Spam Rules
Marketing Emails works with legitimate clients to engage their clients and prospects - not spammers. It's important to understand the rules governing Spam in your area and to abide by these when using the Marketing Emails system. We enforce these rules strictly.
There are three guidelines which you must abide by when planning your email marketing strategy.
- you are required to have consent from your subscribers (express or inferred - see below).
- you are required to identify yourself or your company.
- provide a clear way for your subscribers to unsubscribe whenever they choose.
1. Consent
Whether you're targeting new customers or managing existing databases, you always need a person's consent before you can send them commercial electronic messages. There are two types of consent: express and inferred.
Express Consent:
A customer can express consent in a number of ways, by filling in a subscription form, clicking a subscribe button on a website through to face-to-face confirmation or even by swapping business cards.
Inferred Consent
If you have a previous relationship where there is a reasonable expectation for a commercial email then consent may be inferred.
Purchasing Emails Lists
If you have purchased emails lists for marketing purposes make sure the provider of the list is a legitimate business who only supplies lists from opt-in sources. If people have not at one stage agreed to receive emails (usually by ticking an option to say I agree to receive emails from partners) then you do not have their permission and you increase the risk of the server being blacklisted.
2. Identify
Any commercial email you get sent requires that you clearly identify yourself or your business. This information has to be completely accurate and cannot mislead your subscribers in any way. You must also provide information on how your contacts can contact you, either electronically or physically.
3. Unsubscribe
The ability to unsubscribe from the mailing list is mandatory with all business emails and as a business you must make it easy to do so. It is required that your unsubscribe facility addresses the following;
- the unsubscribe function per email is required to stay active for 30 days.
- unsubscribe instructions must be presented in a clear and conspicuous way.
- as a business you are required to honour the unsubscribe request within 5 working days (the Marking Emails system handles this automatically).
- unsubscribing must be at no, or low cost (cost is typically only acceptable with SMS services).
There are many different ways that you can provide an unsubscribe function on your marketing emails. They can vary from a simple unsubscribe link to replying unsubscribe to the email in question. The Marketing Emails system provides a simple unsubscribe link where people can automatically unsubscribe from newsletters.
For a more detailed explanation please visit the ACMA website or contact us.