Picture this: someone asked you to choose from two different gifts. One is elegantly packaged with big shiny ribbons on top while the other looks like a huge dried fish wrapped in crinkled newspaper. Regardless of the contents of that gift box, the way it was packaged and delivered creates a huge impact on your decision-making process. And the same goes for your target market.
Cutting to the chase, the “gift” — which represents your product or service alerts — is greatly affected by your packaging. In this scenario – your email marketing approach. When someone sees your thought-provoking ad, you want them to click on the “subscribe” button because, hey, isn’t that the goal?
But what if despite that clean and sleek marketing ad, they still choose to unsubscribe? Can you still send them emails? Let’s figure it out!
Sending Emails to Non-Followers: Is It Legal?
CAN-SPAM Act and CASL Laws
Nobody — not even you — wants to receive spammy content. Fortunately, CAN-SPAM Act and CASL Laws are strictly regulating commercial emails in the US and Canada, respectively. If you’re a business entity that’s using the right marketing tools and you’re aimed at delivering legitimate emails, you’re unlikely to be a part of the law-breaking loop.
However, since there are slight differences in how email marketing laws are implemented per state or country, it’s still important that you understand basic email marketing etiquette so you can fully protect your business from any unforeseen violations.
Make sure you have permission to send emails on your contact list
In most countries, an email campaign should be authorized by its recipient. Permissions exist in two forms:
- Implied permission – exists between you and your existing customers who are actively buying or participating in any of your business activities.
- Express permission – granted by potential customers who filled in your subscription or newsletter form.
Never use deceptive headers or misleading subject lines
There is one golden rule when it comes to writing headers and subject lines: stay true to your message. The header should reflect your business name, while your subject line should give your readers a general idea of your email content.
Go straight to the point by identifying your content as an advertisement
You don’t have to write a “this is an advertisement” line on your email to identify it as an advertisement. Instead, focus on creating a one-liner that directly tells your recipient that you’re advertising. You can do this by highlighting your items on sale or highlighting promos where your readers can immediately see them — on your subject line.
Write your postal address
In most cases, you’re required to write down either your postal address or the postal address of your mail-receiving company on any part of your email. Tip: write it at the bottom part to avoid distracting your readers.
Show your readers a way out if they choose not to receive future emails from you
An opt-out option is as easy as putting an “unsubscribe” button at the end of your email. As a rule of thumb, make sure your opt-out option is clear, understandable, and conspicuous.
Respect and immediately grant opt-out requests
Not only should opt-out options be free-of-hassle, but they should also be granted within 10 business days.
Practice self-accountability by monitoring the email marketing provider acting on your behalf
It’s hard to point fingers once you or your company breaks the law. If you hire an email marketing company or specialist, legal responsibilities are always shared by you and that provider. To free your business from any liabilities, be proactive in tracking your campaigns using campaign management tools, so you can ensure legitimacy.
Types of Contacts and Legally-Accepted Emails for Each of Them
Not everyone who agrees to give you an email address is considered a “subscriber”. To be one, they first have to hit the subscribe button, which means that they are permitting you to send them any of your marketing campaigns.
However, some of those who refuse to receive marketing ads, or what we call contacts with a non-subscribed status, are added to a different marketing automation platform. When you hire a third-party marketing agency, they use multiple channels to categorize your contact list into three:
- Subscribed contact. You can send ALL types of marketing campaigns including ads, birthday and welcome automation, discount coupons, and any email that falls under the marketing category.
- Contacts with a non-subscribed status. Emails that you can send to non-subscribed contacts are limited to collaboration requests, marketing offers, and transactional emails such as browse abandonment, cancellation, customer reactivation, customer feedback, and order notifications.
- Unsubscribed contact. You can only send specific types of transactional emails such as order, cancellation, and shipping notifications.
How to Send Emails to Non-Subscribed Contacts
Non-subscribed contacts have a great potential of converting into subscribers. But when it boils down to getting winning leads, it always circles back to the efficiency of your marketing initiatives.
