Online Marketing Techniques for Real Estate Agents & Brokers: Insider Secrets You Need to Know to Take Your Business to the Next Level by Karen F. Vieira

Author:Karen F. Vieira
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing
Published: 2014-08-26T00:00:00+00:00

Legal Considerations for Internet Marketing

The 2003 U.S. law regulating commercial e-mail, called CAN-SPAM, allows opt-out marketing, but requires a couple of conditions: All commercial e-mails must have properly working unsubscribe functions and e-mails sent to recipients who did not provide “affirmative consent” must include language within the message that it is “a promotional e-mail.”

It is becoming more and more difficult to determine what can be called “spam” e-mail marketing and what can be considered legitimate contact. Many Internet operators consider “opt-out” unsolicited commercial e-mails to be spam, but direct-marketing political groups, such as the U.S. Direct Marketing Association (DMA), have put pressure on legislators to legalize such activities. Due to the high quantity of spam e-mail, some users mistake genuine commercial e-mails for spam. Most users rely on spam filters to block unwanted e-mails and, though some marketers complain that their valid e-mails are often caught by these filters, e-mail users are less likely to make such reports.

Several countries have enacted laws against spam, including the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) and the European Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. Internet providers have also come up with “acceptable use” policies to control spam. Companies that wish to begin an e-mail marketing program must make sure that it does not violate these spam laws. Even so, if Internet mail administrators decide a company is sending spam, the company is likely to be blacklisted.

The CAN-SPAM Act authorizes a penalty of $11,000 per violation, per recipient. Many e-mail marketers in the United States are therefore careful about ensuring compliance with the act, and they employ special services or software to assist them in doing so. Typically, these services require users to verify their return address and include a valid physical address, provide a one-click unsubscribe element, and do not permit the use of purchased lists with addressees who may not have given permission to the company sending the e-mails.

Service providers have also come forward to assist marketers in setting up and managing their own e-mail marketing campaigns. The services they provide include e-mail templates, automatic handling of subscriptions and un-subscriptions, and statistics on the number of messages opened and links clicked on within the messages.

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