Basics of Permission

By far the most important aspect of e-mail marketing is the concept of permission. It's the only thing separating your valid e-mail from the spammers of this world, but for many it remains a grey area. It doesn't need to be. First of all, let's clarify what spam is, and then what kind of permission Reach33 insists on.

This is so important, because not only will you land in legal trouble if you don't comply, but as your designer and/or distributor Reach33 can also end up at the wrong end of the law.

Forget any legal mumbo jumbo—our definition of spam

While the CAN-SPAM laws are a step in the right direction for classifying and reducing spam, we don't feel they go far enough. Our definition of spam goes beyond the laws in most countries and encompasses what we believe to be true permission e-mail marketing.

Spam is any e-mail you send to someone who hasn't given you their direct permission to contact them on the topic of the e-mail.

But that's not enough. Permission is a fuzzy word open to interpretation. Let's get into some specific scenarios so it's clear what does and doesn't constitute permission.

The type of permission you MUST have

Reach33 will work with you to e-mail subscribers if you obtained their permission in any of the following ways:

  • They opted in via your web siteThis could either be through a newsletter subscribe form or by selecting a checkbox on another form. This checkbox cannot be checked by default and it must clearly explain that checking it will mean you will be contacting them by e-mail.
  • They completed an offline form and indicated they wanted to be e-mailedIf someone completes an offline form like a survey or enters a competition, you can only contact them if it was explained to them that they would be contacted by e-mail AND they selected a box indicating they would like to be contacted.
  • They gave you their business cardIf someone gives you their business card and you have explained to them that you will be in touch by e-mail, you can contact them. If they dropped their business card in a fishbowl at a trade show, there must be a sign indicating they will be contacted by e-mail.
  • They purchased something from you in the last 2 yearsBy making a purchase from you they have provided their permission implicitly. Feel free to e-mail them but at the same time, we think it's always better to ask anyway, so why not include an opt-in checkbox as part of the checkout process.

Scenarios that DON'T equate to permission

Basically, anything outside the examples above doesn't equal permission in our eyes, but here are some examples to make sure we're crystal clear:

  • You obtained the e-mail addresses from a third partyWhether you purchased a list, were provided one by a partner or bought a bankrupt competitor's customer list, those people never gave YOU permission to e-mail them and they will consider your e-mail spam. No matter the claims of the source of this list, you cannot e-mail them with Reach33.
  • You scraped or "copy and pasted" the addresses from the InternetJust because people publish their e-mail address doesn't mean they want to hear from you.
  • You haven't e-mailed that address for more than 2 yearsPermission doesn't age well. Even if you got their permission legitimately, they won't remember giving it to you. If you haven't sent something to that address in the last 2 years, you can't start now.