Legal Email Advertising: Are You Aware of Regulations?

[Borek]

Are you aware of any regulations about using (within law) emails for advertising?

In Poland we have a law against spam that - basically - allows me to send a single email stating something like "We are a Bluewidgetcorp, producers of cheap and reliable blue widgets, if you are interested answer Yes to this email and we will send you more details." As long as I don't put too much details into the email I am more or less on the safe side (plenty of a gray area here, but you should get the spirit).

Is there a similar law in other parts of the world, or is the use of email for advertising completely prohibited?

Note I am not writing about sending Viagra emails to 200 millions of random addresses, but of sending offers to a selected group of recipients, something like blue paint offers to all blue widget producers.

 

[Andre]

I'm sorry Borek. If you translate http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/veilig-ondernemen/vraag-en-antwoord/wat-is-spam-en-gelden-er-regels-voor-het-versturen-van-spam.html , it essentially says that spam is prohibited unless the reciever has granted it beforehand. And these rules are European Union wide.

Maybe you can use sites as linkedn or something to find your typical target group.

 

[sixholdens]

Email advertising is annoying but not illegal when sent to customers. SPAM is illegal because they are not customers, they are "potential" customers.

I opt out of all email ads and other crap a retailer or other business wants to send me, if I need to find something I look for it.

 

[f95toli]

The regulations are pretty clear. The receipents need to somehow have opted in, there also needs to be an unsubscribe link in the e-mail (required by law).

Note that the "opt in" clause is not straightforward. The potential receipient does not need to have agreed to receive e-mails from you, he/she might just have agreed to receive e-mails from e.g. partners of a company they've dealt with in the past (and you are a partner), or e-mails about a specific topic.
This "grey area" is the reason for why there are companies that deal in e-mail databases. Good databases with verified recipients in well specified topics/areas are extremely valuable.

(btw. I am not an expert in this area, but I am married to someone who is...)

 

[Borek]

The regulations are pretty clear. The receipents need to somehow have opted in, there also needs to be an unsubscribe link in the e-mail (required by law).

You need them to agree, but you can't ask them to agree. Catch 22.

if I need to find something I look for it.

This is how the developer waiting for customers (and not promoting his programs) looks like.

 

[turbo]

In the US, there are loopholes. You can pretend to be conducting a poll, for instance. That doesn't make the intrusions less annoying - just harder to block.

 

[Evo]

In the US, there are loopholes. You can pretend to be conducting a poll, for instance. That doesn't make the intrusions less annoying - just harder to block.

That's for phone calls, AFAIK.

 

[f95toli]

You need them to agree, but you can't ask them to agree. Catch 22.

Well, you CAN ask them when they e.g. buy something, register a product, download free software or register for e.g. a conference. This is how legitimate companies create their databases (and the databases be LARGE, with hundreds of thousands of working e-mail addresses).

 

[Borek]

Well, you CAN ask them when they e.g. buy something, register a product, download free software or register for e.g. a conference.

For me that's out of the question - so all I can do is to hope to find an already existing database that will not cost me an arm and a leg.

Do you (or your other half ) happen to know where to look for such databases? Reliable and specifically related to chemistry & chemistry education?