Three of the largest marketing trade groups in the US, the
American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), the
Association of National Advertisers (ANA), and the Direct Marketing
Association (DMA), this week released joint guidelines for e-mail
marketing.
It comes only a week after the US Association for Interactive
Marketing (AIM) released similar guidelines. Both sets are
recommendations only, and cannot be enforced.
The AAAA/ANA/DMA guidelines state:
- The subject line of an e-mail must be honest and not misleading
or deceptive.
- A valid return e-mail address and the physical address of the
sender should be clearly identified. Marketers are encouraged to
use their company or brand names in their domain address and
prominently throughout the message.
- An e-mail should clearly identify the sender and the subject
matter at the beginning of the e-mail.
- All commercial e-mail (except for billing purposes) must
provide consumers with a clear and conspicuous electronic option to
be removed from lists for future e-mail messages from the sender.
The removal process must be easy to find and easy to use.
- If a company sending commercial e-mail has multiple distinct
brands or affiliates, notice and opt-out should be provided based
on the likely perspective of the average consumer. Each separate
brand or affiliate, as the consumer is likely to perceive it, must
offer notice and a process for removal from marketing lists in all
commercial e-mails (except for billing purposes).
- Marketers should not acquire e-mail addresses surreptitiously
through automated mechanisms (such as robots or spiders) without
the consumer/customer's informed consent. This includes a
prohibition on dictionary attacks or other mechanisms for
fabricating e-mail addresses without providing notice and choice to
the consumer.
- "Remove" means "Remove." The electronic remove feature must be
reliable, functional, and prompt.
- E-mail lists must not be sold or provided to unrelated third
parties unless the owner of the list has provided notice and the
ability to be removed from such transfer to each e-mail address on
the list. Related third parties include other brands/subsidiaries
within the same parent company as well as outside affinity partners
as a reasonable consumer is likely to perceive them.
- A commercial e-mail should contain the sender's privacy policy,
either within the body of the e-mail or via a link.
"Today's landmark announcement reflects our shared belief that
stamping out spam requires a multi-pronged approach," said Burtch
Drake, President and CEO of the AAAA.
All three organisations called for federal legislation as "a
critical necessity in the fight against spam," and urged Congress
to move forward quickly to enact "a single national law that will
clearly delineate legitimate commercial e-mail from unlawful
spam."
