Last week, UnsubCentral hosted a lunch & learn session with the Austin Marketo User Group. Our presentation, “Maintaining Email Compliance across Multiple Platforms,” covered the ins and outs of syncing unsubscribe data for email programs that use multiple email service providers or marketing automation platforms.
Whether you use Marketo or not, we’ve got a few methods for maintaining compliance in your email program, no matter how many platforms you use to send email.
Why Email Compliance Matters
If you send email, you must comply with the email regulations that govern your jurisdiction. Whether CAN-SPAM, CASL, GDPR, or others, failure to maintain compliance can result in hefty fines. To protect your email revenue, you must take precautions to ensure you only send email to recipients you’re legally allowed to email.
Email compliance mistakes can also lead to deliverability issues. The CAN-SPAM Act requires that each email contain a clear opt-out link. If your unsubscribe link is hidden or missing altogether, recipients may be more likely to mark your email as spam. Excess spam complaints can deplete your sender reputation, which will cause mailbox providers to deliver your email to the spam folder.
Finally, maintaining email compliance can help you maintain your brand reputation. According to the CAN-SPAM act, senders have ten business days to honor opt-out requests. If it takes longer for you to honor the unsubscribe, not only are you in violation of the law, you’re also harming your brand in the eyes of your recipient.
The Challenges of Email Compliance Across Multiple Platforms
Honoring opt-outs in a timely manner is a particularly important part of email compliance. Unfortunately, it’s also a particularly tricky part of compliance when you use multiple ESPs, send email from different departments, or even if you just participate in partner email marketing.
Getting different systems to talk is tough. Syncing unsubscribes across these disparate platforms is critical to keeping your program compliant.
3 Ways to Sync Unsubscribes
To keep your opt-out data up-to-date across platforms, you can sync unsubscribes manually, build an in-house solution, or use a vendor compliance tool:
- Manually syncing unsubscribes doesn’t require outside technology, but it does require time. It also requires you to remember to stay on top of your opt-out data. If you have time (and a good memory), this is the simplest way to approach compliance across platforms.
- Building an in-house solution allows you to create a custom system that best fits your email program, if you have the development resources to do so. Not only does this require technical investment up-front, you must also have the means to maintain this technology.
- Using a vendor allows emailers to tap into existing solutions, many of which have additional monitoring tools or third-party integrations. With the development work already done, you can quickly and effortlessly ensure email compliance.
For More Information
- Austin Marketo User Group
- Find a Marketo User Group near you!
- Visit UnsubCentral in Marketo LaunchPoint
- Email Compliance Handbook
