Yuka Kato
Cold emails are effective for initiating contact with total strangers and establishing a business relationship. However, when it comes to sending cold emails, there’s always the question of how to do it legally.
This article will answer this million-dollar question. We’ll explore the legality of cold emails in different countries and show you how to write compliant cold emails that will land you on the right side of the law.
Is Cold Emailing Illegal? A Review of Different Countries
The short answer to the question is no. Cold emailing is not inherently illegal.
However, different countries have laws and regulations governing cold emailing. Non-compliance with these laws can make cold emails illegal, potentially resulting in legal consequences when reported. It’s just like how driving on the right side of the road is legal in the US but would be illegal in the UK.
Cold email laws in some countries of the world are as follows:
Cold Email Laws in the United States
The law governing cold emailing in the United States is the CAN-SPAM Act of 2023.
The CAN-SPAM Act establishes the requirements for commercial messages (which includes cold emails) and imposes tough penalties on people who violate the regulations.
The key provisions of the law you should comply with to make your cold emails legal include:
- Don’t use misleading header information: The “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing information of commercial emails should be accurate.
- Don’t use deceptive subject lines: The subject line of commercial messages must accurately reflect the email content.
- Include your physical address: Marketing and commercial emails must include a valid physical postal address of the sender. You can do this by incorporating an email signature that includes your business address.
- Provide a way to opt out: Commercial emails must provide recipients with a simple way to opt out of receiving future emails. Opt-out requests must be honored within 10 business days.
Penalties for non-compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act can be severe. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission), which enforces the Act, can impose penalties of over $43,000 per violation. Violators may also face lawsuits from Internet Service Providers or individual recipients.
Cold Email Laws in Canada
The law governing cold emailing in Canada is Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), which came into effect in 2014 to regulate commercial electronic messages (CEM) sent from or received by a device in Canada.
The main provision of Canada’s Anti-Spam Law you should comply with is consent. CASL requires that individuals obtain explicit consent from recipients before sending them commercial electronic messages (including cold emails). Consent can be oral or in writing.
Note: Emailing the recipient to ask for permission to send an email is not allowed.
However, there are certain circumstances where implied consent is allowed. For example:
- The individual conspicuously publishes their email address without categorically stating that they do not want to receive unsolicited commercial messages, and the message has to be relevant to their business.
- The individual is referred to you by a mutual friend (However, cold emails to referrals must disclose the name of the person who made the referral. You can send only ONE third-party referral message, so it should also include a request for future consent).
In addition to obtaining explicit consent (or implied consent when applicable), other provisions of CASL that cold emails must meet to be legal are:
- Sender identification: You must clearly identify yourself in your cold emails by including a physical address and a contact detail (email address or telephone number).
- Unsubscribe mechanism: Provide a way for recipients to opt out of receiving messages.
Canada takes a tough stance against sending unsolicited commercial messages. The CRTC (Canada Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), which enforces CASL, imposes severe fines for non-compliance.
Fines per violation can be up to $1 million for individuals and up to $10 million for businesses.
Cold Email Laws in the European Union
The law governing cold emailing in the European Union is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into effect in 2018 to protect the personal data and privacy of individuals within the EU.
Key provisions of the GDPR you need to comply with to make cold emailing campaigns legal include:
- Lawful basis for processing: You must have a valid reason for processing recipients’ data for emailing them. This can include obtaining consent before sending an email. If that is not possible, ensure you send your emails only to people most likely to need your products or services. This qualifies as pursuing “legitimate interests,” which GDPR allows.
- Transparency about the data source: You should disclose how you obtained the individual’s email address and other data.
- Opt-out mechanism: You should give recipients a way to opt out of our email list. And you should delete their data from your system if they opt out.
Follow these rules, and you can legally send cold emails within the EU. Penalties for GDPR non-compliance are very stiff. For lesser violations, fines can be up to €10 million or 2% of global annual revenue, whichever is higher.
For serious infringements, fines can be up to €20 million or 4% of global annual revenue, whichever is higher.
Cold Email Laws in the United Kingdom
There are three laws governing cold emailing in the UK – the UK GDPR, DPA, and PERC.
- The UK GDPR came into effect on January 1, 2021, following Brexit. It is essentially the same as the EU GDPR, so one key requirement when sending cold emails is having a lawful basis for reaching out to the recipient. UK GDPR non-compliance attracts fines of up to £8.7 million or 2% of global turnover (whichever is higher) for lesser violations and up to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover (whichever is higher) for serious offenses.
- The Data Protection Act (DPA), which came into effect on May 25, 2018, governs the processing of personal data. It mirrors the data privacy provisions and penalties of GDPR.
