Compliant Subscriptions

Print this Page	2.8 Compliance 17. Compliant Subscriptions	Close this Page

2.8.17. Compliant Subscriptions:

1. Every company has a legal obligation to comply with Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations (PECR) and manage subscription data for people who are sent emails.

2. We are not lawyers and we do not offer legal advice, but we are willing to share how we manage emails in a professional and legal way.

2. Glossary:

1. Message is any Electronic Communication that includes many types of email.

2. PECR is Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations that dictate how a message must be managed.

3. ICO is Information Commissioners Office that enforce PECR compliance.

4. Marketing information (such as quotations) must comply with PECR with subscription management.

5. An exception is an Invoice or electronic communication that is part of an ongoing business procedure.

6. Envelope and Content is a kind of public envelope with private content.

3. Business Requirement:

1. Every person must opt-in and subscribe to a type of message before they see such a message.

2. Every person has the right to unsubscribe from a type of message.

3. Every person has the right to view their entire subscription history and make changes to what they have opted-in to see and what they have opted-out from.

4. Every person has the right to be forgotten and never receive another message.

5. A company that does not manage subscriptions in accordance with PECR shall be fined by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

6. A person who has received messages after they have unsubscribed will be eligible to compensation.

7. Subscriptions may be configured to work on a type of message where many types of messages are communicated.

4. Communications:

1. Business requirements are extended by privacy and security obligations.

2. It is not acceptable to communicate private, confidential and sensitive information by email where every email will be copied and read by many agencies in many countries. Agencies may use the data collected for purposes that it was never designed to be used for and it may be sold to third parties.

3. An email has the privacy of a postcard - its contents will be read and may be sold.

4. A public envelope with private content is designed so the envelope will be copied and read by many agencies, but they will never be able to see the private letter inside. Where a customer would rather their sensitive shipment details were not communicated to all parts of the world, then private contents must be shown to that customer.

5. How It Works:

1. Subscription management is a mandatory part of sending messages to any person.

2. Subscription evidence must be recorded before a message is viewed by any person. Only after a person has subscribed with their opt-in being formally recorded can such a message be shown to the person.

3. Every message to a person must include the ability for the person to unsubscribe and opt-out of receiving that type of message.

4. Every person must be given the opportunity to view their entire subscription history and change their opt-in and opt-out choices.

5. Every person must be given the opportunity to be forgotten and never be sent a message again.

6. Personal email services such as Outlook and Gmail are not able to comply with PECR subscriptions.

6. Subscription Management:

1. When a document is created, the menu bar includes an optional "email" button when an email address has been provided.

2. When the "email" button is pressed, a subscription track and trace record is created and an envelope request sent by email.

3. The envelope request has a opt-in button and an opt-out button - one of the following three actions will happen:-

4. If the person clicks the opt-in button, that fact is recorded as evidence in the subscription track and trace record and the message is displayed.

5. If the person clicks the opt-out button, that fact is recorded as evidence and the person is asked if they wish to review and revise their subscription history.

6. If the person deletes or ignores the envelope, the message is never communicated to the person and that is implied in the subscription record for applicable follow up action.

7. What Does An Agent Do:

1. An agent will view the private and confidential document and click the "Email" button - everything else is automatic.

2. The subscription record is automatically created and the email envelope is sent and will be copied by many countries.

3. The recipient gets the envelope and chooses to (1) opt-in, (2) opt-out or (3) ignore the message.

4. When the recipient has opted-in the agent may view the subscription record to identify the date and time that the person viewed the document.

5. When the recipient opts-out the agent can see when they choose not to view the document.

6. When the recipient ignores the envelope, then agent may follow up other methods because the email address may be wrong.

7. In many cases, follow up is within the hour and an urgent order can be won before a competitor can reply.

8. Observation:

1. While subscription management began as a simple legal obligation, it has delivered a massive improvement for management.

2. "How many documents are actually sent to a customer" - before subscriptions this simple key performance factor was unknown.

3. "How many documents are viewed by a customer" - before subscriptions this simple key performance factor was unknown.

4. Once a dialogue with customers had been established and proven, then the customer was given banner headlines and reply buttons to extend the dialogue.

5. A customer who is happy with a document can simply click the "Accept" button to rapidly reply in a moment.

6. A customer who needs more or extra information can click the "message" button to tap in a request that will be instantly sent to the agent.

x. Watermarking:

1. Security is continually improving with "watermarking" being a major improvement for the future.

2. Eliza is evolving the ability to track and trace data she is responsible for as it flows and as it is used by internal and external parties.

3. Watermarking is built into all data but is especially valuable when sales data is reused by many people in many ways - Eliza can track and trace who do what.

4. This is not important to all application services, but can be valuable in a few specific areas - data can be fitted with a tracker and call-home beacon.

Obligations:

The company is legally responsible for all messages to its customer contacts with regard to:-

1. Content of all messages must be appropriate so it does not offend the reader.

2. Security of company confidential information must be provided with encryption and other means.

3. Opt-In evidence trail must be maintained to prove that the customer contact opted-in to receive the information.

4. Opt-Out or unsubscribe methods must be provided with every electronic message.

5. Evidence of every message must be retained and a court can demand a copy of every message relating to a named person.

6. Disclaimers must be applied to every message unless the message is a reply already contains the disclaimer.

7. Maintenance is needed to identify obsolete email addresses and record when real addresses are actually used.

9. Complaints must be handled by Executives according to documented procedures.

Research:

About 6% of people will opt-in to receive messages.

Opt-in rates can increase to 40% where a discount or loyalty bonus is included.

A new era of opt-in statistical data analysis has began - what phrases work and what are less successful.

The art of "copy writing" the correct words to invite a person to opt-in are critical - legal phrases tend to have a very low acceptance rate. Who can write the best clear, trustworthy, honest, flexible, appealing, inviting, rewarding, control, welcoming, value statements that give me choice. Remember; with every message, the person must to given the option to opt-out, so each message must live up to its opt-in promise.

Mobile Apps:

About 7% of people are willing to download a mobile app to recieve marketing information. This can rise to 60% when coupons, discounts and loyalty points are awarded - money talks. A very simple sign-up procedure is critical to about 25% of people - ask for to much personal data and they will drop out. All evidence has shown that people are a lot more sensitive than marketing expected - people are getting very concerned about how their data is used. Of the 18 to 24 year olds surveyed, up to 50% said they would se the loyalty scheme if financial benefits were included..