Legal Issues Email Marketers Should Take Into Consideration
The first thing you have to do before managing a legal Email Marketing campaign is to ask yourself some questions.
1. How do I want recipients to perceive me?
This question is crucial because it will determine how to reach them, how you intend to obtain those records, and what rights you are willing to respect.
2. Is my goal to collect records or get clients?
The email marketing strategy varies remarkably depending on what you choose, because it is not the same to get leads than to get quality leads to convert into customers.
3. Am I willing to take financial and reputational risks for violating the rights of users?
There are professionals who embark on the adventure without considering the impact that their actions can generate on users, then the regrets come when they appear on black lists, are denounced or the email marketing platforms expel them for abusing the service.
Doing a legal email marketing is much more than complying with the law. When we speak of the need to respect the legal principles that regulate relations with users, we are not referring to complying with a requirement that only remains on the surface: we are referring to acquiring habits that you must consolidate in the way you manage your email marketing. We are witnessing an explosion of online businesses and of new professionals and entrepreneurs who launch their campaigns on the networks. The fight to survive has generated a flood of email marketing campaigns that do not always respect the legal rights of those to whom it is directed.The possibilities that the Internet offers for the distribution of advertising are infinite and unlimited, since there are no geographical barriers, no business hours or large budget items: the Internet allows you to multiply impacts at the click of a button. The communication mechanisms allowed by the Internet are less expensive, noisy and with a greater potential for effectiveness than traditional communication media. Therefore, it is essential to identify the effects of Internet advertising on the user, in order to optimize its use in media strategies as much as possible.
The ethics of information, the power of consent
The opposite of "advertising clutter" is permission marketing, or permission marketing.It is marketing oriented to interests and based on the user's consent.
Is there something more valuable?
That is precisely the proposal of the LOPD and the LSSI-CE, which blend perfectly with the trends most accepted by the online consumer.The best example of permission marketing is the list of subscribers, without a doubt, the most important value that any internet business has is its audience, but for this list to be really effective it must assume some essential rules in any legal email marketing campaign.
The preliminaries: What you should always do before launching your legal email marketing campaigns
The first thing you should consider (whether you work alone or if you have a work team in charge) is the need to be responsible with the personal information you manage and train your staff to be responsible as well.This is a central aspect that is neglected and yet it is vitally important to protect your main asset and to be able to have a legal shield in case one of your collaborators plays a trick on you.
How many employees walk away with a copy of the customer database? How many collaborators end up offering their services to your customers or subscribers behind your back?
All this you can prevent and if you do not succeed, at least you will have an ace up your sleeve to require them legal responsibilities.These people who have access to the information in your subscriber database are the users of the system and the most fragile and exposed part of your business. The user may have different access profiles and be an internal (employee) or external user.
Both with some and with others, you must sign contracts with very clear rules that regulate access to this data to ensure that they operate according to your instructions. It will be of little use for you to follow rules of behavior and treatment regarding the data of your subscribers if the rest do what they want.
To cover your back, you must have treatment order contracts for external collaborators and commitments signed by your employees with the functions and obligations regarding the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information to which they have access.This allows you to generate clear evidence of regulatory compliance and guarantee the diligence required in the event of an infringement by third parties linked to your legal email marketing campaigns.
Basic Attitudes: learn to take care of your users
We all believe that we know how to treat our potential clients great, after all, we need to sell them, but the truth is that there is a general lack of awareness about the attitudes we must develop if we want to consolidate our list and not throw it overboard.
Respect:
Respect requires reciprocity: if you don't respect your users, it is impossible for them to respect you.Respecting means not carrying out marketing actions that are annoying or invasive, being transparent about your identity and your intentions at all times, not abusing the data they provide you (sharing, transferring or selling them) means facilitating that they can abandon you whenever they wish, without tripping them.
Rigorousness:
You must make sure that all your subscribers want to receive your campaigns or Newsletters.For this, it is essential that you know the origin of this data, that you do not buy databases, that you always require permission to send advertising and that you validate the user.Once they leave their email in your form (opt-in form) they should receive an email where you must inform them who you are, what you are going to do with their data, what type of information you are going to provide and how to cancel their subscription. Until the user has confirmed their subscription, you will not be able to use their data.
Empathy:
Empathy is the art of putting yourself in the shoes of your clients or potential clients.What kinds of campaigns are you getting caught? Which ones make you mad? What do you do with commercial emails from companies you don't know? How do you react to unwanted advertising?The maxim is as simple as it is elementary: "do not do with others what you hate being done with you". It is time that you start to intellectualize your marketing and carry out conscious, respectful and rigorous campaigns.For this, you must give full guarantees to your list of subscribers about the responsible and respectful treatment that you will make of their data. That means assuming attitudes, codes of conduct and ethics in the treatment of information.
Essential work habits in an email marketing campaign
You should work on consolidating good work habits that will help you to cement not only your email marketing campaigns, but also to efficiently manage any personal information associated with your business.
- Secret: you must keep the necessary secrecy regarding any type of personal information to which you have access based on the work carried out, even after the commercial relationship with your clients has concluded.
- Permissions: Only authorized persons may enter, modify or cancel the records of your databases, for this, as the person responsible, you must assign permissions and establish user profiles.
- Backup: Automate backup copies of your databases on external hard drive or in the cloud. In the event of a hard drive failure, an accidental deletion or an intrusion that destroys the data stored in our system, the only way to recover the damaged or lost information is to replace it from a backup copy.
- Security: Always choose platforms that guarantee that they meet the data protection requirements and that they assume robust security standard.