Can I Add This Contact to Our Email List? A Fund Marketer’s Dilemma
We’ve all been there. You’ve come across a goldmine of contacts from an industry database or an event attendee list – fund allocators, consultants, analysts, and prospective investors—and the temptation is strong: Should we just add them to our insights mailing list?
A marketer in fund management recently asked this exact question, and it’s one that deserves a closer look. The query boiled down to this:
“What’s the standard approach to adding people from an industry database to our insights list for regular outreach?”
There are generally three routes marketers consider:
1. Make First Contact Personally, Then Add Them
This is the most relationship-driven and GDPR-safe approach. Reach out to each contact individually—either by phone or personalised email—and in that introduction, mention your regular insights or thought leadership emails.
Pros:
Builds trust and sets the tone for future engagement.
Creates a valid basis for ongoing communication under “legitimate interest” or “soft opt-in” rules.
Helps qualify if they even want your content.
Cons:
Time-consuming if you’re working with a large list.
Not scalable unless you use smart automation or outreach sequences.
2. Send an Unsolicited ‘Welcome Email’ With an Opt-Out
This approach involves sending a one-off email that introduces your firm and invites them to receive future insights—ideally with a clear unsubscribe option.
Pros:
Fast way to gauge interest.
Compliant in some jurisdictions if the content is relevant and the opt-out is clearly offered.
Can be highly effective if the message is warm, relevant, and human.
Cons:
Riskier in terms of GDPR and spam complaints if not handled sensitively.
Can feel impersonal or intrusive if you haven’t established context.
3. Just Start Sending Insights
Tempting—but risky. Jumping straight into sending insights to people who haven’t opted in or heard from you before may result in:
Low engagement
High unsubscribe rates
Spam complaints
Potential compliance breaches
Unless your list is built on legitimate interest with previous interactions, this can do more harm than good to your sender reputation and brand perception.
So, What’s the Best Practice?
For fund marketers, trust and credibility are everything. The best route often combines personal outreach with permission-based marketing. Here’s a hybrid approach:
Segment your new list by firm type or geography.
Use personalised outreach (manual or automated) to say “We thought this might be useful—would you like to receive more insights like this?”
Track opens, clicks, and replies, and only move engaged contacts into your insights stream.
Always include a clear and easy opt-out.
Final Thought
Adding names to a list is easy. Building a credible, compliant, and engaged email audience takes more thought. When in doubt, think like an investor: if you were on the receiving end, how would you want to be approached?
The long game is better for everyone—and your metrics and your SPAM reputation will thank you for it.
Here is a template that I quite like
Subject: Thought leadership and insights for [industry/profession] professionals
Hi [First Name],
I hope you don’t mind the outreach — I came across your details through [industry database name / context] and wanted to quickly introduce myself.
I’m part of the team at [Your Company], where we regularly share insights, data-driven commentary, and event invitations tailored to professionals in [industry/sector].
We thought this might be relevant to you, so we’ll include you in our regular insights emails. Of course, you can unsubscribe at any time if it’s not of interest — but we hope you’ll find the content useful.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d prefer a quick chat or have any questions about what we share.
All the best, [Your Name] [Your Title] [Company Name] [Contact details]
