Friendly reminder: We’re marketers, not lawyers. This blog post touches upon some of the regulations that govern how businesses can handle email marketing, but it does not constitute legal advice. If you have questions about your email marketing program, we recommend you speak with your attorney for specific guidance.

With all the incredible stats about email marketing (it’s highly effective and relatively low-cost), it’s understandable that businesses are eager to adopt the tactic.

But we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: running a spammy email program is a road to marketing disaster. It can land you on literal email blacklists and proverbial sh*tlists with your audience, who are annoyed to be getting emails they never asked for.

The world of email requirements is governed by the CAN-SPAM Act in the US and the GDPR in Europe. It’s important to familiarize yourself with those regulations before you start sending marketing emails to anyone. They are complex, but at their core, they’re both asking the same thing of businesses: You need to get explicit permission to send marketing emails, and you must make it easy for individuals to opt out at any time.

When we tell clients about these stringent guidelines, we often get follow-up questions. “But our sales team emails people; is that allowed?” “What if someone buys from us but hasn’t opted in—can we still email them about their order status?” “We bought an email list from somewhere; we can still email them without opt-ins, right?”

(The short answers are: Yes, Yes, and No).

The longer answer is: It helps to understand the different types of emails your business sends. They’re not all subject to opt-in requirements, but they are all opportunities to showcase your brand in its best light.

No opt-in or opt-out: transactional emails

These are the emails you send in response to a customer’s action. They might:

• Confirm an order or contain a receipt
• Provide shipping details
• Offer order status updates
• Notify customers about their account status (e.g., a subscription renewal notice, password reset confirmation)

Transactional emails share specific, vital business information. You’re not selling a product or service; you’re providing an individual with information about their existing account or order. Even if the recipient has said they don’t want to receive marketing emails, you can still send emails that are specific to their transaction or account. In fact, customers can’t avoid transactional emails without canceling their accounts.

The advantage of transactional emails is that they’re highly targeted and relevant. Who doesn’t want to know when the exciting new item they’ve purchased will arrive at their door? Customers are more likely to open and read these emails because they contain details that matter to them.

So, just because these aren’t marketing emails doesn’t mean you can’t think about how you can use them to surprise and delight your customers. Transactional emails can be helpful, easy to read, and well-designed—the sort of messages that reinforce brand trust and loyalty.

It helps to understand the different types of emails your business sends. They’re not all subject to opt-in requirements, but they are all opportunities to showcase your brand in its best light.

Can opt-in and opt-out: triggered emails

Triggered or behavioral emails are automated messages sent to subscribers when specific conditions are met. These include:

• Welcome emails to new newsletter subscribers
• Event reminders for registered attendees
• Customer feedback emails
• Re-engagement of lapsed subscribers
• Abandoned cart emails

These are emails that can be sent to individuals who have opted in to receive certain communications from your business. (For example, you can email the person who registered for your upcoming webinar about that event: “Here’s the link to join” or “Reminder: this event starts in 30 minutes!”) You also need to provide recipients with an option to opt out.

As with transactional emails, triggered emails are highly targeted and often have high open rates and good engagement because they provide specific, relevant information. Similarly, these emails are an opportunity to showcase your brand in a good light. Just don’t overstep your bounds—avoid the temptation to sneak superfluous marketing messaging into triggered emails.

Require opt-in and opt-out: marketing emails

Marketing emails are pure promotion. These emails might contain:

• Details about new products or services
• Promotional offers or information about a sale
• News about a new location opening

You can only send marketing emails to those who have explicitly opted into this type of communication, and you need to provide a clear opt-out option.

These emails are sent to all subscribers or specific subsets of your subscription population (if you’ve segmented your email list, which we highly recommend you do!). Unlike transactional or triggered emails, which are sent in response to an action the recipient takes, it’s your team that sets the cadence for marketing emails.

In addition to opt-in and opt-out requirements, CAN-SPAM says marketing emails must:

• Not include false or misleading information
• Include a subject line that clearly states what the email is about
• Disclose that the email is an ad
• Include your company’s name and address at the bottom of the email

We get why brands are eager to dive right into email marketing, and we’re not here to be a buzzkill. We’re passionate about email marketing, too! We just want to ensure you have all the facts so your email marketing program doesn’t do more harm than good. And if you’re getting pressure to send emails without much planning, share this article with them so they know the rules (or remind them that each violation can result in up to $51,744 in fines).

And if you want a guide to help keep you on track, we’ve created a checklist to help you determine whether or not you’re okay to send that email without opt-in. You can download that here.

And if you need support in starting a successful email marketing program, let’s talk.