A mail list consists of the names and contact details of people which you can contact to market your products and services. There are legal regulations regarding the use of a mail list enforces by the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, that has to be followed when you make use of such a service.
Regulations in Short
You are not allowed to use someone’s e-mail address to send him/her a marketing proposal if;
- you don’t know that recipient personally,
- or if that person is not registered on your mail list, legally,
- it is against the law to;
- register on behalf of a recipient on a mail list,
- buy or sell mail lists from or to third parties,
- these actions are called SPAM,
- it is against the law to;
- The marketing and/or material that you send out to these recipients has to include the following;
- that they receive the e-mail because they are subscribed to your mail list,
- facility to unsubscribe from your mail list,
- The information in the newsletter / marketing material should not be;
- obscene or porno graphical,
- encourage violence or hatred speech,
- political motivated
Should you wish to familiarize yourself with the relevant legislation, a copy of the ECT Act is available on-line via the South African Government’s web site, http://www.gov.za/gazette/acts/2002/a25-02.pdf
How do I obtain a Mail List?
The best way is to ask your designer to provide an on-line form on your web site where visitors can register as members of your mail list,
- if your web site is well designed and your content are of value then you should have no problem to get visitors to register as members,
The other way is to contact mail list administrators and ask them if they are willing to promote you once in their next newsletter, which is not always very successful but worth trying,
- in your application you should be very specific about the following;
- assure that the mail list administrator you are contacting are not in the same or similar business environment, your direct opposition will not help you,
- stipulate how you are and what your business is all about,
- what products and services you offer,
- a link to your web site will be convincing, because then the administrator can visit your web site and decide if they will grant you the favour,
- a small thing that might win you the favour is to offer the administrator a link in your next newsletter that will lead visitors back to him,
- mail list administrators normally don’t do this, but if they consider your application, they will put a link to your web site on their next newsletter which will lead their mail list recipients to you where they can register themselves on your mail list.
- Never buy a mail list from anybody because it’s;
- illegal to buy or sell personal contact details from or to a third party,
- you will waist your money because most of the details on the list are incorrect or duplicated.
SPAM is a serious matter and it can cause you a lot of trouble, be aware of these facts and laws.
