Most should be familiar with the opt-in regime that the EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communication imposes on e-marketing activities as well as the legal protections afforded to an individual under the Data Protection Act. But overcoming these legal hurdles in executing an e-marketing campaign isn't enough. Marketers must adopt hygiene practices for handling personal and sensitive data.
At the heart of every successful direct marketing campaign lies a quality customer or prospect data list. It's only through relevant and targeted information that marketers can stand a chance of increasing the success of their direct marketing activities as well as developing trust and confidence with customers and clients.
This is particularly important when considering an e-direct marketing campaign where "spamming" individuals with unsolicited emails is a disease threatening to kill off the direct marketing industry unless it gets its house in order.
To this end, the Email Marketing Council recently published some best practice self-regulation guidelines.
As well as adhering to the strict letter of the law, marketers should also develop a data hygiene policy that outlines the procedures that will be used to address issues such as reply handling; processing of unsubscribe requests; handling of bounce-back emails; unsubscribe timeframes; suppression of known invalid email addresses and address format validation.
It's unlikely that you've got round to doing this as yet -- so following the guidance below is a good place to start. Remember that a hygiene policy alone isn't enough -- you'll need to have systems in place to carry it out.
The objectives of the hygiene policy could include:
The EMC recommends that an individual's email contact details are "suppressed" rather than deleted on receiving an "unsubscribe" request. This keeps the door open if the individual wishes to "subscribe" or re-consent in the future, overriding the original opt-out request.
This advice has to be read in light of e-marketing activities pre and post the EU Directive.
For example, unsolicited marketing email or text sent to the email addresses of employees of limited companies isn't caught by the opt in/soft opt-in rules.
However, the fact that an email sent to a corporate subscriber's address is obviously aimed at an individual (because it promotes a product that is for personal/domestic use) is not, for the purposes of the EU Directive, relevant and is subject to the same regulations.
In any event, best practice is to screen lists against any in-house suppression file prior to commencing the e-marketing campaign in order to avoid any accusations of "spamming".
In order to assess your database for the e-marketing campaign which contains email addresses in existence before December 11 2003, marketers should carry out some elementary customer segmentation.
Segment 1
Description Customers and prospects that have provided consent to receive and have not subsequently unsubscribed.
Conditions Marketer must give recipient opportunity to unsubscribe, using a simple means and without charge (excluding cost of transmission provided it is not premium rate) every time an unsolicited email is sent.
Marketers can only market similar products and services under the terms of the initial data protection notices first provided to the recipient at the time the email address was first captured.
Segment 2
Description Existing customers where the marketer has obtained email addresses in the course of sale of product/service and notified the individual at the point of data capture that it would like to send emails of "similar products or services".
Conditions Marketer must give recipient opportunity to unsubscribe, using a simple means and without charge (excluding cost of transmission provided it is not premium rate) every time an unsolicited email is sent.
Marketers can only market similar products and services under the terms of the initial data protection notices first provided to the recipient at the time the email address was first captured.
Segment 3
Description Prospects or customers who do not fall into either 1 or 2 above
Conditions Marketers will need to gain their positive consent to send an email or text message.
EMC advises not to use email or text messages as a way of gaining consent but to use post, in person communication or telephone contact channels. A full record of the individual's invitation or notification should be kept.
Caveat Marketers should ensure that they do not infringe the DPA 1998 as well as check with the Mail Preference Service, Telephone Preference Service and Fax Preference Service to ensure that the recipient is not on these lists. If they are, some/all of these channels will not be open to marketers.
Source: Kolah (2004)
Finally, it's unlikely that you'll have all the appropriate email details of individuals and organisations that your proposed e-marketing campaign is designed to target.
You may therefore be tempted to rent a list from a data supplier. In such cases, EMC best practice is to execute a "host mailing" campaign. This is where the supplier (rather than you) emails recipients with your marketing campaign.
However, you should insist that the data supplier and/or its agents observe the following contractual obligations:
Ardi Kolah appears on the Chartered Institute of Marketing's global . He is author of 'Essential Law for Marketers' (Butterworth Heinemann, 拢25.00). Read the review of the book on Brand Republic and order your copy online
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