Email data
A business email list is only worth as much as its addresses and the way you use them. This page shows which email addresses our UK contact lists contain, how we clean them, how many there are, and what PECR and the UK GDPR allow when you email businesses.
Figures as at 4 November 2026 · page updated: 8 November 2026 · general information, not legal advice · by Martin Adamec
In brief
Every address is one that the business published itself: on the contact page of its own website or in open map data. Typical examples are info@, sales@, enquiries@ or office@. Named addresses such as jane.smith@ appear only where the business publishes them on its own website. We do not build addresses from patterns such as firstname@company, and an empty field stays empty.
Two kinds of address are removed before counting: addresses shared by three or more records with different names, which usually belong to a web agency, a franchise head office or a directory, and role mailboxes for data protection requests, such as dpo@ or privacy@, which are not meant for sales enquiries.
| Item | Count |
|---|---|
| Records with their own email address (all records) | 745.988 |
| of them active businesses | 743.504 |
| Own address found only on the company website | 204.882 |
| Records with any email address, including shared ones | 929.740 |
| Shared addresses removed (3 or more records with different names) | 23.229 |
| Company websites read so far (live) | 603.041 |
Source: our own dataset (Overture Maps and company websites). All figures and the coverage by nation: database status.
PECR distinguishes between corporate and individual subscribers (reg. 2). The difference decides whether you need consent before the first marketing email.
| Recipient | Subscriber type | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| Private or public limited company, LLP, Scottish partnership | corporate | no prior consent; every email must say who you are and give a valid address for opting out (reg. 23) |
| Sole trader, partnership in England, Wales or Northern Ireland | individual | consent, or a soft opt-in for your own customers (reg. 22(3)), which a bought list cannot provide |
| Named employee at a limited company | corporate | as for the company, but the address is personal data under the UK GDPR (see below) |
The full overview with texts, calls and the TPS registers is in PECR for B2B cold email and calls. A letter by post is not covered by PECR, which makes it the safer first contact for records whose legal form you do not know.
An address such as jane.smith@company.co.uk identifies a person, so the UK GDPR applies even though PECR treats the company as the subscriber. If you rely on legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)), document your balancing test, tell the recipient where you got the address no later than in your first email (Art. 14), and stop at once when someone objects: the right to object to direct marketing is absolute (Art. 21(3)). We give the Art. 14 information for our own processing on the your rights page and honour objections via the opt-out page.
Buying the list is not the issue; how you use it is. Under PECR you may send marketing emails to corporate subscribers (limited companies, PLCs, LLPs, Scottish partnerships) without prior consent if every email identifies you and gives a valid address for opting out (reg. 23). Sole traders and partnerships in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are individual subscribers: they need consent (reg. 22). Named addresses are personal data under the UK GDPR.
No. They are addresses that businesses publish themselves, on their websites or in map listings. Nobody on the list has agreed to receive your emails, and a bought list never gives you a soft opt-in: that exception only covers details you collected yourself in the course of a sale or negotiations.
The quote states it. Across all records, 745.988 have their own email address (as at 4 November 2026); our records are not yet assigned to industries, so we count per request. Make the email address a required field if you only want records that have one.
They are taken from the source, not mailbox-tested. We remove addresses that three or more businesses with different names share and addresses meant for data protection requests, such as dpo@ or privacy@. Run your own verification before sending; published addresses change.
Partly. Records matched with Companies House carry the company number and legal form, which identify limited companies and LLPs. The matching is still in progress; an empty legal form does not mean the business is a sole trader, so treat unmatched records with care or contact them by post first.
Name the industry, the area and whether every record must have an email address. Contact lists of a whole industry start at £199.
Request a contact list · Sample contact list · info@contactdatabase.co.uk
