Why You Need To Know Your SPAM rules

No-one likes spam, especially the Government! Don't be caught out by SPAM laws

No-one likes spam, especially the Government! Don’t be caught out by SPAM laws

There is a problem with email marketing, and that is SPAM. The illicit and often annoying issue with email marketing can mean that your customers are turned away from email messages even if the problem is not you.

SPAM comes in many different forms. It can be an email message that was not requested, i.e. the recipient was added to a marketing list without their permission, or an email with a misleading subject line compared to their subject matter, or too many emails being sent.

Many of these SPAM activities are actually against the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. In other countries, there are similar laws which generally contain the same rules. The laws do make it a little more difficult for you to send commercial emails, but it should give reassurance to customers and offers them a way to complain legitimately about companies who might send irrelevant or dangerous spam.

If you do break the law, there can be stiff fines. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 states that if you don’t follow the rules you can be fined up to $16,000 per violation per individual email. In the United Kingdom, the fine is smaller but still significant. Therefore, if you want the financial safety of your business, it’s best to follow the rules.

So what are the ten most important rules of these email marketing laws?

1. Signing Up

A prospect can subscribe to your email marketing list either by giving you verbal or written consent. On a website, this should include ticking a checkbox on a web form. It is also best practice to use the double opt-in sign-up system to ensure those signing up online actually know what they are signing up for.

2. Header Information

Recipients have the right to know who the email is from when it arrives in their inbox. Therefore, you can’t put in misleading or false information in the header. You should include information such as organisation domain name and email address as they appear in your business. It is best practice to have the domain name and sender as an actual person within the organisation.

3. Subject Lines

A good subject line can entice your audience into opening your email and looking at the offer you have inside. But the subject line has to reflect what the email is about. For instance, you can’t say they are getting something for free when you aren’t offering that at all.

4. Identifying Purpose

Customers have become wary of the tactics used by email marketers and therefore have developed a knowledge of when emails are ads. Marketers have since changed tactics to make it less obvious to get customers to re-engage with emails. While this has been effective, it is also against the CAN-SPAM laws. You need to ensure that your customers know that your message is an advert.

5. Location

Recipients need to know where your business is located. This is to demonstrate that you are a real company. To help build trust, ensure that the address of your organisation on the email is the same as the one on Google+.

6. Opting Out

It’s sad to see any subscriber leave your list, but you must give them the option which can either be done via an email message or a link within the email. The latter of these is the best option as it can mean that the process is automatic whereas the former creates more work for you.

7. Processing Opt-Out Requests

Every opt-out request you have from your subscribers needs to be processed quickly, within ten business days. You also need to honour requests from recipients up to 30 days after you’ve sent your email marketing message.

8. Third Party Involvement

If you have a digital marketing company run your email marketing campaigns, you must take responsibility for their actions as well. That is why it is so important that you get references for their work and check they are complying with email marketing laws.

9. Definition

These regulations only apply to commercial content; i.e. when you are promoting a product or service. Any emails that are sent for transactional or relationship reasons (i.e. invoices, warranty information, etc.) don’t have to follow the same rules. However, if you start adding commercial information to the emails, they are liable to follow the laws.

10. Forwarding

Sometimes it can be a great way to spread the word of your brand by asking current subscribers to forward your email to a friend. In these circumstances, you don’t need to worry about the CAN-SPAM laws unless you offer an incentive to send that email like a discount code.

Conclusion

It is crucial that you adhere to the CAN-SPAM Act. Failure to follow these rules can place your business at financial risk as well as annoy your potential customers. So ensure you know the rules and that you are following them.

Do you know your CAN-SPAM Act? Have you broken any of the rules above?

Let us know in the comments below.

Read post   Post a Comment. Tagged in: , , ,


Email Marketing Newsletters: Your Design Checklist

What are the design elements you have to include in your email newsletters?

What are the design elements you have to include in your email newsletters?

The design of your email can have a massive impact on its success. Other elements are important to ensure that you comply with national and international digital communication laws. Yet so many email newsletters don’t have all the design aspects they should. Use this quick checklist to ensure that all your email marketing copy is up to scratch.

Legal Requirement Check List

1. The Unsubscribe Button

Every piece of email communication you send out to subscribers needs to have an option for the receiver to say they wish to stop receiving messages. This is a legal requirement in numerous nations including the US, UK and Australia.

The button doesn’t have to be huge, it can be a single line attached to the bottom of your email. But it must be there.

2. Business Address

Your email must contain a physical address from which the receiver can send mail. This provides evidence of your legitimacy and complies with several international digital communication laws.

3. Conditions Of Offers

If you are sending a special offer to customers, you must clearly state what the terms and conditions are within the email. This again could be included at the bottom of your email away from the main promotional copy. However, be sure to highlight where your terms and conditions are.

4. Your Organisation’s Name

This is very important. People like to know who they are speaking to, so as a minimum, your organisation’s name should be included somewhere in the post.

5. Why They Are Receiving The Email?

Some laws require you to include a reference as to why they received the email. To make sure you are covered place this clearly at the top of the email. You never know, perhaps the receiver forgot signing up to your email marketing list.

Best Practice Design Checklist

1. An Image

An image paints a thousand words and the best performing emails always include an image. The image can be placed anywhere in the copy of the email; however, the best locations are the top or side of the text. Ensure that each image has an associated URL which the receiver can use to visit your website (a blog post or landing page).

2. A Call To Action Button

While text links are okay, the button is the best way to attract the attention of your audience and encourage them to click through to your offer page. The colour of your button, the type of font and the text itself can all be changed to increase the click through rate of your email campaigns.

Positioning of your call to action can also have an impact on the email’s success. So experiment and adjust the location of the button in A/B testing campaigns.

3. Personalisation

Personalisation of your email marketing is one way to grab the attention of your audience. By adding the name of your recipients, their business name or website, you can really improve your open rate.

4. Branding

If you looked at your email, would you know whether or not it is from your brand? Everything from the colour to the inclusion of a logo is required to ensure that people know who wrote and sent the email. If you’ve built up trust with your clients, this can help you gain more opens and better click through rates.

Conclusion

Creating high quality and legal email newsletters can be achieved through the effective implementation of different elements. By using the checklist above, you will increase the chance of email marketing success and not break any laws.

Are your emails legal? Do they meet best practices?

Show us your emails and let us know in the comments below.

Read post   Post a Comment. Tagged in: , , ,


What is Fluttermail?

Fluttermail is Email Marketing for small businesses. We are the fastest and easiest way to send beautiful emails and profit from the results.

Create a $1 Trial Account