Direct Email Marketing Issues and Challenges

Always seek professional legal advice regarding marketing as laws change over time. There is a lot of uncertainty and confusion as to what small companies are allowed to do in the areas of bulk email marketing. For instance, in America the main law is the 'Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM)'. In the UK, the European Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, applies to all organisations sending email, (whether solicited or unsolicited). You must also adhere to various selling laws, and to the Data Protection Act, in respect of any personal data held by your enterprise. The interpretation of these regulations and enforcement of them is undertaken by The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

In summary, the ICO states that senders must not conceal their identity, and must give a valid email address for any opt out requests from recipients, when unsolicited marketing messages are sent to individual subscribers. An 'individual subscriber' is defined by them as a 'residential subscriber, a sole trader or an unincorporated partnership in England, Wales and Northern Ireland'. In addition, senders cannot send messages unless they have prior consent to do so from the recipient. In other words, recipients must have 'opted in'. However, these conditions are relaxed, if all of the following three exemptions are satisfied:-

• The email address was collected 'in the course of a sale or negotiations for sale';
• Any promotional messages sent must relate to 'similar products and services';
• The recipient is given the opportunity to opt out when the original email address was collected by the sender. This opt out must have been provided free of charge (except for the cost of transmission). The opportunity to opt out, must also be given with every subsequent message sent.

This leaves the most popular unanswered question from small firms asking: 'Is it legal to email other incorporated businesses to market my products or services to them?'. Emails sent to Corporate Subscribers, which do not contain personal information (e.g. info@small-company.ltd.uk), are not specifically regulated under English law (except all emails must contain a valid email address, a company registration number, place of registration; and registered office address). The email must include an opt out, or unsubscribe process. "Corporate subscribers" excludes sole traders or general partnerships. It is unadvisable to send unsolicited email to a named person within an organisation i.e. fred-bloggs@small-company.ltd.uk.

Fundamentally, you need to match-up the content of your messages with the interests of your opt in subscribers. There is no point sending messages, which no one is interested in. One of the biggest challenges, is to build up your opt-in mailing list in the first place. This can take a long time. To build up subscribers, most companies include a question and tick box when users complete online forms. , This tick box asks whether or not the user would also like to be added to a newsletter. However, this may not authenticate whether the submitter actually owns the email address submitted. Therefore, it is always good practice to require the user to click on a link, from an automated validation email (following form submission). This proves they own the email submitted.

Likewise, any 'subscribe to our newsletter?' type tick boxes on online forms, should be left 'unticked' by default. This forces the user to actively opt-in. It is also the law that you must facilitate peoples desire to unsubscribe in the future, if they change their mind. Always include an unsubscribe link in every email. Lastly, avoid ' buying e-mail lists' from dubious online list brokers. Many claim that the recipients within the lists are up-to-date and have all opted-in. It is extremely difficult to obtain evidence that the recipients all voluntarily opted-in.

Lastly, some companies choose to outsource email marketing campaigns to specialist marketing companies to send messages out on their behalf. This helps to ensure ethical practice guidelines are followed, and automates the opt in and opt out procedures. Alternatively, you can do it in-house using one of may email marketing software packages available. Beware that over time, software can become outdated as the law changes.

Of all types of direct marketing, email marketing is the most controversial. There are domestic and international laws, regulations and good practices regarding bulk email marketing. These primarily aim to stem the tide of illegal unsolicited spam. These laws also regulate whether you can send bulk email. The core principles revolve around whether a recipient has 'opted-in' to receive a business email. If you stay within the law, and implement and following good practices, the opportunity exists to boost sales for your small business.

With these laws in mind, your existing email mailing list, can be used to cross sell and generate repeat orders from existing customers. A mailing list is designed to notify subscribers who have specifically requested or 'opted-in' to receive tailored messages. They are committed to read about any future product announcements or company news.

There are many business advantages of using email marketing, compared to traditional paper-based direct mailing. Firstly it is a low-cost medium, through which thousands of messages can be sent an hour. Secondly, you can easily determine the success of an email campaign, by using tracking software. This can identify individual messages sent, margin generated from sales, against the costs of email software or paying for a third-party email marketing service. Thirdly, as your sales message is received in near real time, your target audience can respond to last-minute deals or time specific offers. Fourthly, by keeping in touch with your regular opt-in subscribers, you can maintain the visibility and credibility of your organisation. This may in turn lead to word-of-mouth recommendations, as mails are routinely forwarded on virally.

Beware of the drawbacks. Firstly, a large percentage of email never even gets read! Despite sending mail to genuine recipients, who have 'opted' to receive them, most email gets accidentally deleted or automatically moved into the anti-spam box by anti spam software. Secondly, as everybody suffers from unsolicited spam, people have built up a natural aversion to opening emails with 'special offers' in the subject heading. Most people are rightly sceptical, due to the constant bombardment of phishing emails, viruses and scam emails, purporting to come from a genuine company. Thirdly, for businesses there are strict laws and guidelines preventing you from sending unsolicited emails to individuals (see below). Sending spam is illegal, unethical, annoying and rarely relevant to the recipient. Do not do it! Lastly, it can take a long time to build up a valid 'opt in' mailing list. Most opt-in subscribers come from your website visitors or key customers and suppliers. As a result, of these drawbacks, the average sales conversion rate for email marketing is extremely small indeed.

To increase the likelihood the recipient will open the email, tailor it with as much user-specific information you can. Only ever send relevant emails, where the topical message is likely to excite and entertain the reader. Each message should have a 'call to action', to entice users into 'reading more'. This could be by adding clickable links within the message, to specific pages on your company website. Alternatively, it may mean telephoning a sales helpline by a specific deadline, and quoting certain a reference number. Whatever the call to action is, your content must be compelling and of high quality to persuade the reader to act.

Good luck with your email marketing mailing lists!