What is the best practice for gaining new customers from a partner using email?

Key findings

• Opt-in superiority: Explicit opt-in provides higher quality lists and better engagement, significantly reducing the risk of emails being marked as spam or blocked.
• Legal compliance: Email laws, such as GDPR and CAN-SPAM, heavily favor explicit consent, making opt-out methods legally risky depending on jurisdiction.
• Deliverability impact: Sending to unengaged or non-consenting recipients (even if legally permissible in some contexts) can lead to increased complaints, bounces, and ultimately, damage your sending domain's reputation.
• Spam trap avoidance: Opt-out processes are more prone to collecting spam trap addresses, which instantly flag you as a sender of unsolicited mail and can lead to immediate blacklisting.

Key considerations

• Jurisdictional laws: Always understand and adhere to the email marketing laws relevant to your target audience's location (e.g., GDPR in Europe, CASL in Canada, CAN-SPAM in the US).
• Clear messaging: When asking for opt-in, be transparent about what subscribers will receive and how often.
• Dedicated sender identity: Consider using a new or dedicated sending domain for partner-sourced leads if the partner's list quality is uncertain, to protect your main sending reputation. Read more about managing your sender identity for business partnerships.
• List hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive or problematic addresses. Also ensure compliance when using an existing email list for a new company.
• Optimization: Personalize subject lines and content to increase engagement and avoid spam folders.

Key opinions

• Consent is key: Marketers advocate for clear, explicit consent (opt-in) to ensure recipients genuinely want to receive emails, which translates to better engagement.
• Deliverability over volume: Prioritizing list quality and deliverability by acquiring opted-in subscribers is more beneficial than sending to large, unverified lists.
• Personalization matters: Tailoring messages and subject lines increases engagement and makes emails feel less like unsolicited bulk mail.
• Clear call to action: Emails should clearly state the purpose and provide a straightforward call to action for subscription. Learn more about how to increase email click-through rates.

Key considerations

• Reputation protection: Marketing teams need to be vigilant about protecting their sender reputation, as poor practices with partner lists can lead to widespread email blocking.
• Welcome series: Implement a strong welcome email series for new subscribers to set expectations and engage them immediately. Also ensure you follow best practices for welcome emails.
• A/B testing: Continuously test different elements of the email (subject lines, content, send times) to optimize engagement and inbox placement.
• From address: Use a recognizable and human "from" address instead of generic departmental ones. More details on sender email addresses. Consider the overall quality of your email list.

Key opinions

• Opt-in as standard: Explicit opt-in (positive consent) is the best practice for building email lists, ensuring higher quality subscribers and reducing deliverability issues.
• Jurisdiction matters, but deliverability trumps all: While laws vary by region, sending to users who haven't explicitly opted in carries significant deliverability risks, regardless of legality.
• Spam trap danger: Opt-out processes are highly susceptible to collecting spam trap addresses, which are detrimental to sender reputation and lead to blocklisting. Learn more about what spam traps are and how they work.
• Sender reputation priority: Protecting and nurturing your sender reputation should be the top priority, as it directly impacts your ability to reach the inbox.

Key considerations

• Avoid opt-out: The practice of "opt-out unless you tell us not to" is inherently risky and should be abandoned in favor of explicit opt-in.
• Domain isolation: When working with partner lists, consider using separate or new sending domains to mitigate potential damage to your primary domain's reputation. This is related to managing your sending domain reputation.
• Warm-up new domains: If using new domains for partner leads, implement a careful warm-up strategy to build trust with ISPs. Learn more about warming up a new domain.
• Monitor blocklists: Regularly monitor your sending IPs and domains for any appearances on email blocklists (or blacklists), as this indicates deliverability problems. See why permission matters for deliverability.

Key findings

• Affirmative consent: Regulations like GDPR require clear, affirmative action by the subscriber to indicate consent, making pre-checked boxes or opt-out by default insufficient.
• Clear purpose: Documentation stresses that the purpose for which data is collected and processed (e.g., sending marketing emails) must be clearly communicated to the individual.
• Easy withdrawal: Subscribers must have an easy and clear method to withdraw their consent at any time (e.g., an unsubscribe link), and this must be honored promptly.
• Record keeping: Businesses are often required to maintain records of consent, including when and how it was obtained, to demonstrate compliance.

Key considerations

• Jurisdictional specifics: While general principles apply, specific requirements for data protection and email marketing vary significantly by country and region.
• Transparency: Be completely transparent with users about data sharing with partners and how their email address will be used. Ensure you understand best practices for referral emails and consent.
• Regular review: Periodically review your consent acquisition processes against the latest regulatory updates and best practices.
• Technical compliance: Ensure your email sending infrastructure supports compliance, including proper handling of unsubscribes and suppression lists to prevent mail from being sent to non-consenting users. Learn how RFC 5322 relates to email and its impact on modern sending. For US specific compliance, see the CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide.