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Contents · Your audience

Your audience · Updated Oct 16, 2026

Build a list you may email

In short

A good list is short and chosen: people whose work your offer is for, at an address you can say where you got. Bought, rented and scraped lists are out.

Where addresses may come from

Your own customers
People who bought from you or use your product. Write to them about what's relevant to that relationship.
People who came to you
Anyone who asked to hear from you: a form on your site, a demo request, a sign-up, a business card handed to you at an event.
Public business contacts, within the law
A work address that a company or person publishes for business contact, such as on their website, for someone whose role your email is about. Whether you may email it depends on where they are: see the law below.

No bought lists

Don't buy, rent, swap or scrape lists. The people on them never heard of you, the addresses are often dead or are traps set to catch spammers, and every bounce and spam report counts against your domain, for every mailbox on it. SendPath's Acceptable Use Policy doesn't allow them without a lawful basis for every address, which a bought list almost never gives you.

  • Purchased, rented, shared or traded lists.
  • Addresses scraped from websites, directories or social networks.
  • People who opted out of your email anywhere else.

The law, in short

This is a short overview, not legal advice. The rules depend on where the people you email are.
United States
CAN-SPAM allows cold email to businesses, with honest sender details and a working opt-out.
European Union and UK
A work address is personal data, so you need a lawful reason (often legitimate interest), and you must say where you got the address if asked. Some countries, Germany for example, are stricter.
Canada
CASL generally needs consent. A narrow exception covers an address published openly for business, with no note against unsolicited email, when your email is about the person's role.

More in The main laws.

Build it step by step

  1. Step 1: Decide who your offer is for: the roles, and the kind of company.
  2. Step 2: Collect addresses from the sources above only, with a source column saying where each one came from. If someone asks how you got their address, you can answer.
  3. Step 3: Import the CSV. Import a list
  4. Step 4: Verify it. Verification removes the addresses that would bounce. Verify a list
  5. Step 5: Add the people who unsubscribed in your old tool to Suppressions, so they're never emailed again. Suppressions
  6. Step 6: Start small, read the replies, and narrow the list if people ask why you wrote.

If something's wrong

Many addresses come back invalid.
The list is old, or it wasn't built from real contacts. Find out where it came from before you use the rest of it.
People ask how you got their address.
Answer from your source column, and offer to remove them. If it keeps happening, the list is too broad.

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Related

Outreach or spam? What makes it legitimateWhat separates a cold email people accept from spam, a quick test before you send, and what SendPath enforces.Import contactsImporting your own lists from a CSV file, Google Sheets or typed addresses, and using their columns in emails.Verify your listsChecking addresses before they're emailed: what the results mean and how many checks your plan includes.

Something missing or wrong? Email support@sendpath.ai.