
Email marketing regulations around the world - 02thoeva
https://github.com/threeheartsdigital/email-marketing-regulations
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United857
I usually opt-out of all marketing emails whenever I can, but my pet peeve is
when e.g. my bank tells me about a new feature in their mobile app or
something otherwise trivial, and claims it's a "important account-related"
email that I can't opt out of.

To me, important is "We saw $5000 charges to your account from Elbonia, can
you verify?". "Download our new app with new redesigned UI!" is not.

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jermaustin1
What about notification of an actual account level feature like: "We now
support instant transfers between you, and your family/friends!"?

Would you still consider that a marketing email or a notification?

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choward
That's absolutely a marketing message. It's most likely a feature that I don't
care about and benefits the company more than me. I don't need my phone to
vibrate. If I received a transfer that's a different story.

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rkagerer
It might be less intrusive if they queued the news for inclusion at the bottom
of my next "You received a transfer" email.

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inetknght
Banks (and businesses) should absolutely _not_ clutter up actual real
important information by including irrelevant useless marketing garbage.

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singron
I was reading CAN-SPAM and I came across the definition of "electronic mail
message" in 15 USC § 7702(6)

> The term “electronic mail message” means a message sent to a unique
> electronic mail address.

Note that it doesn't specify anything about SMTP or any specific email
protocols besides the address. I wonder if messaging systems that use email
addresses as identifiers might unintentionally be subject? E.g. Ads shown
through Facebook custom audiences with email address lists.

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driverdan
I'd love to see someone bring a case asserting push notifications are
electronic mail messages under CAN-SPAM.

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mobjack
Email spam has went down mostly from self regulation.

ISPs are vigilant about blocking IP addresses with bad spam reputation. They
also block IPs that have a sudden surge in volume.

Email marketers have to manage their own IP address reputations to be
effective. If too many people mark your email as spam, then the IP could be
blacklisted.

~~~
nojvek
Not to discount the anti-spam algorithms. I religiously mark spam emails as
spam. Gmail is quick at learning. 90% of my email is promotions which I never
look at.

I just hope gmail had an auto unsubscribe. Most of the time unsubscribe
doesn’t work since sites require humans to click some button or entire their
email again.

I am far more worried about real mail spam. Can I do something about that ?

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moaw
Something I've searched for clarity on but have never been able to find is
differentiating between notifications and marketing email.

If you join a social network, does that network need to get your explicit
consent to email you notifications about events or actions that might happen
on the platform such as a new followers, connection requests and so on? I
understand that they would need to for marketing related emails like
recommendations on who to follow etc but do event / action notifications fall
into that same marketing category?

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joering2
Technically that would fall under action-based email aka Transaction email.
Postmarkapp has good explanation [1]

It means user triggered some action, like recently signed up or message you so
you receive notification of new message awaiting you. This would be different
than email marketing - when social network decides one day they want to inform
you about the newest features. You didn't ask for that email and it wasn't
specific to your actions but rather bulk message send en-masse.

[1] [https://postmarkapp.com/transactional-
email](https://postmarkapp.com/transactional-email)

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moaw
Cheers, thank you.

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cabaalis
CAN-SPAM has worked well in that I generally don't get random spam anymore.
But, the cold marketing emails. Woooooow, the cold marketing emails. Several
of them, Every. Day. It's epidemic in my inbox.

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ghaff
I don't know how much is CAN-SPAM and how much is that SPAM filtering became
so effective that old-fashioned SPAM basically doesn't work any more (if it
ever did).

>Several of them, Every. Day.

Lucky you. Between the fact that I'm on PR lists, I attend events all the
time, I download various company info for my job, etc. (Plus companies I've
ordered stuff from etc.) I probably get closer to 100/day.

Periodically I make a point of systematically opting out of mailings I can't
imagine ever caring about. But mostly I rely on Gmail tabs and just skimming
my email for anything I actually care about.

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Sir_Cmpwn
If you read this as a guide for how to do email marketing (which the authors,
an email marketing company, clearly want you to do), then you're part of the
problem. These regulations don't exist for you to edge up to the line and spam
people within their margins. Spam is still spam, and anyone who sends it is an
asshole. That's all there is to it.

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ceejayoz
Shouldn't this mention the CCPA? And the EU more broadly than just Germany and
the UK?

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jonathanbull
As far as I know CCPA isn't enforced until 2020, but yes, it eventually
should. We'll also try and cover more EU countries soon. Pull requests welcome
in the meantime.

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techntoke
If only USPS had similar regulations, but instead they are proud to sell your
information to companies for spam mail.

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bduerst
This is great. Can someone do it for direct mail marketing as well? It's more
of a mine field than email.

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reaperducer
Direct mail keeps me warm in the winter.

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chrisMyzel
What if I send a similar offering to someone looking for explicit contact e.g.
a Job Offer with a contact email receives a mail from me with a remote service
instead of a in person worker

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WA
I think the "Consent required" column for Germany is wrong. Just because you
have an existing business relationship doesn’t allow you to send marketing
emails. Marketing usually requires an additional opt-in (under GDPR). Although
in practice, I see this being violated quite often. Correct me if I’m wrong.

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Geee
In B2B the rules are bit different at least with GDPR. Direct sales /
marketing via email is possible without any consent or previous relationship.
It has to be targeted to the right person in the company (the person who makes
decisions about buying whatever you're selling).

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notfromhere
That's definitely not true. That legitimate interest loophole people think
exists really doesn't.

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paulie_a
You can basically do what ever you want want with minimal if any repisal

It takes 7 business days to get removed. My ass. It's an instant transaction
or the company is incredibly incompetent.

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jonathanbull
Relevant:
[https://twitter.com/Joe8Bit/status/1156312965265707013](https://twitter.com/Joe8Bit/status/1156312965265707013)

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reaperducer
It was a good story until he got to the point where he assumed that the only
reason a step needed approval from another office was "racism."

Seriously? Is he so inexperienced in a corporate setting, or so unimaginative
that this is the only thing he can come up with?

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nategri
Wow turns out email marketing is illegal everywhere. That's what it says, so
no need to read it for yourself.

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chrisMyzel
Not quite right:

> CAN-SPAM, unlike most other email marketing legislations, works on an opt-
> out basis. There is no requirement for consent to contact subscribers based
> in the USA. You must make it clear how to opt-out and honor those requests
> promptly, within ten business days.

