Summary
Including ads in email footers to other brands is generally acceptable under certain conditions. Key factors include relevance to the recipient's interests, avoiding misleading or spammy content, ensuring clear identification of the ads, and providing an opt-out mechanism. Compliance with anti-spam laws like CAN-SPAM and privacy regulations like GDPR is crucial, particularly regarding explicit consent for EU residents. It's also recommended to monitor deliverability and user engagement, potentially using A/B testing, and to avoid negatively impacting the user experience. Checking the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for relevant restrictions is advised.
Key findings
- Conditional Acceptability: Including ads is acceptable if they are relevant, non-misleading, and comply with regulations.
- Monetization Potential: Ads can be a way to monetize email lists but require careful implementation.
- Common Practice (Newsletters): Including ads in email footers is common, especially in newsletters.
- Importance of Relevance: Ads should align with recipients' interests and email content.
- Transparency Crucial: Clear identification of ads as advertising is essential.
- Regulatory Compliance: Compliance with CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and other regulations is mandatory.
Key considerations
- AUP Check: Review AUP for restrictions on reselling access or functionality.
- Deliverability Monitoring: Monitor deliverability and avoid any negative impacts.
- Transparency Requirements: Ensure ads are clearly distinguishable from the main content.
- User Experience Impact: Avoid overwhelming the message or degrading user experience.
- A/B Testing: Use A/B testing to assess the impact on open rates and unsubscribes.
- Opt-Out Provision: Provide an easily accessible opt-out mechanism.
- Consent Management: Obtain explicit consent, especially for EU residents under GDPR.
- Ethical Considerations: Align with ethical marketing standards and regulations to keep advertising subtle.
- ESP Issues: Ensure ads aren't causing technical problems with the Email Service Provider (ESP).
What email marketers say
10 marketer opinions
Including ads in email footers is generally acceptable if done carefully and ethically. Relevance to the recipient, transparency in advertising, and compliance with anti-spam laws are crucial. Balancing monetization with user experience and deliverability is essential, with A/B testing suggested to monitor the impact on engagement metrics.
Key opinions
- Acceptability: Including ads in email footers is acceptable if the ads are relevant and not spammy.
- Monetization: Footer ads can be a way to monetize email lists if implemented carefully.
- Common Practice: Adding ads to email footers is a common practice, especially within newsletters.
- Importance of Relevance: Ensure advertisements are relevant to the recipients' interests.
- Subtlety: Advertisements within email footers should remain subtle.
- Segmentation: Email automation can be leveraged to ensure advertising aligns with each recipient's unique preferences.
Key considerations
- AUP Compliance: Check AUP language for restrictions on reselling access or functionality.
- Deliverability: Monitor and avoid any negative impacts on deliverability.
- Transparency: Ensure ads are clearly distinguishable from primary content.
- User Experience: Ads should not overwhelm the message or degrade user experience.
- A/B Testing: Perform A/B testing to assess the impact on open rates and unsubscribes.
- Legal Compliance: Adhere to anti-spam laws (e.g., CAN-SPAM) and privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR).
- Ethical Marketing: Align with ethical marketing practices and industry standards.
Marketer view
Email marketer from CampaignMonitor recommends using email automation to segment the audience, so that adverts can be shown on a per-recipient basis to align content more accurately for optimal relevancy.
7 Oct 2023 - Campaign Monitor
Marketer view
Email marketer from HubSpot Blog advises tailoring advertisements to the recipient’s profile and preferences to align with email permission marketing policies and enhance user engagement.
27 Dec 2021 - HubSpot Blog
What the experts say
3 expert opinions
Including ads in email footers is generally acceptable if it doesn't violate spam laws, recipient expectations, or cause issues with the ESP. Transparency and clarity are paramount, ensuring the commercial nature of the content is obvious, and offering an opt-out mechanism.
Key opinions
- Acceptance Threshold: Acceptable if not violating spam laws or recipient expectations.
- Transparency Key: Transparency is vital; commercial content must be clearly identified.
- Minor Concern: Only a minor concern unless causing ESP problems or other issues.
Key considerations
- Clarity: The email footer ad must be obvious and clearly identifiable.
- Opt-Out: Recipients must have a readily available opt-out mechanism.
- ESP Impact: Ensure ads are not causing problems with the Email Service Provider.
- Ethical Considerations: Consider the practice slightly poor, and use as a reason to remove customer where other issues exist.
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that clarity and honesty in messaging is paramount. If ads are included in the footer, it must be obvious to the recipient that the email contains commercial content, fulfilling expectations of transparency and not misleading the receiver.
1 Sep 2021 - Word to the Wise
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks considers it slightly poor practice, but unless it's causing issues with the ESP, it may not be a major concern. It can be used as a reason to remove the customer if other issues exist.
28 Jul 2022 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
5 technical articles
While not explicitly prohibited, including ads in email footers requires strict adherence to content guidelines, anti-spam laws (like CAN-SPAM), and privacy regulations (like GDPR). Key requirements include clear identification of the advertisement, explicit consent from recipients (especially for EU residents), and an easily accessible opt-out mechanism. Transparency is paramount to align with legal and ethical marketing standards.
Key findings
- Not Prohibited (Generally): Most platforms do not outright prohibit email footer ads.
- Clear Identification Required: All documentation underscores the need to clearly identify advertising.
- Consent Imperative: GDPR requires explicit consent for EU residents receiving promotional content.
- Opt-Out Mandatory: CAN-SPAM Act mandates an easily accessible opt-out mechanism.
Key considerations
- Content Guidelines: Adhere to platform-specific content guidelines to avoid misleading or deceptive content.
- Anti-Spam Laws: Comply with anti-spam laws like CAN-SPAM regarding advertising content.
- Privacy Regulations: Adhere to privacy regulations like GDPR, especially when dealing with EU residents.
- Transparency: Maintain transparency in advertising to align with ethical marketing and legal requirements.
Technical article
Documentation from FTC details the CAN-SPAM Act requirements, which include clear and conspicuous identification that the message is an advertisement. This applies to ads in email footers. Senders must also provide an opt-out mechanism.
11 Mar 2025 - FTC
Technical article
Documentation from GDPR dictates that if your audience includes EU residents, you must comply with GDPR guidelines, ensuring you have explicit consent for sending promotional content including ads.
29 Jan 2022 - GDPR
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