Collecting user email addresses properly is vital for successful marketing campaigns and maintaining a strong domain reputation. Unsecured or non-transparent collection practices can lead to poor quality data and frequent issues with your email campaigns. Follow these best practices to ensure your email lists are high-quality and compliant:
Obtain Explicit Consent
Collect user emails from organic users who have explicitly given consent. The following are two methods to get consent from the users.
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- Double opt-in method: In this method, when a user signs up with your brand a verification email will be sent to them. After the user clicks on the verification link, you can send emails to them.
- Single opt-in with a Captcha: In this method, the user is asked to re-enter the email address to avoid typos, also captcha prevents the bot signups. You can also integrate with a real-time list validation service to verify email at the sign-up page.
Be Transparent and Set Clear Expectations
Inform your customers clearly when you collect their email addresses. Make sure they understand:
- The reason for collecting their email addresses
- What will you do with the collected data
- With whom will the data be shared
- The type of communication you send them and the frequency of engagement.
Avoid Questionable Practices
- Make sure not to auto-select Send me marketing/promotional/newsletters/etc option when users need to input an email address for any transaction.
- Do not purchase lists, scrape email addresses, etc - i.e., do not send emails to people who have not explicitly consented to receive them.
Comply with Data Privacy Laws
Make sure to be compliant with user collection or data privacy laws in your country. Some of the data privacy laws include:
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- U’s Digital Service Act (DSA) & Digital Market Act (DMA) from 2024
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, May 25, 2018)
- California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA, January 1, 2020)
- Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing (CAN-SPAM, 2003)
- Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL, 2014)
- Vietnam updated its marketing and advertising laws on 15 September 2021
- (Australia) Spam Act 2003