Email Marketing Lesson: Privacy Policies and Email Marketing
For those of you who know me you've gotten the message that I am
passionate about customer privacy. What kind of an Email
Marketer would I be if I wasn't?
First off, if you don't have a privacy policy on your website
stop reading this Email Marketing article and get one. I mean
it, it is important.
If you do have a privacy policy, here are some things you will
want to make sure your privacy policy covers or includes:
-How you treat Email addresses that are entrusted to you (when
someone subscribes to your Email newsletter list or sends you an
Email message).
-How people can take back their Email addresses and get off your
list (un-subscribing).
-Your mailing address and contact Email address.
Why the mailing address and contact Email address?
It is not a law or anything but it just makes sense. Your
willingness to share your postal address and some way for
website and email visitors to contact you says a lot about your
company. It also falls in line with the Can-Spam act (US
Legislation) regarding what has to be included in Email
marketing messages.
Lots of companies don't think privacy policies are important.
They should. In some countries posting a privacy policy that is
accessible to the public is either considered good business
practice or law. Canada, for example, has specific privacy
legislation. Certain types of businesses have to post privacy
policies that the public can access (the best place for this is
a website/Blog).
And if your home country doesn't have any privacy legislation
posting a privacy policy is still a good idea. It shows:
*You care about customer privacy issues (which is a hot topic in
the media and in conversations about business ethics).
*You are willing to go beyond the minimum requirements of your
geographic location.
*It equips your website/blog for world-wide distribution,
regardless of where someone is who is partaking of your
website/blog/email marketing campaigns.
If you are still reading this article and you did not heed my
earlier advice to get a privacy policy, go get one now!
If you need some help, check out some privacy policies on your
favorite websites. Most privacy policies are not the kind of
thing you read on a Sunday afternoon while you are lounging
about in your pajamas, but reading a variety of privacy policies
will give you an idea of what they are all about.