Email Marketing - Opt-Out?

markesmith

Hi all, I really should know this, but a quick question.

Our new site is going to have a "untick this box if you do not wish to receive email communications" check-box at the end of the payment process.

Is this okay according to Irish/EU law, data protection law, etc? Or does it have to be opt-in?

Got an email this morning from the Data Protection commissioner, telling me they'd be back in touch within 15 working days :rolleyes:

So, fellow boardsies, can anyone fill me in in the meantime?

tricky D

The SUMMARY table from: http://www.dataprotection.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=905&ad=1

Individual Customer: Opt-0ut (provided similar product or service)
Individual Non-Customer: Opt-In
Business Contacts (Customer & Non-Customer): Opt-Out

However, my own professional opinion is that while opt out is not viewed as unethical, it falls short of good practice for marketing activities beyond the transaction processing with a grey area for a once-off 'are you happy with your purchase' follow up after say a week or two.

markesmith

Thanks for that Tricky D. I know it's not best marketing practice, but the percentage of users who actually would tick the box is so small, that the only way to consistently build a decent email list is to have it opt-out.

DeVore

Which should go to tell you something.


However, my understanding is that the default setting for the tickbox is not the issue, you are just required to present the user with it so they can choose for themselves. Having it pre-ticked doesnt affect opt-in/opt-out status, would be my guess.

DeV.

tricky D

markesmith wrote: »

Thanks for that Tricky D. I know it's not best marketing practice, but the percentage of users who actually would tick the box is so small, that the only way to consistently build a decent email list is to have it opt-out.

Bear in mind quality vs quantity. Quantity can very easily be a poor measure of a decent mailing list. Smaller, more 'opted-in' lists can be much easier to manage and personalise, resulting in much higher conversion rates and RoI. Someone who just didn't untick the box may well be a waste of your resources.

As DeV refers to, it's not so much the tick box, it's the treatment of new customers and contacts, and maybe the acquisition of lists from other parties.

BrianD

Box unticked would be best practice. Anybody who has ticked the box has opted in and wants to receive the email. As somebody else said, you'll have a better quality mailing list. Mailing lists cost money and you don't want to be paying out and getting statistics showing that a huge amount of your emails are unopened.

The Apprentice

BrianD wrote: »

Mailing lists cost money and you don't want to be paying out and getting statistics showing that a huge amount of your emails are unopened.

U have a valid point brian, i have found that although ure open rate is pretty low if its your own list u can still pound those lists out.
Although if its a targeted list that you have had purchased from someone else i think yes.. the more opens the higher coversion ratio..

A lot of guys i know dealing with getting lists like this ONLY have an opt out box, so once the email box is hit and the service just isnt wanted they opt out and there is no hard feelings..

Personally u run a business to make money, having morals all about opt in boxes when making your lists :P perhaps u should get someone else to do it and not have it on your consionece :D:D:D:D

worc

tricky D said it best.

Also, depending on what you may be using for your email marketing (e.g. MailChimp) when someone gets your email they have the option to unsubscribe, when you unsubscribe from MailChimp you are asked why you are unsubscribing. One option is "I did not sign up to this mailing list". If a number of people get "subscribed" to your list because they didn't notice the ticked box and start unsubscribing saying they didn't sign up to your list then your account can get suspended for spam and you can't use your email list anymore.

realdanbreen

As somewhat of an aside, I contact quite a lot of potential customers by email, letting them know briefly what we are about,contact details etc.
I find the response to be fairly positive and am just wondering does anyone else use email more for marketing as opposed to ringing,trying to arrange a meeting, cold calling etc.

conorcan2

worc wrote: »

tricky D said it best.

Also, depending on what you may be using for your email marketing (e.g. MailChimp) when someone gets your email they have the option to unsubscribe, when you unsubscribe from MailChimp you are asked why you are unsubscribing. One option is "I did not sign up to this mailing list". If a number of people get "subscribed" to your list because they didn't notice the ticked box and start unsubscribing saying they didn't sign up to your list then your account can get suspended for spam and you can't use your email list anymore.

1. User gets email from you, didn't knowingly subscribe.
2. User hits 'spam'.
3. Future emails from you are more likely to automatically be filtered as spam by Gmail etc. depending on your spam/valid ratio.

karablack037

Over the last 2 years I have noticed a significant decrease in the measurable results marketers are seeing in their emails. Open rates have trailed off, and click through rates have also declined. Of course, to produce the same or more leads, most marketers are just sending more email but not addressing the underlying issues. There are several reasons why email isn’t effective any more:

1. The rise of social media and a new generation. Today’s under 25 crowd uses Text and IM long before they use email; they get information more organically – Twitter, Facebook, Chat; information is more interactive and conversation based. As my friend Aaron Kahlow likes to say – email is like the telegraph and social media is the telephone; how do you think your firm can have a more meaningful conversation?
2. List quality and permission; the average list turns over 25% per year and very few organizations have routing data cleansing and enrichment programs in place. Additionally, the majority of marketers still use an opt-out strategy vs. opt-in or double opt-in. The end result is that marketers have huge lists that are inaccurate, not segmented, and not built on permission. This leads to poor return on investment.

DeVore

I routinely, actively, discontinue using services which dont ask permission. I boycott them personally and if they dont take me off I use my (not inconsiderable) online voice to encourage others not to use them.

DeV.

realdanbreen

realdanbreen wrote: »

As somewhat of an aside, I contact quite a lot of potential customers by email, letting them know briefly what we are about,contact details etc.
I find the response to be fairly positive and am just wondering does anyone else use email more for marketing as opposed to ringing,trying to arrange a meeting, cold calling etc.

?