E-mail Marketing: Keep It Honest Or Pay The Price
March 15, 2002
And that price could total $25,000 for each violation.
Michigan House Bill 5777 was introduced on March 7, 2002, by Marc Shulman, R-West Bloomfield Township. It would add unsolicited, deceptive commercial e-mail practices to the list of unlawful acts covered by the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, similar to laws being proposed in other states.
This bill would target those who send e-mail with a misleading subject line, false return address or that use a third party's server without permission. The sender and the entity profiting from the e-mail could be held liable.
“In today’s digital society, unsolicited e-mails – or spam -- is something each one of us deals with on a daily basis,” said Shulman, R-West Bloomfield. “My legislation will focus on these types of annoying, misleading junk mail that clog our computer systems and our mail boxes.”
Shulman said the measure does not target legitimate advertising as long as the spammers don’t use deception. The legislation now moves to a House committee for consideration.
Pending legislation like this increases the urgency for organizations to begin adopting solid permission marketing principles when implementing e-mail marketing strategies. Systems like MemberConnect™ help organizations ensure their e-mail marketing campaigns remain on the right side of the law, and keep them in the good graces of their members or customers.
Four rules to live by when sending e-mail to your membership, bulk or otherwise:
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- Make sure your organization's name is in the "mail from" part of the e-mail.
- People are less likely to filter and remove e-mail from an organization they recognize.
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- Establish an e-mail address that matches your organization's website address.
- Due to the large amount of deceptive advertising generated from certain e-mail domains, addresses like "@hotmail.com" or "@aol.com" can reduce your credibility.
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- Use specific wording in your e-mail subject line that addresses the topic accurately.
- "Great Loan Rates" is not nearly specific enough to garner a response. However, it may cause your member to opt-out, or worse, just set an e-mail rule to automatically delete your message before it arrives.
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- Honor your member's wishes when they decide to opt-out of your e-mail list.
- Diligent monitoring of opt-in and opt-out lists is crucial. Ignoring your member's request could damage future business relationships and put you in a bad position legally.
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