Where can you source data for cold email?
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Where your cold email list comes from matters more than most people realize. Under GDPR, a vendor's compliance doesn't transfer to you. You need your own lawful basis for processing that data, regardless of what the provider's terms of service say.
Safest sources: Your own network, inbound leads that didn't convert, trade show attendees who opted in to follow-up, and published business contacts where outreach is contextually reasonable. No compliance gray areas here.
Commercial data providers: ZoomInfo, Apollo, Lusha, and Clearbit aggregate business contacts from public sources. Quality varies a lot by provider and how fresh the data is. Before committing, ask for documentation of their collection methods. Then have legal confirm it satisfies your lawful basis in the regions you're targeting.
Higher-risk sources: Scraped social media data, compiled lists from unknown vendors, data without documented provenance. CAN-SPAM has lower bars for B2B cold outreach than GDPR does, but neither law protects you when the data source is questionable.
The quick test: if you can't explain where a contact came from and why they'd recognize your company, they're not a safe cold target.
Before launching any campaign, validating your list catches addresses that'll bounce or trigger spam filters. Cheap insurance before risking your sender reputation on new data. If you want that done properly, Review My Emails cleans lists specifically for outreach ;)
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