Everything You Should Know About Email Compliance

Everything You Should Know About Email Compliance

Introduction

Email compliance frameworks exist both to protect email recipients' privacy and to create systems of accountability for email senders. In this episode of the OneSignal podcast, Content Writer Sasha Langholz covers tips and tricks for remaining compliant in your email sending practices.

What is Email Compliance?

Email communications can contain all types of sensitive information, from names to attachments, to conversations and even to confidential health and financial information. This data is what the field of email compliance laws exists to protect.

Compliance laws have come into existence to protect consumers against a variety of different types of internet scams, including spam, phishing, identity theft, and spoofing. They are designed to protect consumers against spammers who acquire consumers’ emails without consent in order to send them unsolicited emails. They also exist to protect highly sensitive data, such as PII, or Personally Identifiable Information, and PHI, or Personal Health Information.

Maintaining email compliance involves meeting detailed sets of regulatory standards and requirements in order to protect the data and privacy of your email recipients.

Why is Email Compliance Important?

Email is a valuable channel for your business, offering a high ROI, a creative medium for messaging, and a variety of functions across the customer lifecycle. In order to successfully deploy email campaigns, you’ll need to make sure you’re adhering to these legal frameworks. Failing to do so can not only ruin your sender reputation and tank the efficacy of your email program, but also destroy your brand reputation.

Email compliance laws dictate the following:

• Who you’re allowed to email
• How your recipients can opt-out
• Necessary information you need to include in your emails

4 Things You Need to Know About Email Compliance

1. Understand Regional Differences

Email compliance frameworks vary widely across regions. If you’re a company with an international user base, you'll need to be aware that your emails will be treated differently across the globe.

2. Segment Your List

If you know that your user base resides in different countries around the world, you should make geographic segmentation a priority. After you separate your list by region, you’ll have a better understanding of how to focus your strategy based on what policies you’re subject to.

3. Develop an Overarching Strategy

In your process to ensure email compliance, you’ll want to go through the relevant policies and pull out the commonalities that apply. If you’re a small company with limited resources, it may be most efficient to broadly generalize your email campaigns according to the most strict policy you’re subject to.

4. Understand the Most Important Email Compliance Policies

• GDPR: The GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation, is the European Union’s regulatory framework that governs the use and misuse of consumers’ personal data. It requires opt-in consent from recipients before sending marketing emails, keeping records of that consent, and providing a clear unsubscribe option.

• CAN-SPAM: The CAN-SPAM Act covers electronic messages whose primary purpose is commercial advertising. Unlike GDPR, this legislation contains an opt-out policy, allowing promotional emails without explicit consent.

• CASL: The Canadian Anti-Spam Law requires consumers’ express consent through an affirmative action in order to be added to your marketing email list.

• HIPAA Compliance: HIPAA protects PHI and ensures message accountability. Companies in the healthcare industry must comply with these standards.

• ADA Email Compliance: The ADA ensures that marketing emails are accessible to individuals with disabilities, requiring compliance to certain standards to prevent discrimination.

Conclusion

When it comes to email compliance, choosing a good email service provider can go a long way to keeping you and your contacts protected. OneSignal is fully compliant and designed to help you send, automate, and manage your user communication across various channels.