. Of what the rules are when it comes to mailbox providers and spam filters. Of what's commonly…