How to keep on the right side of the Email Marketing Law

In a recent case, Microsoft was awarded £45,000, against Bizads a business selling supposedly "permission" email addresses for unsolicited commercial email (UCEM) purposes. For Microsoft and other industries alike some UCEM is more than an annoyance, it also reduces customers trust in UCEM.  As a marketer you want to retain your customers trust. One way to do this is by following certain key regulatory issues before sending a UCEM in the UK.

Checklist: some key regulatory issues you need to be aware of before sending UCEM in the UK

Knowing your "opt-in" from your "opt-out": The words “opt-in” don’t actually appear in the legislation, but with two exceptions. UCEM cannot be legally sent in the UK unless the recipient has previously notified you that they consent to receiving them. Normally ticking an “opt-in” box will do the trick provided care is taken in the wording by the box. The exceptions to “opt-in” allow UCEM to be sent on an “opt-out” basis, in other words the assumption is that the recipient has agreed to receive UCEM unless and until the have opted-out.

Exceptions to the "opt-in" rules

Customer "soft opt-in" : This relates to your own existing customers who have not already opted-in. You can email your existing customers as long as you have collected their email addresses when they are buying or negotiating to buy, given them a simple and free opportunity to "opt-out", ensured that any subsequent UCEM is promoting products similar to the goods or services originally purchased and guaranteed that all future UCEM will only be sent by the business the email address was given to.

B2B industry: It is acceptable to send UCEM promoting business products to employees of limited companies unless the recipient has previously requested otherwise.

Make things clear: The law states that you must ensure that the commercial nature of your mailing is always clear on receipt. In addition, it is always a good idea to use a sender address, which people will recognise and trust, thus ensuring higher open rates.

Let people know who you are: Since January 2007 all UCEM from limited companies must mention full corporate name, country of incorporation, registered number and registered office, otherwise you could risk a fine!

Unsubscribe process: Always give a valid unsubscribe address on every UCEM that you send. To set up an unsubscribe for your emails you can choose from one of three methods. Either add in a URL link, which sends the user through to an unsubscribe page or in reply include an unsubscribe in the subject line otherwise refer to a new email to send including a customer ID.

Viral marketing: Viral marketing is a great way to reach a large audience and can be done in one of two ways so far as the data protection watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office is concerned. You can either:

a) ask the recipient to forward the UCEM message onto a friend(s) or
b) invite the recipient to provide their friend(s) contact details to you so you can send the UCEM

If you decided to use option, a) you should strongly advise the recipient to only forward on the email if they believe their friend will be happy to receive it. If you incentivise the recipient and their friend is not happy to receive the mailing, you may be liable as an ‘instigator’.

Alternatively, if you choose to use option b) you will only be able to use the recipients’ friends contact details if the friend has notified the recipient that they consent to receiving emails from you and the recipient has confirmed this with you. You will also need to inform the recipient that their friends will be informed as to how you got their contact details. Finally, check that the recipient has not already asked you to suppress their details!

As you will see from this checklist there are many best practice rules and regulations surrounding Email Marketing compliance therefore if you have any further questions or would like to receive more information about this topic please visit http://www.marketinglaw.co.uk/ or alternatively contact our expert Stephen Groom directly – Stephen.Groomosborneclarke.com

This article is a summary of eCircle’s newsletter "Inside Digital Marketing". If this article was forwarded to you as a recommendation and you wish to receive further news from the email marketing sector yourself you can subscribe here.