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Woolley & Co E-Zine

Tips and ideas for keeping your business on the right side of the law

Welcome. We’ve looked previously at the “cold e-mail regulations”. In this month’s E-zine there’s a reminder and some clarification about how the regs might affect you. In addition, with Christmas just around the corner we have some special offers for our E-zine readers, including a Sales Health Check from Enbuen Ltd and an opportunity to test the new Innovation Toolkit being developed by Creative Business Solutions.

We welcome your feedback – if there is any particular legal issue you’d like to see covered send the details through to marketing@e-lawfirm.co.uk.

Andrew Woolley

Andrew Woolley, Principal, Woolley & Co

E-Mail regulations come into force

The cold email regulations that came in force on 11th December 2003 apply to ‘phone, fax and e-mail marketing as well as other issues such as the use of “cookies” on your website.

The regulations are actually quite complex but this is a bullet point outline for those working with e-mail:

You can e-mail a limited company without its permission BUT note that, for example Woolley & Co is not a limited company like many others. How careful are you going to be?
You cannot e-mail an individual without their permission (note: there is some doubt about how that permission is to be given) unless:
- You’ve got their info during selling something or even the discussions about doing so
- You’re only telling them about similar items
- You give them an easy way of refusing at the time you get their information and when you send to them
If you use “cookies” on your site you must tell people about them and how to turn them off on their first visit.
In all cases you must comply with the data protection rules—how did you collect the data?
Guidance has been issued which says if you are using a list to e-mail people now, it is probably ok to continue even if this does not strictly comply with the new regs (i.e. they have probably not formally consented to be e-mailed). Take this e-zine as an example: the regulations will probably take the view all recipients will have “consented” to it either by signing up for it or receiving it for some time without unsubscribing. And we do supply an “easy way of refusing” via our clear unsubscribe button below.

Now, those are the regs so how do I market in the real world? Our friends at d-marketing have produced a practical guide at this link. Do read it!.

Sales Health Check

Enbuen Ltd, a specialist provider of sales and marketing services to the IT and technology sector are offering Woolley & Co E-zine readers a complimentary sales health check. Their health check is designed to help identify ways in which to increase your client win rate and raise the profile of your products and services in your target market. If you’d like to know more contact them on info@enbuen.com or telephone 0207 936 9082.

Looking for a Speaker for your next awards dinner?

You might try The Speakers Agency Ltd – and don’t be surprised if you come across a familiar face.

How Innovative is your business?

Not sure? Well why not volunteer to take part in a trial for a new Innovation Toolkit being developed by Creative Business Solutions. The Toolkit is designed to investigate the current state of innovation in your organisation and help you identify ways of improving innovation, for business advantage. Creative Business Solutions are looking for organisations to take part in trials where they will test out the toolkit and no doubt experience the rewards of improved business creativity as a result. If your business has more than half a dozen employees you can apply to take part in the free trial today by contacting Derek Cheshire of Creative Business Solutions by email at Derek@creative4business.co.uk.

To find out more about these and other legal issues visit the Woolley & Co website at www.e-lawfirm.co.uk. We’ve recently added a full search facility to our site to make it even easier for you to find the information you need. Try it out by clicking here.

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