{"id":5121,"date":"2018-09-20T12:41:39","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T11:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodpecker.co\/blog\/?p=5121"},"modified":"2025-03-24T16:31:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T15:31:53","slug":"email-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodpecker.co\/blog\/email-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick Legal Guide to Email Outreach: 6 Rules to Follow"},"content":{"rendered":"

As with any form of business communication, there are a couple of rules you need to follow to make your email<\/span> outreach professional.\u00a0I took some time to\u00a0research the requirements for a proper email<\/span> outreach in countries, such as Canada, China, Australia, New Zealand, not to mention the United States (with recently updated California law<\/a>), Norway, Germany, Switzerland, and of course, the rest of the countries that are a part of the European Union (read about GDPR<\/a> here).<\/p>\n

That may seem like a lot to handle in one article, but\u00a0I distilled down all I’ve found into a basic set of requirements for you to keep in mind next time you write a cold email<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Why we need to\u00a0think about it?<\/h2>\n

Looking at ways countries regulate email<\/span> sending, there’s a strong tendency to\u00a0protect the personal information of their citizens. As you may remember, the EU started to talk about increasing data protection, because their citizens voiced concerns about their privacy.<\/p>\n

Watch a fragment of our webinar where we explain why was GDPR created >><\/a><\/p>\n

Look at cold email<\/span> outreach. We use cold email<\/span> to contact companies we haven’t contacted before. We don’t know them in person. We haven’t interacted with them before. We just assume they would be a good customer, based on some assumptions we’ve made on who our ICP is<\/a>. We don’t have any\u00a0bad intentions. We just want to talk\u00a0to them.<\/p>\n

Now, let’s switch perspective. I’m sure you’ve gotten a few cold emails<\/span> in your\u00a0career. And\u00a0one of them might have seemed ill-targeted for you. You weren’t quite sure why\u00a0you got it. You didn’t feel much like responding. So you just left the sender hanging.<\/p>\n

What if I told you that by respecting the\u00a0basic requirements\u00a0of sending cold emails<\/span>, you could actually\u00a0have a winning cold email<\/span> strategy?<\/p>\n

Here is what\u00a0you should pay attention to in order to design such a strategy.<\/p>\n

Basic requirements for sending a cold email campaign<\/h2>\n

There are\u00a06 basic requirements I discovered by\u00a0looking at\u00a0policies around the world.<\/p>\n

Rule #1:\u00a0Give a way out from your emails<\/h3>\n

According to the CAN-SPAM Act that is binding in the USA, you’re not obliged to collect consent, but you should give an option to opt out from\u00a0getting your emails<\/span>. The same goes for GDPR. When you send a cold email<\/span><\/a> to the EU member state, you need to give a clear way to opt out. In Canada, Germany, Norway, Switzerland,\u00a0and Australia, an unsubscribe should also be included in your message.<\/p>\n

What does it mean?<\/h4>\n

When writing an email<\/span> copy, let the message receivers know how they can unsubscribe from your email<\/span> sequence. Whether you put it in\u00a0a form of a link or put a disclaimer inside the email<\/span>, you need to do this to show that you are trustworthy and knowledgeable about the law.<\/p>\n

This Woodpecker blog entry shows you how to do it<\/p>\n

Should I Give My\u00a0Cold Email Addressee a Way to Opt Out? >><\/a><\/p>\n

Rule #2:\u00a0Make it easy to identify you<\/h3>\n

Since you reach out to a stranger, introduce yourself. That should be a no-brainer even without the legislation that stands behind it. Your prospects should identify you — at least, that’s how the China lawmakers see it. You need to let your prospect know who you are\u00a0when you send email<\/span> to Switzerland, Norway,\u00a0New Zealand, Australia, Canada,\u00a0and the USA, too. Basically, it’s a given in the most regulations I’ve seen.<\/p>\n

How to go about it?<\/h4>\n

In 6 steps to perfecting cold email copy<\/a>, you’ve read that your signature is an essential cold email part that tells your addressee who you are. Use it to comply with the law.<\/p>\n

Put all\u00a0the necessary pieces of information there\u00a0that help a prospect to identify you. So your name, company name, and much more are the bits of info you should consider adding. Read our guide to a signature to learn how to do it.<\/p>\n

What Should I Put In My Signature? >><\/a><\/p>\n

Some legislations define even more technical aspects of email<\/span> sending when it comes to the sender identification.\u00a0The headers of the commercial email<\/span>, which indicate the source, destination, and routing information, must not contain materially false or materially misleading information.<\/p>\n

Rule #3: Contact Credentials<\/h3>\n

You might be\u00a0obliged to put a physical address of your company in the cold email<\/span>. Here’s\u00a0a list of countries that require you to include the physical address:<\/p>\n