E-mail marketing is an efficient online marketing tool to reach customers cost-effectively and efficiently. But beware! There are a number of legal regulations that regulate the use of e-mails. Therefore, a conscious and legally correct approach when using this marketing tool is very important and a basic requirement for success in this area. Arguably the most important area in email marketing is building a mailing list of recipients.

And this is where there are a few things we need to keep in mind. Here you will find a checklist to enable you to write to recipients in a legally effective manner: E-mails can only be sent with the recipient’s explicit consent. In principle, recipients may only be sent e-mails and newsletters if they have given the sender explicit consent (opt-in).

The consent of the recipient should be obtained separately via an opt-in or, better yet, double-opt-in procedure. Pre-formulated contract terms should be avoided for legal reasons. The recipient must clearly recognize and confirm that they are subscribing to a newsletter. For this purpose, a checkbox is built into the opt-in form. The recipient must then consciously give their consent by clicking. This is called the active consent of the recipient. The recipient needs to know what to expect after consent has been given. So be clear with your message.

On average, a German subscribes to 6-7 newsletters per month. If further newsletters are added, he will separate and unsubscribe from the newsletters that do not match the content that interests him. To build a good customer receiver group. Here “quality” counts before “quantity”. This is still underestimated in email marketing.

It is questionable whether a customer who registers for a newsletter via a competition then wants to receive information about other products, even if he has agreed to this. Ultimately, his goal was to take part in the competition, but not to subscribe to 10 new newsletters. It is likely that most participants will unsubscribe directly from the first newsletter.

You should provide the recipient with a description of the content (for example, product suggestions or special offers from a particular vendor) and the expected frequency (for example, weekly or monthly).
Inform the recipient about data protection. This instruction is necessary. Therefore, a data protection instruction must be linked in the form, which informs the recipient about the processing of their data and their rights of withdrawal.

The data protection instructions should have the following content:
• Reference to the information rights and rights to delete the data of the recipient
• Specific designation of the individual data collected (a general statement is not sufficient in case of doubt)
• Purpose of Data Collection
• Specific processing of the individual data collected
• Duration of storage
You should include relevant information for the recipient, such as “Your data will not be passed on to third parties” directly in the form. This increases trust and the recipient is more likely to agree, even if they don’t read the privacy policy.
You should always generate opt-ins yourself. While this takes longer, it is certainly more efficient and safer. In the event of an accusation, the burden of proof lies with the sender, i.e. with you. It is therefore generally not advisable to buy addresses. However, there are also exceptions. However, I will deal with this topic separately, as there are many dubious providers on the market.
There are many ways to generate opt-ins.

I will soon be writing an article on this subject as well. But here are a few examples:
• Via social media
• About Sweepstakes
• About downloading e-papers
• About registering for webinars
• About signing up for online videos
• About gifts or discounts
In all cases, an attempt should be made to persuade the new contacts to opt-in to email marketing. This guarantees both legal certainty and independence from the general terms and conditions of the social networks.
And if you have a good product but not enough addresses, you can also have your newsletter sent via a professional newsletter provider.