Permission Only Email

The most important rule in email marketing is to only send email with permission. This isn’t just a good business practice, it’s the law. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 stipulates that with few exceptions email sent for commercial purposes may only be sent when the sender has acquired “affirmative consent” from the email recipient.

• The Act defines affirmative consent to mean, “…the recipient expressly consented to receive the message, either in response to a clear and conspicuous request for such consent or at the recipient’s own initiative…”
• The Act further specifies rules prohibiting the collection of email addresses via improper means, for instance, harvesting from a website, “ …proprietary service, other online public forum operated by another person, without the authorization of such person; and randomly generating electronic email addresses by computer.”
• View a text copy of the Act: http://www.legalarchiver.org/cs.htm

If you are uncertain of how the Act applies directly to your situation, it is always a good idea to seek help from a qualified legal counsel.

Gaining Permission for Email

The key to success in email marketing is to grow a list of people who have given you clear permission to send them email, and who are thirsty for the content you provide. You want folks to recognize you when they see your name in the “from” field of their email box, and you want them to be eager to open and read your email. Generating such interest starts with your content (i.e. what you plan to send, how often, etc.), but in this post I just want to make a few comments about permission.