- The PECR (Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations), which came into effect on December 11, 2003, establishes requirements for marketing communications sent by electronic means and collection of users’ data. Violating PERC provisions can result in fines of up to £500,000.
The main provision of the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act (DPA) concerning cold emailing is having a lawful basis for processing individual data.
However, you cannot hide under “legitimate interest” to send cold emails because PECR requires that email senders obtain consent from individuals before sending them direct marketing communications.
Thus, cold emailing regulations are more restrictive in the UK than in the European Union. In the EU, “legitimate interest” is a lawful basis for processing people’s data, allowing organizations to send cold emails to people they deem will be interested in their product or service (even if these individuals have not consented to receive such messages).
However, the PECR provisions in the UK require obtaining consent before sending emails.
You should also include your company information (such as physical address and contact details) in the email, and your subject line should accurately reflect the content of the email.
Cold Email Laws in South Africa
The law governing cold emailing in South Africa is the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act. The law, which came into effect on July 1, 2020, aims to protect the privacy of individuals by ensuring that their data is handled responsibly.
A key provision of the POPI Act that concerns cold emailing is that individuals must give explicit consent for their personal information to be collected and processed. That all but makes a cold email illegal.
Penalties for violating the provisions of the POPI Act can be up to R10 million or 10 years imprisonment.
Cold Email Laws in Australia
The law governing cold emailing in Australia is the Spam Act, which was enacted in 2003 to reduce the amount of unsolicited electronic communications individuals and businesses receive.
One of the key provisions of the law is that senders must obtain consent from recipients before sending them commercial electronic messages.
Consent can be inferred if the individual shares their contact details with you (such as when they hand you their business card containing their email address).
Other requirements of the Spam Act that cold emails must meet are:
- The email must contain accurate information about the sender’s identity (including contact details and physical address).
- The email must not contain misleading or false information.
- The email must include an unsubscribe link or button.
How to Send Compliant Cold Emails
There are a few ways to ensure your cold emails comply with relevant regulations, preventing you from falling on the wrong side of the law. These include:
1. Always Collect Emails Ethically
Many cold emailing regulations require consent, so ensure you collect your email audience addresses ethically. Never buy lists of email addresses!
Use clear opt-in forms to obtain explicit consent from individuals before adding them to your email list. Clearly communicate how you will use the email addresses you collect and collect only necessary data.
2. Use Simple and Clear Subject Lines
Many of the regulations require that subject lines should not be deceptive. Make sure the subject line of any cold email you send accurately reflects the content of the email.
Avoid the temptation of using clickbait subject lines to boost your open rates. Not only does this help you remain compliant, but it also prevents recipients from flagging your emails as spam and hurting your deliverability rate.
3. You should make it easy for recipients to opt out
Many of the cold emailing regulations require that an opt-in mechanism be included in marketing emails.
Therefore, ensure your cold emails include a clear and easy-to-find unsubscribe link or button that allows people to easily opt out of receiving future emails from you.
Not only does this help you remain compliant, but it also helps you clean up your email list, ensuring that only people genuinely interested in your emails remain on your list.
4. Make it clear who is sending the email
The regulations also require that marketing emails have accurate sender information. Thus, another way to send compliant emails is to make it clear who is sending them.
A simple way to do this is to send your emails from your business address. Instead of using a generic email address (like example@gmail.com), send your emails from a business email (like example@XYZcompany.com).
Also, add email signatures to the bottom of your emails. And this should contain important information like your name, designation, office address, telephone number, and email address.
5. Personalize your message to build a connection with the recipient
Some of the cold email regulations require that emails be relevant to the recipient. Personalizing a cold email is one way to make it relevant to a recipient.
Addressing recipients by name or referencing their specific needs builds trust as it demonstrates that you understand their unique needs. It also makes your emails resonate better with them.
Cold Emailing Businesses vs. Individuals
Generally, the cold email rules for emailing individuals also apply when emailing businesses and corporations. It is only in a few instances that different things apply.
A typical example is cold emailing in the UK. The PECR doesn’t allow you to send cold emails to individuals, but there is nothing against sending cold emails to businesses and corporations.
Cold Email vs. Spam Email: What’s the Difference?
Cold emails are different from spam emails. Although they are both unsolicited emails, they differ starkly in terms of legality, relevance, intent, and compliance with ethical and legal considerations.
