Did you know that ServiceNow user lists can be marketing gold mines or legal nightmares depending on how you build them?
As ServiceNow continues to dominate the enterprise service management landscape, targeted lists of its users have become invaluable assets for B2B marketers. However, navigating the complex web of data privacy regulations while building these lists presents significant challenges. Despite the potential ROI that well-crafted ServiceNow user lists can deliver, many marketers find themselves hesitating due to concerns about legal compliance.
Furthermore, with regulations like GDPR and CAN-SPAM carrying hefty penalties for violations, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Consequently, understanding both the strategic methods for building these lists and the legal framework within which they must operate has become essential knowledge for modern B2B marketers.
This guide will walk you through the legal considerations, acquisition strategies, verification techniques, and best practices for effectively using ServiceNow user lists in your marketing campaigns. By the end, you’ll have a clear roadmap for building and leveraging these powerful resources while staying firmly on the right side of the law.
What Is a ServiceNow User List and Why It Matters
ServiceNow user lists have become essential tools for B2B marketers looking to reach decision-makers at companies utilizing this powerful platform. Before diving into acquisition strategies and legal considerations, it’s crucial to understand what these lists actually are and why they’re worth the effort to build properly.
Definition and key components
A ServiceNow user email list is a curated database of contacts who use or make decisions about ServiceNow within their organizations. These lists contain detailed information about professionals who interact with ServiceNow’s cloud-based workflow automation platform.
At their core, ServiceNow user lists are derived from the platform’s user records. Each user record establishes a relationship between an individual and a ServiceNow instance, containing several key components:
- Basic contact information (email address, name, phone number)
- Professional details (job title, department, role within the organization)
- Company information (size, revenue, industry, location)
- Technical specifics (which ServiceNow products they use)
- Hierarchical relationships (reporting structure, team membership)
ServiceNow’s own documentation notes that user records consist of usernames, passwords, and information relating to individuals such as contact information, location, and job titles . These records are stored in the Users table and are associated with other tables to control permissions, preferences, and other features.
The significance of these lists becomes clear when considering ServiceNow’s market penetration: 85% of Fortune 500 companies use ServiceNow. Additionally, 56% of ServiceNow users are based in the United States, with 7% coming from the United Kingdom.
How it supports B2B marketing and sales
ServiceNow user lists fundamentally transform B2B marketing approaches by enabling highly targeted campaigns. Instead of general outreach, marketers can focus specifically on professionals who already understand and use ServiceNow’s ecosystem.
Primarily, these lists support marketing in several ways:
First, they allow for precise targeting of decision-makers. Rather than guessing who might need your ServiceNow-related products or services, you can directly reach IT professionals, HR managers, CIOs, and CTOs who actively use the platform.
Second, they enable personalized messaging. As noted by Colin Fleming, ServiceNow CMO, the company has shifted to a “business-to-human” approach, organizing their entire lead funnel and go-to-market engine around humans rather than abstract leads. Similarly, marketers using ServiceNow user lists can craft messages that resonate with specific roles and use cases.
Third, these lists support multi-channel marketing strategies. The data can be leveraged across email campaigns, direct mail, telemarketing, and social media outreach for a coordinated approach.
In essence, ServiceNow customers lists help marketers identify and connect with qualified prospects who already understand the platform’s value. This targeted approach leads to higher conversion rates and shorter sales cycles compared to general B2B outreach, especially when marketing complementary products or services that integrate with ServiceNow.
Legal Considerations Before You Start
Before jumping into building a ServiceNow user list, understanding the legal landscape is essential. Navigating data privacy regulations requires careful attention, as non-compliance can result in severe penalties that threaten both your marketing budget and company reputation.
Understanding GDPR and CAN-SPAM
The legal framework governing B2B data lists is primarily shaped by two major regulations: GDPR for European data and CAN-SPAM for the United States.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to B2B marketing whenever you process personal data of business contacts, including names, job titles, and business email addresses. Although many marketers assume GDPR only affects consumer marketing, this costly misconception has led to significant compliance failures across the business sector.
Meanwhile, the CAN-SPAM Act governs commercial emails in the US. It mandates clear identification of commercial emails and providing opt-out mechanisms. There are no exceptions for B2B marketers, with all emails—even messages to former customers announcing new products—required to comply with the law.
