April 2004

Just what does constitute email marketing 'best practice'?

Hot on the heels of last month's news that 57% of marketers hadn't even heard of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (PEC) Act, it's no surprise that another survey has revealed similar results. Pitney Bowes has found that over half of the UK's top 50 companies are not complying with the Act.

On the other hand, many companies, including small firms, are making big efforts to get it right - not just by complying with the new law, but by taking it several steps further. Why? Because they see the positive effect of 'best practice' - on customer acquisition, relationship management and ultimately the bottom line.

So what does constitute best practice in email marketing? How clear are the DTI's guidelines to the PEC Act, and how should ethical email marketers be responding to the Act?

The first and probably biggest area of contention is to do with HOW email addresses are acquired. In the case of new prospects/first contact, marketers now need to obtain the recipient's permission before sending commercial email messages to individuals, sole traders or partnerships. So 'cold emails' to bought-in lists are out. But what if the list broker claims these people have opted in to third party offers from businesses such as yours? Ask for proof - where were the email addresses given, and how were they collected - did they actively tick an 'opt in' box, or did they not tick the 'opt out' box?

The latter method is still the most widespread. Undoubtedly it produces the greater number of 'opt-ins' - because many are unintentional. However, the resulting list is actually devalued by its having been compiled in this way. Far more valuable is a list built on explicit opt-in - or even better, double (or 'confirmed') opt-in - since it is likely to include fewer passive subscribers and generate fewer spam complaints. This type of list also produces higher open rates, higher pass-on rates, higher click-through rates .. you get the picture.

Of course, list compilation isn't the only issue - that's just for starters. Here are ten more tips for email marketing karma.

1. On sign-up, offer the choice of HTML (with pictures) or text. There are many reasons why people may choose text over HTML - work firewalls, email client spam filters, personal preference, to name a few.

This is an issue of recipient choice, not email client handling capabilities. Again, many email marketers will prefer not to offer the choice - because open rates of plain text messages can't be tracked, or because it's too much work to send out two differently formatted messages. And yet it's a courtesy that customers will appreciate - and which may pay off as competitive advantage depends increasingly on levels of trust and respect.

2. On sign-up, provide a link to your privacy policy, or include a privacy statement. Preferably brief and easily understandable - not something the length of a contractual agreement. After all, if you are demonstrating best practice, why not shout about it and get some credit? With a policy of transparency you're more likely to receive permission.

3. If you haven't emailed your list before, or for some time, tell recipients why they are receiving this email or where their address has been obtained. A polite introduction or reminder can soften the effect of an unexpected message. With so much spam in the inbox you only have a few seconds to convince them that your email is legitimate.

4. Have the 'To' line show the recipient's name or email address. 'Undisclosed recipients' or 'List member' isn't necessarily a fatal error, but it doesn't look great. Nor does having the sender's email address in the 'To' field. Of course the worst faux pas is to display the entire list of names in the 'cc' field; yes, it still happens.

5. Have the 'From' line show unequivocably who the email is from. This is a legal requirement. There's no benefit in disguising the sender anyway, since this is such a spammers' standard.

6. Tell subscribers the email address by which they are subscribed. People have more than one email address, and may not remember which one they used to sign up with. Unless you tell them, they may not be able to unsubscribe themselves (depending on which system you are using, of course).

7. Make it as easy as possible for recipients to unsubscribe, in every email. The most obvious method would be an unsubscribe link; even better would be to include more than one method. It's a legal requirement to provide an unsubscribe facility. Yet so many emailers make the recipients jump through hoops. Typically they may be told to go to a webpage and logon in order to unsubscribe or change their preferences. It's unwieldy and unnecessary - and guaranteed to annoy those who can't remember or don't recall creating a password.

8. Encourage interaction. Make sure that replies to the email go to an actual mailbox, and respond promptly to all replies, even if it's in the first instance an autoresponder. Email is a personal and interactive medium whether you like it or not - and as marketers how can we not like it? The way that so many 'legitimate' email marketers deter interaction, even so far as to say 'do not reply to this email' - anyone would think they had something to hide.

9. Include full postal address and phone number in every email. This is not a legal requirement in the UK (in the US it's a different story however - and if you use a US based email delivery system then your emails will need to be compliant with CAN-SPAM as well as the PEC Act.) But transparency builds trust, and if you really are trying to nurture a customer relationship then providing more than one method of getting in touch is a gesture that customers will appreciate.

10 Don't spend your entire email marketing budget on overly expensive technology. Pay for what you need, don't be seduced into complex backend capabilities or delivery costs without asking questions. Too often, little or no budget is put towards other crucial areas such as ensuring compliance, handling customer enquiries, copywriting and results analysis. Email marketing is so often seen as cheap and easy. But doing it on the cheap can ruin more customer relationships than it creates.


Resources

Excellent summary of the PEC Act from Andrew Sharpe of the Data Protection Team at Charles Russell

Guidance notes on the PEC Act from the DTI (pdf file, 610kb)

Disclaimer

The information given in this article is the opinion of the author and in no way constitutes legal advice. Neither Robin Houghton, Sam Steane nor Marketing Karma may be held responsible for any action taken nor any loss incurred as a result of information offered on this website.

You are advised to take legal advice before embarking upon any email marketing activity.