"Affirmative consent" is when the consumer has to take an
action before being added to an e-mail list, for example, through a
check-off box. It is another way of saying "permission was granted" or
"the individual said yes " or "the consumer opted in." The overriding
principle here is that
consumers on your lists, and on lists you received from others should
have
either agreed to receive e-mails, or, at a minimum, should have been
given
notice and the choice to opt out.
Online "solicitations" are e-mails that are sales messages or
advertisements. If you send an e-mail notifying a consumer on the
status of an order, or any other customer service matter, such as
updating account information,
or acknowledging a transaction, payment, or communication, that is not
a
solicitation and these guidelines would not apply. When such customer
service
messages and sales messages or advertisements are combined within the
same
e-mail, these guidelines would apply.
Point one is the principle that you can contact your own
customers online, even if the prior relationship with them was
conducted in another medium. This also allows for e-appending,
for example, obtaining your customer's e-mail address from a directory
or listing based on their physical address information. "Customers"
include individuals with whom marketers
have previously conducted business (e.g., they have made a
purchase
or donation) or individuals who have contacted a marketer or the
marketer's agent and included their e-mail addresses. Examples of such
contacts could include requests for information, responses to
questionnaires or surveys, product registrations, or responses to
sweepstakes or contests.
Points two and three apply to your own actions: that consumers
gave you permission to contact them by e-mail, or they did not opt out
of receiving e-mail solicitations when you provided them notice. The
guideline allows you to send individuals (customers or prospects) at
least one e-mail solicitation, and if recipients do not ask you to
stop, you can continue to send them
solicitations online.
Since point four relates to third party lists, permission
would have
been granted to the third party marketer (or the marketer's agent) who
is
sharing the e-mail list with your company. In other words, it is the
original marketer's responsibility to provide the individual with
notice and an opt-out opportunity (for example, a check-off box) before
renting or exchanging the e-mail addresses with your company.
Your responsibility is to ask the list provider whether
permission was granted or opt-out notice was given, and to be
reasonably reassured of the answer before proceeding to send e-mail
solicitations to consumers on the list.
Marketers should be aware that some Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) have policies to block the receipt of unsolicited commercial
e-mail. A
marketer should take into account the e-mail policies of the
destination
ISP because that is one way of ensuring that your messages will be
delivered.
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