Consent and data sourcing rules
For ServiceNow user lists, two primary lawful bases exist under GDPR: consent and legitimate interests.
Consent must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. It must also be as easy to withdraw consent as it was to give it. Documentation of consent is essential-you must be able to demonstrate when and how consent was obtained if requested during compliance audits.
A common misconception is that publicly available data from sources like LinkedIn or business directories is exempt from regulations. However, if you want to use publicly available personal data for marketing to an individual, even in a business context, you need to comply with GDPR . Personal data includes business email addresses containing individual names (e.g., [email protected] ).
The rules vary depending on whether you’re contacting corporate subscribers (limited companies, LLPs, government bodies) or individual subscribers (sole traders, certain partnerships). Under PECR, corporate subscribers can receive marketing emails without prior consent, provided recipients can easily opt out.
Working with compliant data providers
When purchasing ServiceNow user lists, thorough due diligence is essential. Many data providers claim compliance but may contain unusable data points—outdated information, contacts on do-not-contact lists, or non-compliant data.
Reputable providers should offer:
- Lists that comply with data privacy laws such as GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CCPA
- Documentation about how consent was obtained
- Information about what purposes were disclosed to contacts
- Regular verification processes (ideally every 30 days)
- Minimum 95% deliverability rates
Look for providers that use first-party data rather than web scraping or third-party sources. Third-party data often provides high volume but low quality, creating compliance risks.
Remember that if an individual’s email address is on a purchased list and they have not explicitly agreed for your company to contact them, reaching out could violate regulations. Working with non-compliant providers opens your organization to all the regulatory challenges mentioned above.
The stakes couldn’t be higher—beyond financial penalties, non-compliance can damage customer confidence, disrupt business operations, and trigger legal actions. Therefore, proper legal compliance isn’t just a regulatory checkbox but a fundamental business requirement when building ServiceNow user lists.
Top Ways to Build or Acquire a ServiceNow User List
Now that you understand what ServiceNow user lists are and the legal framework surrounding them, let’s explore practical approaches to building or acquiring these valuable marketing resources.
Buy from verified B2B data providers
Purchasing from established B2B data providers offers the fastest path to acquiring ServiceNow user lists. Several reputable companies specialize in this niche, offering extensively verified contacts.
Data Marketers Group provides ServiceNow users email lists with 95% deliverability rates and regular 90-day updates to maintain accuracy. Their lists include detailed segmentation options like job titles, company size, industry, and geographic location.
When selecting a provider, look for these essential qualities:
- Data verification processes (both automated and manual)
- Regular update schedules (ideally every 30-45 days)
- Compliance certifications with GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CCPA
- High deliverability guarantees (minimum 95%)
- Double opt-in confirmation processes
Collect leads at ServiceNow events
Industry events present excellent opportunities for gathering first-party data with proper consent. The advantage here lies in the quality of connections—people attending ServiceNow-focused events are actively engaged with the platform.
ServiceNow hosts numerous events throughout the year, including their flagship Knowledge conference, regional forums, and industry-specific gatherings. These events attract key decision-makers who often have purchasing authority for ServiceNow-related products and services.
Use LinkedIn and company tech stacks
LinkedIn offers a wealth of information about ServiceNow professionals that can be ethically sourced. The platform’s integration capabilities with ServiceNow make it particularly valuable.
Creating an application in LinkedIn’s developer account allows you to establish ServiceNow as a consumer and LinkedIn as a provider. Subsequently, you can configure OAuth profiles in ServiceNow, create REST messages, and even post content directly to LinkedIn from within ServiceNow.
Nonetheless, remember that even publicly available data from LinkedIn remains subject to data privacy regulations as covered in the previous section.
Manual research and outreach
For smaller, highly targeted campaigns, manual research yields the highest quality leads albeit at a slower pace. This approach involves identifying companies using ServiceNow through:
- Industry publications and case studies
- ServiceNow community forums where users identify their organizations
- Company job postings mentioning ServiceNow experience
One practical approach involves examining groups in ServiceNow. As noted in community discussions, extracting or reporting from the sys_user_grmember table provides visibility into group memberships. This helps identify individuals who handle incidents and requests—valuable contacts for targeted outreach.
Regardless of which approach you choose, maintaining legal compliance remains paramount. The methods above should all operate within the framework of data privacy regulations discussed in the previous section.
