Rather than fighting or resenting new laws such as the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) and Protection of Personal Information Bill, marketers should embrace them as an opportunity to bring best practices to their e-mail marketing campaigns.
This is according to Cordell Brewer, marketing director of TouchBasePro, who says the experience of other industries across the world and over the years shows that increased regulation leads to more mature and effective business practices that benefit companies as much as consumers.
“Companies become more successful when they embrace laws and good practices that are meant to protect consumers,” says Brewer.
“This will be true in e-mail marketing too because the regulation and discouragement of unwanted or unsolicited commercial mailing will work in the favour of legitimate marketers.”
Trevor Ndobela, MD of Quarphix Communications, is of the view that SA has, over the years, gradually moved towards providing an enabling environment for e-commerce to take place.
“The recently passed Consumer Protection Act has provided increased security and peace of mind for consumers, which has allowed for more online trade to take place,” says Ndobela.
The Wireless Application Service Providers' Association also stresses that marketers should take consumers' rights to privacy very seriously.
According to Brewer, marketers who embrace best practices already follow an opt-in permission based direct marketing because they understand that the less spam there is, the less clutter and annoyance their customers have to deal with.
“Clients will be more likely to opt-in for marketing e-mails if they believe their data will not be sold on to spammers and that they will be able to opt out whenever they want to,” he notes.
He explains that in addition, bulk mailers that do not send e-mails to people who don't want them or never asked for them have better relationships with ISPs and e-mail services such as Gmail.
“That means their legitimate mails are reported as spam less often and have a better chance of getting through spam filters to the user's inbox.”
Brewer also points out that the most significant change to e-mail marketing regulation introduced by the CPA is the mandatory compliance with an official 'do not contact' list that will pre-emptively block direct marketing to consumers who put their names on the list.
Also, he adds, significant is the CPA's tighter standards for data collection, which make it mandatory to receive active, rather than passive, opt-in permission from consumers.
Brewer believes there is a need to differentiate between e-mail subscription services like news and finance update subscriptions and direct e-mail marketing. “E-mail subscription services that do not fall within the CPA's definition of 'promotion' are not subject to regulations for direct e-mail marketing under the CPA.
“The lines between the two may not always be that clear. Another grey area is whether it is acceptable to attach marketing information to electronic bills for customers who have opted out of marketing e-mails,” he says.
Where companies have doubts, Brewer says, the rules they should apply include 'don't annoy the customer' and 'ask permission rather than forgiveness'.
“E-mail marketing is not just about getting your product offers in front of the consumer's eyeballs,” notes Brewer. “It's also important to provide a brand interaction that consumers value and enjoy. That means avoiding any practices that will lead to spam complaints.”
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