I have an idea for a website offering a great service for companies. I am not sure whether this service will be free, or something like the first 100 registrations are free. But what I want to do is the following: - I want to search the internet for emailadresses of companies (mostly small companies) - I want to use sites like the yellowpages for obtaining more emailadresses. - With all this contact information (approximately 15.000 contacts of a specific business sector), I want to put a mailing list together and send them an email about my new website and interesting (free) service. Can somebody tell me if the above three points contains some kind of an illegal action. I want to do it the right way, but also the smartest and fastest way By the way, is point 3 not some kind of spamming... and if so, what can be the possible consequences of doing this? Kind regards, Erik B.
It is spamming. Most generic company email addresses are watched over by the receptionist though, and he/she just deletes any spam adverts. So I doubt it would be a very effective marketing technique. You may be able to get around it by addressing the email to someone specific in the company, but you would need to do your homework, and even then the person would also probably just glance at it and delete. You would need some very special gimick to catch their interest and attention. From personal experience in business I only pay attention to brochures that arrive on my desk for something I happen to be looking to buy or obtain anyway. Its even harder to get noticed via email, and many people are a little wary of clicking on website links in emails from an unknown source.
Hmmmm... I know that I have to be very carefull choosing the right words so the email doesn't look like spam. And it doesn't matter to me if it is an effective way of advertising. The only thing I need to know is if it is really illegal and it's possible that they sue me... and that I will get a fine or something like that. In that case I don't want to take the risk.
Yes, you can legally send out marketing emails if you play by the rules. There are guidelines for this set out in the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Have a read of the Federal Trade Commission's page:-- http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm Its surprisingly short and to the point. Somewhat unusual for a government website!
Not a good idea. There are many companies out there that does it differently. There are some banker's directory access to banker's telephone and other contacts for a fee. There are direct advertising/meeting set up for example one company makes money by setting up clients to meet with each other. They research the contact, make the calls and get the meetings going and take the fees. What you are selling is email list, which is not highly valued due to 1) email does not generate response as "phone calls" 2)contact services such as setting up appointments for b-b meeting companies are out there you cannot compete. 3) what do you sell, just emails? Its not a viable business. You have to have more value than that. Maybe they are willing to pay $1 per email? But common,they can do it by making the call, looking up google.