Record out of court fine for failing to follow email marketing laws

The company responsible for managing Gray’s auctioneers online business, Grays Online, recently came under the scrutiny of the communications regulator, ACMA, for breaches of the Spam laws, resulting in a fine to Grays of $165,000 – the largest ever imposed out of court by the regulator.

Grays mistake was a simple one – they considered that a particular email sent as part of a direct marketing campaign was not ‘commercial’ within the Spam Act. It was.

The Spam Act , which governs email marketing, makes an exception to the absolute fundamentals of any email marketing campaign (consent, sender ID and unsubscribe) where the email in question is not ‘commercial’. It is very tempting to try and bring a campaign within this exception – but true non commercial emails are very few and far between.

As a result, Grays sent emails without an unsubscribe facility and, in some cases, to recipients who had previously unsubscribed – attracting the scrutiny and ultimately penalty of the regulator as well as some very unwelcome publicity.

If you are concerned about any of your email marketing practices and would like help with setting up procedures for email marketing systems and campaigns or in training your staff so that they are less likely to make costly mistakes, contact Counsel on Demand.