Creating a great email marketing campaign is a great way to reach your target audience and ensure that you are able to expand their knowledge of your products or services. It’s also a great way to frustrate your contacts. This can be particularly true if you are emailing potential customers in an unfamiliar market. Along with general email marketing practices and norms, local laws and culture should always inform your email marketing strategy. To ensure you’re doing email marketing the right way in the United Kingdom, you’ll want to understand these key do’s and don’ts of email marketing.
Do: Be Aware of the Law
It is very important that your email marketing campaign complies with the requirements of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations (PECR), the Data Protection Act, and any other applicable laws and regulations. Keep in mind, rules are more strict regarding communications with individuals (B2C) than with businesses (B2B), so it is important to know the differences. You can learn more about email marketing laws and regulations in the Globig Knowledge Base.
Do: Reveal Who You Are
When you create an email marketing campaign within the UK, you have to be honest about who you are. Your name and other contact information should be easy to find within your email. Your UK customers will be more comfortable and receptive to your email if they can quickly determine who you are and why you are connecting with them.
Do: Compile Your Own Marketing Lists
Purchased marketing lists make it difficult to comply with email regulations. By compiling your own marketing lists, you can be sure that you’re able to meet those regulations.
Do: Send Emails Clients Want to Read
When you create promotional emails, they should have as much genuine value to your customers as possible. Like most other people, the Brits do not want junk mail. This means going beyond offering unique sales and promotions, though that’s certainly an advantage. We also recommend that you include information that is relevant, timely, and useful for your customers whenever possible.
Do: Include an ‘opt-out’ or unsubscribe option
Every email you send should have and easy-to-find and easy-to-use ‘opt out’ or unsubscribe process. Most companies include an ‘opt-out’ or unsubscribe button at the bottom of each email that goes out. When a recipient does ‘opt-out’ or unsubscribe, record that information and immediately cease any future communications.
Do: Localize your emails to your audience
Many companies assume, incorrectly, that the UK is an easy jump from US marketing, when in reality, the UK is a completely different market. Because of this, it is important to not only localize your product or services, but to also localize your marketing strategy. This means, it would behoove you to adjust your email marketing campaign to this different audience. This includes, language localization, cultural norms in addressing and communicating with people, and even thinking through the best way to catch the attention of your new audience. Humor is a great example of how different British and American culture is.
Also, keep in mind, the UK does not have one unified culture or language, as it includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. This means you may need to localize your marketing emails for different UK customers.
Do: Keep business emails professional and formal
Particularly in the beginning of a relationship, it is important to keep your business emails professional, formal, and friendly. Address your email using proper titles and last names. Wait to let your recipient decide whether and when to communicate in a less formal manner, and then follow suit in future emails.
Don’t: Send Unsolicited Emails
Unsolicited emails aren’t just irritating for customers, they are also illegal in the UK. The UK has strict rules that require specific consent to send an email. Learn more about this specific consent requirement, and see some examples, before you start sending emails. When you send out emails, send them to legitimate leads, not to random email addresses that you just happened to pull out of thin air or manufactured from another source.
Don’t: Keep Sending Emails to People Who Aren’t Interested
When people ‘opt out’ of or unsubscribe to your emails, you no longer have their permission to send them. The last email you are permitted to send is a confirmation that they’ve been removed from your list. Ideally, this should happen as quickly as possible. You should never reach out to this recipient again via email, not even to ask them to resubscribe.
Creating an email marketing campaign is a great way to reach out to your customers and let them know about other interesting products you offer. As you’re creating your list, however, make sure that you adhere to the law and to customer expectations in order to create the best possible customer experience and avoid legal penalties for your business.
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