Here’s a breakdown of how cold emails and spam emails differ:
| Cold Emails | Spam Emails | |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | Cold emails are targeted emails, usually personalized to the recipient’s needs. | Spam emails are generic emails usually irrelevant to the recipient’s needs. |
| Recipients | Cold emails are sent to individuals who have shown a potential need for your products or services. | Spam emails are sent in bulk to a list of recipients without regard to whether they need your products or services. |
| Intent | Cold emails are sent to initiate a conversation towards building a business relationship. | Spam emails seek to exploit recipients. Their aim is to distribute malware or promote dubious products, fraudulent offers, and scams. |
| Legality | Cold emails are legitimate for outreach if the rules governing their sending are followed. | Spam emails are usually illegal as they violate regulations made to protect users’ privacy and prevent unwanted messages. |
Why Do My Cold Emails Go to the Spam Folder?
Many cold email campaigns fail because the emails go to the spam folder instead of the recipient’s primary inbox.
1. Avoid Clickbait Subject Lines
When recipients open an email and find that the subject line is deceptive, they feel deceived and may report the email as spam.
Spam complaints may cause future emails from you to go to spam. Thus, one way to prevent emails from going to spam is to avoid clickbait subject lines.
2. Be Open About Your Identity
Not being open about your identity can make recipients mark your email as spam. And that can make their email client treat your future emails as spam. So, to prevent emails from going to spam, build trust with your recipients by being transparent about your identity.
3. Ensure Your Email Is Relevant to the Recipients
When cold emails are irrelevant, recipients may always delete them or mark them as spam. These actions hurt your sender’s reputation, making email clients send your email to spam.
Thus, a simple way to prevent cold emails from going to spam is to create emails that encourage positive recipient engagement with content that is relevant.
4. Provide an Easy Way to Opt-Out or Unsubscribe
When recipients no longer wish to receive messages from you but cannot opt out of your list, they may start marking your emails as spam. And that hurts your sender’s reputation and potentially makes future emails go to spam.
Therefore, one way to prevent emails from going to spam is to provide recipients with an easy way to unsubscribe from your list.
5. Revise Your Prospect List Regularly
Cold emails set to inactive email addresses will bounce. High bounce rates hurt your sender’s reputation, potentially making email providers send your future emails to the spam folder.
Thus, one way to prevent cold emails from going to spam is to regularly revise your prospect list to remove inactive email addresses.
Takeaway: Send Legal and Effective Cold Emails with Mailsuite
Cold emails are legitimate means to reach potential prospects and grow your business. It is perfectly legal to send cold emails if you follow the regulations that govern their sending, such as the US’s CAN-SPAM Act, the EU’s GDPR, and Canada’s CASL.
Not following the provisions of relevant regulations can make your cold emails illegal, which can lead to severe penalties.
The tips discussed above can help you send cold emails while staying on the right side of the law. Implementing some of these tips requires the right tools, and this is where Mailsuite comes in!
Mailsuite is a Chrome extension that turns Gmail into a powerful and compliant email marketing tool. It comes with various features for efficiently sending legal cold emails.
For example, Mailsuite enables you to add an unsubscribe link to your email easily, helping you comply with regulations’ opt-out. Mailsuite also has a bounce detection feature that helps you identify inactive email addresses to clean up your list.
Mailsuite has mail merge features, allowing you to personalize emails and increase their relevance for individual recipients. Importantly, Mailsuite also has excellent email tracking features for tracking when recipients open emails, click links, or view attachments. This helps you gauge the success of your campaign and craft more impactful follow-up communication.
Install Mailsuite and start sending compliant cold emails today!
Cold Email FAQs
Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about emails:
Can You Get in Trouble for Sending Unsolicited Emails?
You can only get in trouble for sending unsolicited emails if you do not comply with the relevant laws governing sending marketing emails. In the US, the relevant law is the CAN-SPAM Act. You’ll not get in trouble for sending unsolicited emails if you follow its provisions, which include not using misleading subject lines and providing recipients with an opt-out option.
Is Cold Email Legal in B2b?
It is legal for a business to send cold emails to another business as long as the sender follows the rules and regulations governing the sending of marketing emails in the jurisdiction where the outreach is being conducted.
Is It Legal to Email Someone without Their Permission?
The local laws governing the sending of marketing emails determine whether it is legal to email someone without their permission.
For example, the CAN-SPAM Act in the US allows sending people emails without their permission as long as certain requirements are met (such as identifying the email as an advertisement and adding an unsubscribe link).
However, the PECR in the UK and the Spam Act in Australia make it illegal to send people marketing emails if they have not consented to receiving such emails.
Are Emails Protected by Privacy Laws?
Yes, emails are protected by privacy laws in many jurisdictions around the world. These laws regulate the collection, storage, and use of people’s personal information, ensuring that their privacy is protected.
How to Report a Company for Sending Unsolicited Emails?
If a company continues sending you unsolicited emails even after notifying them to stop, you can file a complaint with the agency that enforces the anti-spam law in the jurisdiction. In the US, that will mean filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You can do this via the ReportFraud.ftc.gov portal.
