Business Email Lists

Uk Directory · 11-28-2006, 04:07 PM

Has anyone used a company to reach their target market via e-mail? I'm aware the rules are very strict regarding opt in services for Joe Public, but do the same rules apply to businesses. For one of our websites we regulary receive emails basically saying "why not advertise with us" etc. I was considering it for our new venture but don't want to risk losing an email account or be thought of as spamming.
Denise

TE75 · 11-28-2006, 09:56 PM

Spam laws can be very tricky and vary from region to region, not from where you send from, but where you are sending to.

In the UK, for example, you have to have someone opted in to receive your emails. In the US, I believe, you can send to someone if you don't know their preference, but you must allow them to not receive further emails from you if they so choose...and you have to comply with their wishes.

Be careful when using lists supplied by other companies...Like most businesses, there are good guys and bad guys. Make sure that the lists they use are legit.

If they send what is considered spam because of a bad list, then you can also be held accountable.

Uk Directory · 11-29-2006, 12:19 AM

Thanks, TE75, that's why I was wondering if anyone had use lists. It's a very tricky area of the law and I can't afford to get blacklisted at all
Denise

martyan · 11-29-2006, 12:43 AM

Hi, Uk Diirectory!
If you are planning to use email lists for marketing, you may create client database and then find the third party to do the whole stuff for you.

Uk Directory · 11-29-2006, 12:52 AM

Martyan, that's a possibility, but I'm also not sure of the legalities of holding email addresses in the UK, I'm pretty sure they have to be volunteered, which is a sort of chicken & egg situation. Also I can get in a great deal of trouble giving email addresses out. I think I'll leave this method of marketing for now and stick with the stuff I know.
Thanks
Denise

TE75 · 11-29-2006, 06:27 AM

UK Directory: In a former life, I did a great deal of work in a large software company here in the US. A lot of my job had to do with data and data protection, so I worked closely with our marketing and legal department to make sure we didn't get caught in trouble.

If you collect email addresses from your website, just make sure that you are collecting ones where people know they are going to get email from you, make sure that all of your email goes out with an unsubscribe, and if you want to be double sure, offer a two tier opt-in (where the sign up, and then have to confirm). It's really not that bad as long as you do it ok.

If you are looking to do it yourself, Constant Contact is pretty cheap and they handle a lot of the email scrubbing and list maintenance for you. They even provide sign up boxes for you to help you collect addresses, and if you pay with AMEX for business you get a discount. I've used them for a couple years now and love them.

If you want more information on mailing lists, feel free to PM me. If I don't know the answer, I still have contacts that I can ask.

Uk Directory · 11-29-2006, 06:39 AM

Cheers TE75, the main problem is I believe that if the data is collected in the UK, the law is slightly different, but my main problem is I wanting to attract businesses to my site in the first place. There are already newsletter options and and member options, but unless I have a licence to hold data I cannot send out information other than requested. We also state in our privavcy policy that we will not give any details to third partys so I'd have to be pretty careful there. I've done a few press releases instead from which I hope the traffic will be better quality and should provide a few backlinks. Gosh it's hard starting with a new site nowadays lol. We have one site that somehow managed to get listed , become No 1 in listings and is a PR4 without any work at all.
Thanks for your help
Denise

TE75 · 11-29-2006, 08:22 AM

Well good luck building up your traffic! It's hard work, but can pay off. I think one of the biggest problems in traffic generation nowadays is that people pay so much attention to finding external ways to draw in traffic that they spend less time developing good content. Good content can help you jump ahead of the crowd, and I bet that's what happened to your first site.

suzjor · 11-29-2006, 08:27 AM

Be very careful. I would create a list that they can opt-in. I have a client who is a publisher. She of course sends emails to her clients regularly. Well, her host suspended her temporarily until she could prove they opted for these emails. She had to explain in detail that these are advertisers who pay her to publish their ads and she regularly sends emails to confirm their placement, approvals, etc. Basically, I believe the spam laws require you to have opt-in set up as well as a way they can opt-out of your emails.

Good luck!

TE75 · 11-29-2006, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suzjor

...her host suspended her temporarily until she could prove they opted for these emails.

That's one of the reasons I highly recommend using a company to manage your mailing list and mailings (like constant contact, dart mail, or exact target to name a few). That way the mailings don't go through your hosting account, and those companies want to make sure that they don't get in trouble either, so they have processes in place to protect both themselves and you.

Uk Directory · 11-29-2006, 08:35 AM

Thanks Suzjor, I know and that's why you have to be so careful, it just takes one person to mark your mail as spam, even accidently by deleting the mail in the junk folder without checking that you end up in limbo land. I'll add the opt out to the automatic emails I think.
Denise

Quote:

Originally Posted by suzjor

Be very careful. I would create a list that they can opt-in. I have a client who is a publisher. She of course sends emails to her clients regularly. Well, her host suspended her temporarily until she could prove they opted for these emails. She had to explain in detail that these are advertisers who pay her to publish their ads and she regularly sends emails to confirm their placement, approvals, etc. Basically, I believe the spam laws require you to have opt-in set up as well as a way they can opt-out of your emails.

Good luck!

Uk Directory · 11-29-2006, 08:32 AM

TE75, you are probably right, the site has really good content and I'll continue to build the content on the latest one without upsetting anyone if possible

Denise