How to Verify and Segment Your List
Once you’ve assembled your ServiceNow user list, the quality of your data determines campaign effectiveness. Poor verification leads to wasted resources and potential compliance issues.
Email verification tools and methods
The first step in validating your ServiceNow user list involves confirming email accuracy. Quality providers guarantee at least 95% deliverability rates through systematic verification. Several verification approaches include:
- Email syntax checking to identify formatting errors
- Domain verification to confirm active business domains
- Mailbox verification to test if addresses actually exist
- Sender reputation monitoring to reduce spam flags
For ServiceNow-specific verification, the platform itself offers built-in tools. The “Lookup and verify” feature in the Contextual side panel allows agents to search and confirm contact information using a type-ahead search that displays results as more characters are entered. This verification process can search by name, phone number, email address, or even case number, with multiple display fields helping differentiate contacts.
Segmenting by industry, size, or region
Following verification, effective segmentation dramatically increases campaign performance. The ServiceNow user database offers numerous segmentation options:
- Industry and vertical
- Company size (revenue and employees)
- Geographic location (country, city, state)
- Technical parameters (which ServiceNow modules used)
- NAICS/SIC codes for precise targeting
According to Data Marketers Group, their ServiceNow lists offer more than 10 segmentation options to help marketers narrow their target market effectively. Properly segmented lists allow for personalized messaging based on specific use cases and organizational needs.
Removing duplicates and outdated contacts
Finally, eliminating duplicate and outdated records ensures database accuracy and prevents annoying your prospects with redundant communications.
ServiceNow’s sys_user table often contains duplicate records that require cleanup. To address this common issue, administrators can:
- Identify duplicate records based on user ID
- Create a unique index on the sys_user table for the user-id field
- Use database tools to eliminate redundancies
Without proper deduplication, your marketing efforts may reach the same person multiple times, damaging your brand reputation.
Beyond one-time cleanup, implement a regular update schedule. Most quality providers refresh their ServiceNow user lists every 45-90 days. TDInsights notes they maintain data on 107,847 ServiceNow customers with available email addresses for 84,772 contacts, underscoring the importance of ongoing maintenance.
As a result of proper verification and segmentation, your campaigns will target the right decision-makers with relevant messaging, significantly improving conversion rates.
Best Practices for Using the List in Campaigns
Once your verified and segmented ServiceNow user list is ready, extracting maximum value requires strategic implementation. Effective campaigns go beyond simple mass emails to leverage personalization, automation, and data-driven refinement.
Personalizing your outreach
Personalization transforms standard outreach into compelling conversations. Essentially, ServiceNow’s own marketing approach demonstrates this principle by connecting with audiences through stories that resonate with their challenges rather than merely promoting products. Their campaigns incorporate customer testimonials and success stories to create relatable narratives for potential customers.
For the most part, AI-driven personalization has become crucial for B2B campaigns targeting ServiceNow users. Organizations can train AI models to improve lead scoring, create personalized email sequences with minimal effort, predict buyer intent across industries, and optimize campaign performance through real-time analytics. This granular segmentation enables messages that resonate with both individuals and organizations.
Using automation tools effectively
Marketing automation platforms streamline campaign management for ServiceNow user lists. Tenon Marketing Automation, built specifically for ServiceNow, allows marketers to:
- Build segmented lists using marketing insights and ServiceNow data
- Design customer journeys with a drag-and-drop interface
- Trigger messages based on customer behavior
- Schedule campaigns and track performance from a single solution
Even more importantly, these tools enable consolidated platforms where marketers can segment audiences based on data uniquely available from ServiceNow integration. This consolidation eliminates the need to bounce between disconnected tools when building customer journeys, emails, landing pages, and SMS campaigns.
Tracking performance and refining strategy
Content Analytics offers vital feedback on campaign effectiveness. Upon enabling tracking, the system generates data visualizations showing user interactions with content. These analytics track various engagement metrics including banner impressions, email clickthroughs, video plays, and task completions.
First thing to remember, ServiceNow has seen remarkable results from strategic campaign alignment—achieving a 69% improvement in conversion rates when demand campaigns were warmed by brand campaigns. Additionally, they experienced a 50% lift in engagement rates for members exposed to both brand and demand messaging.
