Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

This is not a legal response, but more a customer perspective with some common sense.

If you ask them once and they don't opt in (but didn't clearly requested to opt out) I'd say you have a second chance 1-2 weeks later. Having said this, only if you got some new valuable information to provide and clearly mark that this is the last email they will receive, unless they confirm opt-in.

Mikael
B2B Marketing

Diana,

From what I understand, it only becomes a legal issue here in the US if you are not doing business with the people to whom you are emailing. Since you are in a business relationship with them, I do not believe the Spam laws apply. However, as Mikael stated, You don't want to annoy your customer, so after you initial email you could send two follow up messages, with the last one apologizing for disturbing them but explaining the importance of them opting in.

I hope this helps,

Best regards,

Andy Fracica

Hi, Diana.

A good ESP can tell you which recipients have opened your email and which have not. So, of those who opened your email, you'll know who opted in and who did not. Of that latter group, you might ask a second time with a new message. After that, the annoyance factor sets in. It's your company's decision whether they want to pester them further.

The ESP can also tell you who did not open your email. For this group you may want to send messages several more times until they open one. After a reasonable number of attempts, you can assume that recipients (a) are intent on not opening your mail, (b) don't monitor the email address you're using, or (c) are using a service that automatically sends your email to the junk folder.

If the unopened mail has something in common -- such as a high number of recipients with (let's say) AOL or Hotmail addresses -- then it's an indication you've hit the junk mail filter at that provider. A good ESP can help you solve this problem for improved delivery.

As your legal team will tell you, only a lawyer can give you legal advice, so you really can't ask for legal advice on this forum. But, we're happy to give you marketing advice!

FYI, you can get very good overall email Can-Spam advice on the websites of any major email provider. Many of them use practices that are higher than Can-Spam. The ESP EMMA provides this overview of their best practice guidelines, which are fairly typical of quality ESPs:

Send email only to:
- Someone who is a customer, member or subscriber of your business or organization,
- Someone who has specifically asked to receive your emails by opting in or signing up in some way, or
- Someone who has bought a product or service from you in the past 18 months.

Also, you can read the Can-Spam act at the government's FTC website: https://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-busi....

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