Assia Salikhova

Smarketing Lab, Managing Director
Co-Creator of 4Rs Business Growth Framework with profitable B2B solutions 

Book time with me HERE now

assia@smarketinglab.co.nz

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Do you have consent to email? Understanding the 3 types of email consent

In today’s world of GDPR compliance and anti-spam laws, it can be difficult to navigate the legal system and understand who you can and can’t email. This is especially confusing when you get trade show leads and you want to follow up efficiently.

We’ve done the wading, and are breaking it down in plain English for you here. The long and short of it is: Yes, you can send emails to people using the email address from their business card that they’ve provided during the trade show. Or any business event for that matter. If you’re strapped for time, you can leave now. If you want to know why – read on.

Do you have permission to send marketing emails to anyone?

Knowing the rules governing email marketing in New Zealand can be helpful when planning your business’s email strategy. For example, you are not allowed to simply send a marketing email as it is considered spam also known legally as unsolicited commercial electronic messages in this country, meaning that any emails you send that are not advertisements will likely fall into this category. Additionally, you must gain your customer’s consent before sending them Communications of a Commercial Nature (COCNs); otherwise, these could be considered Spam and punishable by law.

One that aren’t considered spams are Transactional Emails, Transactional emails are e-mails you send to your customers either following up on a transaction that they have made through your website or in order to notify them about the changes and updates to your product or service. So, you might be asking how am I supposed to send marketing emails if this is the only acceptable form of email? Through trade shows of course.

Trade shows are an excellent opportunity for your sales rep to make connections with potential customers, as it allows you to get 3 types of consent to emails. 

3 types of consent to email

Under NZ Law there are three types of consent someone can give you to send an email:

1. Express Consent
2. Deemed Consent
3. Inferred Consent

But why is it OK to email people after a trade show?

Express consent 

This means someone ticks a box that says “Yes, please send me more information”. This consent can also be given verbally in a conversation – either in person or over the phone. If you’re standing there chatting to someone at your stand you can simply ask – “Is it OK to send you some more info via email?” And that will give you express consent. 

You can also ask them to fill out a form with their details and include an email opt-in box so that you can keep in touch, receive marketing emails or if they agree to receive newsletters from you. In addition, you should also provide them with the option to opt-out to the email address they’ve provided if they don’t want to receive emails from you. You should make it as clear as possible for them how they can unsubscribe from your emails, so that they have no trouble doing so if they need to.

Again, this gives you express consent. The only problem is if the issue of consent is ever brought up, it’s up to the sender to prove consent. So, a conversation at an expo might be difficult to use as proof.

This brings us to inferred consent.

Inferred consent refers to when someone engages you, they might expect you to follow up. Say they purchase something, there is a reasonable expectation you will send some emails. Inferred consent doesn’t apply to trade show leads.

This leaves us with deemed consent.

According to the DIA “Deemed consent is when someone conspicuously publishes their electronic address (e.g. on a website, brochure or magazine) in a business or official capacity.”.

And this is the consent you will most commonly be able to use and provide proof of. All you need to do is make sure the data is time stamped when you upload and make a note which event you connected with the lead. This should be a part of your process anyway as it makes following up simpler. And it also serves as proof of deemed consent.

It’s all about compliance

It’s important to understand and be compliant with any rules and guidelines that may exist, as this can help reduce potential risks associated with your email campaigns. By staying up-to-date on official regulations governing email marketing in New Zealand, you’ll be able to run a safer operation and avoid any penalties or fines that may come your way.

In summary: at trade shows or business events, when someone gives you their business card there is a reasonable expectation that you will be in touch with them. The message should still be relevant, and you shouldn’t send too many emails. But if you keep a time stamp and know which event you connected on, then from a legal point of view you are clear.

If you’d like to learn more, read this article written by the Marketing Association of NZ.

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But let’s get to the bottom of what the differences between the two are. If you’re exploring email automation, then you’ve probably heard these terms thrown around casually. And yet time and again I see people using them incorrectly. Read on for a low-down on the differences between an autoresponder and pre-scheduled emails.

Autoresponder – a sequence of pre-written emails that are triggered to be delivered after a certain number of days after you add a contact, client or prospect to your list. These communicate a consistent message to every receiver and is perfect for pitches you find yourself repeating over and over again, educational material you want to share to a wider audience, and much more. Here are just some ideas of how you can use these kinds of emails:

• Following up on an enquiry or proposal – after a meeting or a pitch, we all usually have a standard type of follow up email we send the potential client. So why not automate the process? A simple set of follow up emails sent later the same day and a few days post-meeting will mean you don’t have to spend time chasing after anyone, and can save your energy for those that respond to let you know they want to work with you, or buy your product. Your emails can be asking a simple “Just following up to see if you have had a chance to make a decision about the proposal we presented at the meeting” or perhaps something a bit more substantial – it’s totally up to you. Just remember to remove the contact off the sequence list once they respond back with a decision – the last thing you want is your sequence following up about the meeting after they already made a decision!
• Helping to on-board a new customer – just like the previous point, save your time and say what you’re always repeating to new customers into a sequence of emails. Especially if you’ve already communicated with one or two new customers in the past, just copy over or use what you wrote to them as inspiration to draft up a series of emails for future customers.
• Online enquiries – don’t let your online audiences go for days, hours or minutes without hearing from you! Set up a sequence to follow up on their interest in you instantly to keep them engaged and interested while you tend to their enquiry in real time when you’re next online. A Harvard Business Review study showed that you’re 7x more likely to have a meaningful conversation with an online enquiry if you respond within an hour.
• A training course – if you have a subject you’re an expert in or one you find yourself constantly teaching to others, break it down into a few days (or even months) worth of emails. These emails can either contain links to your webpages with the training content, to YouTube videos, or you can write the training content right there inside the email. You can use this training course as a giveaway for people to sign up to your list so you can promote your other products and services to them later. Or alternatively, you could even charge people to be added to this list so that once they pay, they will automatically start receiving the training course sequence of emails.
• And of course countless other applications – the limit is your imagination!

Pre-scheduled emails, also known as newsletters – these emails are sent on specific dates or days and not every person on the list will receive all of them because those who are added to the list at a later date will completely miss the previous messages. This approach works well for:

• Announcements and news about your business – a new product or service, a recent award you received, a family addition for one of your staff, a rebrand – any news is newsworthy so keep your supporters updated!
• Emails designed to introduce your whole product and service range. Often times customers won’t be aware of everything you do and sell. Pre-scheduled emails are an excellent way to both keep in touch and introduce other aspects of your business to drive cross-selling.
• Messages related to an event you’re running – let your contacts know how proactive and social your business is by sending announcements about a timely upcoming event you’re organizing, are attending, sponsoring or involved with.
• A discount sale – the cliché newsletter topic that still WORKS! Announce your product or service sales and whenever possible, offer a way to purchase online so your receivers can strike while their interest is HOT!
• Introduction of time sensitive deals, terms and conditions, your team, and other interesting information you can share to stay at the forefront of your audience’s minds.
• And much, much more

To summarise, an autoresponder is a set of emails aimed at automatically responding to a customer. And pre-scheduled emails are a set of emails meant to go out on a specific day to a specific list, once the email has been sent it’s not repeated again.

As you can see, both types of emails are important for businesses. So for best results, we suggest a combination of email sequences so you can keep in touch with both existing and potential clients in a customized manner. If you’re not sure what kind of automated emails will work for your business, or if you’d like for our team to do all the manual set up work while you sit back and prosper from the extra enquiries and sales, check out Set’n’Prosper today.

Reposted from the www.e-ideas.co.nz website.
Originally published on 21/02/2019.

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