In time, these metrics allow marketers to identify which messages resonate with specific segments of their ServiceNow user list, enabling continuous optimization of targeting strategies and content approaches.
Conclusion
Building effective ServiceNow user lists represents both a significant opportunity and responsibility for B2B marketers. Throughout this guide, we’ve explored how these targeted lists serve as powerful assets when created with attention to legal requirements and quality standards.
Legal compliance stands as the foundation of any successful list-building strategy. GDPR and CAN-SPAM regulations demand careful attention to consent mechanisms and data sourcing practices. Therefore, marketers must prioritize working with verified providers or collecting first-party data through legitimate channels rather than risking substantial penalties.
Acquisition strategies vary based on organizational needs and resources. Purchasing from reputable B2B data providers offers efficiency, while event-based collection yields highly engaged prospects. Additionally, LinkedIn research and manual outreach provide alternative pathways for smaller, targeted campaigns.
Data verification subsequently transforms raw contacts into marketing gold. Email validation tools, strategic segmentation, and regular database maintenance ensure your messages reach the right decision-makers. This verification process prevents wasted resources and protects sender reputation.
Campaign execution ultimately determines your return on investment. Personalized outreach that addresses specific ServiceNow use cases resonates more effectively than generic messaging. Coupled with automation tools and performance tracking, this approach creates a continuous improvement cycle that refines targeting and content strategies over time.
Above all, remember that ServiceNow user lists hold tremendous value specifically because they connect you with professionals already familiar with the platform. Balancing marketing effectiveness with ethical data practices not only keeps you legally compliant but also builds lasting trust with potential customers. As ServiceNow continues its enterprise growth, marketers who master this balance will find themselves positioned for sustainable success in this specialized ecosystem.
FAQs
1. What is a ServiceNow user list?
A ServiceNow user list is a database of professionals and organizations using the ServiceNow platform. It typically includes contact details, company information, job titles, and product usage insights, enabling B2B marketers to target decision-makers more precisely.
2. Is it legal to buy a ServiceNow user list for marketing?
Yes, buying a ServiceNow user list is legal only if the data provider complies with regulations such as GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CCPA. Always ensure that the provider collects data through consent-based or legitimate-interest models and maintains compliance documentation.
3. How can I verify the authenticity of a ServiceNow user list?
You can verify authenticity using email verification tools, domain checks, and manual validation. Reputable providers should also offer at least 95% deliverability, regular data updates, and transparent sourcing details.
4. What are the key legal regulations to follow when building B2B email lists?
The most important regulations include:
- GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) – for processing personal data of EU residents.
- CAN-SPAM Act – for sending commercial emails in the U.S.
- CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) – for protecting data privacy in California.
All laws emphasize consent, transparency, and easy opt-out options.
5. Can I use LinkedIn data to build a ServiceNow user list?
While LinkedIn is a valuable resource for identifying ServiceNow professionals, you must not scrape or use personal data without consent. Instead, connect organically, engage through content, or use LinkedIn’s advertising and Sales Navigator tools.
6. What are the best ways to collect ServiceNow leads ethically?
Ethical lead collection methods include:
- Gathering first-party data at ServiceNow events and webinars.
- Using opt-in forms on landing pages.
- Partnering with GDPR-compliant data providers.
- Offering valuable content (like whitepapers or demos) in exchange for contact information.
7. How often should I update my ServiceNow user list?
To maintain accuracy and compliance, update and verify your ServiceNow user lists every 45 to 90 days. Outdated or duplicate data can lower deliverability rates and increase the risk of spam complaints.
8. How can segmentation improve my ServiceNow marketing campaigns?
Segmentation helps personalize your outreach by grouping users based on industry, location, company size, or ServiceNow modules used. It leads to higher engagement, improved conversions, and better campaign ROI.
9. What happens if I send emails to ServiceNow users without consent?
Sending unsolicited emails without proper consent can result in severe penalties, including fines under GDPR (up to €20 million or 4% of global revenue) and CAN-SPAM violations in the U.S. It can also harm your brand’s reputation and sender score.
10. How can marketing automation tools help with ServiceNow user lists?
Automation tools like Tenon Marketing Automation or HubSpot streamline segmentation, lead nurturing, and follow-ups. They allow marketers to trigger campaigns based on behavior, improving engagement and efficiency.