Verifying Email List - Need Advice

There is only one acceptable solution.

Delete the list.

Sending an email to a list of purchased emails is spam. Violates CAN-SPAM Act and will result in getting your emails blacklisted by ISPs and links blocked by domain reputation services. It's not worth the risk.

As an alternative, if she has contact information like addresses, consider doing a direct mail campaign to encouraging recipients opt-in. It's costlier, but these contacts are investments who some will turn into leads, then customers.

We've terminated too many customers than we should because of this and they aren't happy campers when we do. And it usually comes down to assumptions about permission. "Emails targeted to her business profession" would be an assumption. There is no evidence they actually requested HER to contact them.

We aren't the only ISP who feels this way. Just ask MailChimp, AWeber, iContact, Constant Contact, GetResponse or others. Spam is not tolerated and will only set your client back.

I hope I'm not coming off as overly cautious. I want to make it clear that this practice is prohibited across the board in the email marketing industry. There is no hygiene service that can "clean" purchased lists. It's purchased. Period.

There' one site I've seen offering up to 1 Billion email addresses, claiming they are opt-in, right.

Renting an email list, much like direct marketers rent postal addresses is the way to go, in the case of the Email list the owner mails on your behalf.

There's massive database of available demographically targeted lists in the ( Media Planning / Find a mailing list) section of NextMark.com

Responders can always be captured to a new opt-in list of your own.