Permission By Any Other Name is Not Permission
Posted by Bill Leming on May 20th, 2009
More than once this month we’ve been asked to weigh in on the risk-reward ratio involved in emailing what is best described as a list that “hasn’t exactly” given their expressed permission to receive promotional emails.
In some instances the list consists of individuals who contacted our clients in the past requesting more information about their products and services during which they provided their email address to receive specific answers to their questions without explicitly opting in to receive subsequent promotional emails.
In other cases even less is known about where the individuals came from, when they entered the file, whether or not they actually purchased anything and, if so, how long ago, who their assigned sales rep was or is, where they reside and other key elements like first/last name and/or postal address.
In most cases we’re being asked for the most economical and legitimate means of securing these individual’s permission quickly and cost effectively. What that question translates into is really “How can we legitimately send an email asking these people for permission to send commercial messages?” Don’t we have their implied consent inasmuch as we have their email address? (The relatively high costs, timeframes and anticipated low response involved with direct mailing and/or telemarketing these individuals are generally already off the table by the time we’re drawn in to the discussion.)
Instead, we hear alternative propositions such as, “ We just want to email them once and never do it again-we promise.” Or, “Isn’t it OK for our sales force to email them (if you won’t) through their own individual outlook accounts…they’ll only send one email and that one message won’t deviate from the message approved by corporate, we promise.” Unfortunately, it’s a fact that we’re all operating in tough economic times which some would argue, calls for tough decisions. We understand that and certainly appreciate the dormant sales opportunity that may reside within such questionable lists.
I think that the moral here is to avoid temptation and not let bad economic times coerce you into bad decisions-decisions which will certainly put your digital reputation at risk, jeopardize the reputation and email deliverability of all other divisions and potentially get you black listed.
That’s the tough decision. But the alternative is a path fraught with peril and one that may ultimately lead to a worse position for the client than the “unrealized opportunity” temptation that spawned the discussion to begin with. Perhaps ironic is the fact that the proposed Electronic Commerce Protection Act introduced in Canada late last month specifically covers the issue of sending email messages asking for permission to send commercial messages. As proposed the bill specifically addresses “implied consent” within this context, and, rightly or wrongly, helps end the case-by-case debate we in the US face.