If you want to put an extra sizzle to your marketing campaign, you can get help from two types of platforms:
- an email client software or app
- an email marketing automation tool
1. Using an Email Client Software or App
An email client app helps manage your communication channels so you can get the best out of all your marketing efforts. More than simply sending or organizing business emails, an email client can help centralize your data. Through this platform, you can store your email accounts in one space, and, in turn, better manage your email marketing campaigns.
💡 Getting an email client app is like hiring professional home decluttering services. It organizes your space and it helps you put all your necessities where you can immediately access them. Think of Marie Kondo’s famous Konmari method, but instead of organizing your home, the email client systematizes your marketing efforts. From unifying your communication channels to alerting you on your business schedule, an email client keeps you at the top of your game.
Advantages of an email client
An email client is ideal for businesses that run small-scale email marketing campaigns. If you have about 50 contacts on your list, this app can help you increase the efficiency of your email management strategies.
For instance, Mailbird, one of the popular email programs, is a powerful tool that allows you to unify your email accounts and create a collaborative workspace. Let’s take a closer look at the advantages of using this app:
- Streamline email management efforts by unifying your emails. You can now access all your emails in one space and color-code your accounts to make email handling a breeze.
- Get all your business events in sync. You can synchronize all your calendars in a native calendar app, giving you unlimited options when it comes to managing your business events and meetings.
- Add competence to your email delivery and scheduling system. It comes with an email snooze button that can contribute to providing better services for your clients. Snooze email, which schedules email delivery, for instance, alerts you if you have important emails to follow up on.
Tips on sending an email via an email client app
- Study the law around personal privacy. When it comes to creating a winning marketing email, nothing beats going back to the basics. And by basics, we mean applying the email marketing etiquette we discussed earlier in our “legal” section. Understanding the law guides you in making sound and ethical content for your recipients.
- Use professional email. It’s also nice to add your professional email address so your recipients can easily get in touch with you. And if you’re sending content to multiple addresses, use the Bcc field so your message looks more personalized.
- Follow up. And last but not the least, pursue your leads by proactively following up on your emails, but learn when to let go. In case of defeat, move on and create a new space for potential leads that can actually convert.
2. Using an Email Marketing Automation Tool
Email marketing tools add efficiency to your workflow. They do so by segmenting your audience and timing content delivery so your message can reach your recipients based on your preset schedule or condition. Even large businesses take advantage of such platforms, so there’s no reason for you not to, especially if your goal is to manage more prospects and build a strong buying cycle.
Advantages of email marketing automation tools
As the word implies, email marketing automation saves you time and effort by “automating” your campaigns. Instead of jumping back and forth in creating new emails to process multiple transactions, scheduled, automated emails speed up your marketing process while allowing you to add a personal touch to your content.
After segmenting your contact list, the tools available on this platform usually enable you to write targeted emails, create automated follow-ups, and track the progress of your marketing campaign. Plus, you also get to:
- Automate transactional emails in just a few clicks
- Add new contacts to your list with ease
- Create impactful content with the help of email editors
Tips on sending an email via email marketing automation tools
- Don’t buy email lists, you don’t know what’s in them. An automation tool, and email marketing in general, work best when you create a list of legally-acquired emails. Again, we don’t want to break any law when we’re running an email campaign.
- Offer on opt-in straight away. Since your opt-in pages, formerly called subscribe pages, play a critical role in the success of your email marketing campaign, you should spend time creating visually appealing and mentally-stimulating content that can drive leads to conversion.
Key Takeaways
Why walk ten floors up when you can use the elevator? Well, if using the elevator is a metaphor for cutting corners and buying mailing lists, then walking will get you a healthy mailing list in the long run. Any emails that people shared with you with an explicit understanding that you may send any kind of marketing material have the potential to become subscribed emails.
How to do that? Use an email client or create a new segment in an email marketing tool to offer your products or services to the potential audience and offer to opt-in for your newsletter.
