E-mails and GDPR

[AlexiaW]

Hi everyone
I am about to start my new business ( care trainings) I am a sole trader and very new at this.
I was trying to do some readings but I am still unclear whether I can take e-mail addresses of care homes from their websites and e-mail them directly with my training offers?
Would I be breaking GDPR?
If I am not allowed to do it, what can I do? Thank you.

 

[cjd]

It's a bit of a grey area but so long as you follow the guidelines issued by the ICO you should be able to use email to market your services. The process is called Legitimate Interest.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisation...ul-basis-for-processing/legitimate-interests/

The ICO is not trying to prevent direct marketing; just stop random spam and also give the receiver control of what he gets.

IMO you can use legitimate interest so long as what you are emailing is specifically targetted to people who would generally expect to need the kind of services you offer. Don't email dentists with lawnmower spam, but do email dentists (only) about a new dental amalgam, for example.

You absolutely must put an unsubscribe link in the mail and have kept a record of the reasoning you used to determine legitimate interest.

Disclaimer
That's only my take on it; it's a new area we're all watching with interest. But I'd say a sole trader sending a few relevant emails to addresses on a public website is in no danger at all. So long as you follow the ICO's checklist in that link...

 

[AlexiaW]

Thank you so much cjd. It helps a lot. I am going to read more about the Legitimate Interest. Also I will make sure to put an unsubscribe link in the e-mail and have a record of the reasoning.

 

[ffox]

I was trying to do some readings but I am still unclear whether I can take e-mail addresses of care homes from their websites and e-mail them directly with my training offers?
Would I be breaking GDPR?

The regulations regarding email marketing are not specifically in the GDPR, they are In the PECR. -
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisation...elephone-marketing/electronic-mail-marketing/

You will see from the regulation guide that you are free to email businesses, but you must take care and ensure that you do not send unsolicited mail to any individual via a business email address.

In short you can send unsolicited mail to [email protected], or [email protected], or any other non person specific address, but not to [email protected].

In order to mail a person, even in a company context, you will need consent, or to be continuing an already existing sales or marketing relationship.

 

[AlexiaW]

Thank you so much ffox. This is very useful information and you've made it very easy for me to understand.

 

[TODonnell]

You'd be better off calling the care home and asking for the contact email address of whoever's in charge of what you want to sell them. Or if they wouldn't mind putting you through to them directly.

If you sound plausible, they'll tell you.

Spamming [email protected] and hoping someone will contact you won't work at all.

 

[ffox]

You'd be better off calling the care home and asking for the contact email address of whoever's in charge of what you want to sell them.

PECR rules govern telephone contact too. -
'You must not make marketing calls to any number listed on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or Corporate TPS (CTPS), unless that person has specifically consented to your calls. You can call a number if it is not listed on the TPS or CTPS. So you need to screen call lists against the TPS and CTPS. You must allow your number to be displayed.'

 

[AlexiaW]

Thank you TODonnell for your advise. I was thinking to do it as well but as ffox said the telephone contacting could also be restricted.
Anyway, I am going to target local relevant care homes and just go there personally with my pitch, leaflets etc and try to speak to someone in charge.
I am going to use e-mails to contact care homes in other towns ( as there is only some many care homes I can go to in a day) so hopefully some of them will respond even if I just e-mail a non person specific address

 

[Lee Oakley]

Thank you so much cjd. It helps a lot. I am going to read more about the Legitimate Interest. Also I will make sure to put an unsubscribe link in the e-mail and have a record of the reasoning.

Hi Alexia, personally I wouldnt create an email list and add an 'unsubscribe' link as whilst you may send an email to admin@example-care-home (which is not a personal email) the care home still didnt ask for the email in the first place and nothing annoys people more than being added to an email list they didnt sign up to, particularly if the owner reads it.

If you decide to send email to a care home business email addresses I would suggest you send a one off intro email with a call to action encouraging them to learn more about you, your service, and to try and encourage them to response to let you contact them directly on how you think you can improve their care staff training.

A soft intro email asking permission to contact them (or to arrange for a no obligation site visit and training consultation) still lets them know who you are and what your about but its the polite thing to do and by leaving the ball in their court and stating that your intro email is a one off email and you wont send any more unless they respond, they will respect you more. Repeated emails that go unanswered shouts of desperation.

Being on the right side of GDPR is one thing but by employing some best practice to keep people from getting angry (and some people get way too angry way too quickly) is the best way forward as the last thing you want is some irate person posting your company name online and criticising your unsolicited emails as this will reflect badly on a search for your company name.

 

[AlexiaW]

Thank you Lee Oakley. I think you’ve made a very important point and your advice is really good. I just find it really difficult to get my business out there. I am only just starting and going to focus just on my town ( as there are many care homes here) but it still feels like I am not allowed to do anything to promote my business :-( ( I can’t really afford advertising just yet)
I think I will personally go to local care homes and try to speak to someone in charge and promote it that way. I will probably still e-mail care homes outside my town and follow your advice . I 100% agree that it is annoying to get e-mails you did not ask for, so I will do my best not to upset people and not to look desperate.

 

[Phil Richardson]

In short you can send unsolicited mail to [email protected], or [email protected], or any other non person specific address, but not to [email protected].

In order to mail a person, even in a company context, you will need consent, or to be continuing an already existing sales or marketing relationship.

Just for clarity, you do not need consent to email a person at a company email address. So legally you can cold email [email protected] by using legitimate interest for GDPR and following PECR. Obviously you need to undertake a LI balance test and only process the personal data if it passes.

 

[AlexiaW]

Thank you Phil Richardson. I think this is getting more and more confusing and there is so much more I need to educate myself about this whole GDPR and marketing :-( but thank you for letting me know about this.
I have a question ( which is probably very stupid and most people will laugh at me now) but what is a LI balance test? I mean, what do I have to do exactly when you say a test? Regards.

 

[Alan]

I have a question ( which is probably very stupid and most people will laugh at me now) but what is a LI balance test? I mean, what do I have to do exactly when you say a test?

Not a stupid question at all. As all things GDPR it isn't tested in court yet ( and as a small business unless you really go to town with a million emails it is unlikely to be tested with you) and of course I'm not a lawyer and this isn't advice ... but .. to use Legitimate Interest you need to analyse and so hence have a record of your thought process, the interest of the data subject against yours. So would the data subject reasonably expect this communication? Would the data subject feel their privacy has been violated by this communication. So perhaps, if you wrote down an analysis that said the email is to administrators of care homes about a service that benefits care homes and contains nothing that they would not reasonably expect, then perhaps you have a legitimate interest. Obviously sending porn to them or betting opportunities or ****** currency ICOs or hate mail wouldn't be a legitimate interest.

 

[AlexiaW]

Thank you for the explanation Alan. It’s very helpful.

 

[fisicx]

But....

If the email address is bob at something.com you can’t send a marketing email. If it’s admin at something.com you are on safer ground.

Market to the business not the person.

 

[Juraj Vysvader]

Do you send e-mails internationally? Some countries like Australia, or rather of the EU are stricter than the UK and you should take an extra care. It shouldn't be a great problem if you send it from the UK because you don't break the UK law but the receivers will be more upset than the British.

For example, in Germany, or Australia, you can't offer any service/product before when you've got an agreement from a receiver, but first must be the agreement, not any ads. In fact, you may not legally do what you want in these countries.

 

[Phil Richardson]

But....

If the email address is bob at something.com you can’t send a marketing email. If it’s admin at something.com you are on safer ground.

Market to the business not the person.

Again, this information is completely wrong, see my original answer and the answer that CJD gave.