Lawful Data Processing for Email and SMS Marketing

Abstract

The paradox facing all marketing professionals is that they must communicate their message to the widest target audience possible, while at the same time avoiding the legal issues associated with processing personal data and handling mailing lists in a lawful manner. SMS, Email and other technologies for the multiple dissemination of communications offer both great opportunities for presenting an company’s marketing message to a large number of target recipients and great dangers for overstepping the law or at the very least for causing irritation among potential customers. The key tosuccess in the use of SMS/email communication lies in the careful planning of campaigns that are aimed at audiences of willing participants. The legalissues that dominate this activity include: the consideration of the legality of the campaign, which includes the lawful processing of the data to be used, and the regulation of the data processing used to process the results. The key legislative and regulatory provisions that currently apply include: Data Protection Act 1998; Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999; E-Commerce Regulations 2002; and European Union Privacy in Electronic Communications Directive. A summary of each of these piecesof legislation governing direct marketing via email and SMS and the associated processing of data is presented. It is concluded that the practical measures under review are simply those that any responsible company might be willing to put in place without any coercion. In the end, companies accept that unsolicited and unwanted mail will only do long term harm to the brand and that accurate and lawful targeting of willing recipients and participants makes good sense as well as ensuring that the company complies with the law.