complying with the new EU regulations

New regulations affecting email marketing came into force throughout Europe on 11th December, 2003. We have included some broad interpretations below as a guide. The source document, The Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications should be referred to on a case-by-case basis.

consumer email marketing
The new legislation explicitly prohibits the sending of unsolicited commercial email to individuals without prior consent EXCEPT where there is an existing customer relationship. In these cases you must clearly identify the sender, the subject matter of your email and provide contact details and an opt-out method in each communication.

An existing customer relationship is defined as being instances where you have been given email details in the course of a sale or negotiations for a sale of a product or service. You can only send these contacts details of your own or similar products or services.

corporate email marketing
Emails may be sent on an opt-out basis to corporate users provided there is a clear opt-out method in each email. The DTI have put forward the following definition of a corporate user:

The distinction between corporate and individual subscribers largely, but not exclusively, follows a corporate / residential divide. Most businesses fall into the category of corporate subscribers, except sole traders and partnerships outside Scotland (except limited liability partnerships), which are defined as individual subscribers.

the penalties
Anyone found to be contravening the new regulations will be given a maximum £5000 fine in a magistrates court or an unlimited fine if trial is before a jury. Anyone suffering damages has the right to sue for compensation.

gaining permission
The majority of campaigns we run for our clients fall into the B2B category, however even in B2B cases we work on the premise that permission makes for a more successful campaign.

You can gain permission from your prospects through various methods. The most obvious way is through your day-to-day contacts with your audience using your sales staff and customer service representatives. You should also maximise the opportunities presented by the information you collect in your web site. You can integrate subscription techniques into your other marketing activity including print based communications. You can also mount dedicated campaigns to gain permission including telemarketing campaigns and competitions.

building on permission
Once permission is gained the task of building a relationship has begun. Customers will require targeted, relevant information only and trust needs to be built. Always offer the opportunity for them to opt-out, and act on unsubscribe requests promptly. Send communications that contain quality content on a regular but not too frequent basis. Exploit their permission and you will only cause bad feeling and a disgruntled customer. Take the time to nurture their interests and you may have a loyal customer for life.

in summary

Although many marketers may be concerned at the prospect of the additional effort the new legislation will enforce, it actually enshrines into law what we at Precision email consider to be email marketing best practice. The results from a permission-based, personalised campaign, far exceed those of a less targeted, unsolicited email campaign. According to an IMT Strategies study 61% of email recipients are eager to read email they have opted in to receive. Although email is an incredibly cost-effective way to communicate with customers and prospects, it is not free and some investment does have to be made. There is little point in expending efforts sending emails where they are not wanted, whatever your campaign objective is. Campaigns built on permission out-perform the spamming mentality of mass, untargeted campaigns every time.

DTI website - Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications