Who Can I and Can't I Email?

Who You Can Email

In order to comply with both United States and Canadian Spam laws, any email addresses that you mail through us have to be permission based. 

There are two types of permission:

• Express Permission is when an individual has opted-in or specifically requested to get your emails. Some examples of this are:
  • Anyone who goes through a double opt-in or confirmed opt-in process
  • Someone who signs up to receive your emails from your webpage
  • People who sign up using a form with the specific purpose of being added to a mailing list
• Implied Permission happens through a client or customer relationship. For example, you may get implicit permission through:
  • The exchange of business cards
  • A verbal request
  • A fishbowl collection where no consent to email is asked

Now, if you do business in Canada or email Canadian contacts you will need to be aware of the Canadian anti-spam laws and the expectations they set for Implied and Express consent. There are strict rules about how long you can email someone who has only given you Implied Permission.

Who You Can't Email 

On the other hand, you are not allowed to email:

• Any purchased, rented, or appended list of email addresses from any source, no matter what the source claims. 
• Any shared list of email addresses that haven't given you direct permission to email, such as a:
  • trade show attendee list
  • affiliated company contact list
• Any non-specific or role email addresses. Some examples of role addresses:
  • marketing@example.com
  • info@example.com 
  • sales@example.com
  • admin@example.com
• Any distribution list or mailing list. These are lists where an email address will connect or mail to several others, like a:Any collected email addresses obtained by surfing the internet or "scraping" web pages.
  • voter registration list
  • public directories
  • membership association contacts
  • chamber of commerce
• Any addresses obtained through social media connections where the contact hasn't explicitly requested emails.This includes Facebook Fans or Friends, LinkedIn Connections, or Twitter Followers where the contact has not explicitly requested mailings. Someone who makes a LinkedIn Connection with you has not asked you to send them emails.  However, you can invite social media contacts to join your mailing list.

You want more info? Check out our anti-spam policy for all the details. Keep in mind that adding or importing names that go against the permission policy or anti-spam policy may result in the termination of your account.