Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Forward To Friend Opt-out Issue

Posted by Mario R on 3/19/2010 at 5:36 PM ET 250 Points
We are adding Forward to Friend links for some content on our site but are concerned that visitors using the link may send our content to people who have explicitly Opted-out of our e-mail marketing lists. If our company name is the Sender of the e-mail that gets forwarded, is there a CAN-SPAM violation risk, even if we didn't initiate the send?

To clarify, we have to use our company name as the Sender due to industry requirements, so changing the Sender name is not an option. The email body will be obviously a forwarded message, with disclaimer in the email stating that we won't keep or re-use their info. I worry, still, that having received the e-mail in the first place will tick people off.

How do other companies deal with this issue?? Do they?

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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 3/19/2010 at 5:46 PM Accepted
    Hi Mario, here is the info found on the FTC.gov site regarding "forward to a friend" compliance. This doesn't give a straight yes or no, but may help you determine if you would be in compliance or not.

    Kimberly

    Q. My company sends email with a link so that recipients can forward the message to others. Who is responsible for CAN-SPAM compliance for these “Forward to a Friend” messages?

    A. Whether a seller or forwarder is a “sender” or “initiator” depends on the facts. So deciding if the CAN-SPAM Act applies to a commercial “forward-to-a-friend” message often depends on whether the seller has offered to pay the forwarder or give the forwarder some other benefit. For example, if the seller offers money, coupons, discounts, awards, additional entries in a sweepstakes, or the like in exchange for forwarding a message, the seller may be responsible for compliance. Or if a seller pays or give a benefit to someone in exchange for generating traffic to a website or for any form of referral, the seller is likely to have compliance obligations under the CAN-SPAM Act.
  • Posted on 3/19/2010 at 5:47 PM Accepted
    Do you mean a form? Or a forwarding request?

    Forms have problems, but forwarding requests are OK.

    CAN-SPAM requires that when someone opts out of messages from you that they not receive messages from anyone on your behalf. So, any marketing partners would have to scrub their lists against your opt-out list.

    There's also the problem of people getting spammed with unwanted mail (regardless of whether they opted out of getting mail from your company in particular).

    AWeber (which is an email service provider) won't even let you use tell a friend forms.

    However, what you can do is ask the recipient to forward something to a friend. That way, it comes from them (not from you).

    More on this here:

    https://www.aweber.com/blog/email-marketing/building-your-list-with-permiss...

    Hope this helps.

    Jodi

  • Posted by Mario R on 3/19/2010 at 6:10 PM Author
    Thanks guys.

    Unfortunately, the FTC site doesn't clarify the issue. And I respect AWeber's approach for e-mail, but for web content and articles it's more practical having a fwd to friend form. That's what we're looking to use.

    I've tested using these forms ("Share by email") at tons of sites (CNN, Newsweek, MProfs, etc.) to see what they do. Some make the Forwarder appear as the e-mail Sender, some use a Noreply address as the sender. The first option we can't use, and the latter brings back my issue...

  • Posted by KathyAd on 3/22/2010 at 11:39 AM Accepted
    Mario R, I am glad you asked this question, as my company is in the same boat. We use a "forward to a friend" form, and have been for a number of years. We do NOT in any way pay a third party to send messages on our behalf. It is just a link on our web site, where I could fill in my name, and your email address, and say "Hey, Mario. I thought you would like to see this article." That is the extent of it. Then, your email inbox would show an email, with the Sender being the company (thus, the possible CanSpam issues you mentioned), and the email would show my message to you.

    I am intersted to hear more responses. I am sure this is a gray area right now.
  • Posted by Mario R on 3/29/2010 at 4:11 PM Author
    Thanks everyone for your input.
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