UK email marketing rules, in plain English

Emailing individuals: you need consent, or the soft opt-in

To send marketing emails to individuals (including sole traders and some partnerships), you generally need their consent. Consent must be clear and freely given: an unticked box they tick themselves, saying what they'll get. Pre-ticked boxes don't count, and you should keep a record of when and how they signed up.

There's one important exception for businesses, called the soft opt-in.

The soft opt-in for existing customers

You can email someone without separate consent if all of these are true:

• You got their email address while they were buying from you, or talking to you about buying
• You're marketing your own similar products or services
• You gave them a simple chance to say no when you collected their details
• Every email gives them an easy way to unsubscribe

Emailing other businesses

Under PECR, emails to companies (for example, a limited company's general or staff email address) don't need prior consent, but you must say who you are and give a way to opt out. If you're emailing a named person at a company, UK GDPR still applies to their personal data, so be fair, relevant and respect opt-outs.

What every marketing email needs

• Who it's from: your business name, clearly
• A working unsubscribe link, honoured promptly
• Nothing misleading in the subject line or sender name
• Only emailing people who are on your list for a good reason

Don't buy email lists

Bought lists almost never have valid consent for your business. Emailing them breaks the rules, damages your sender reputation and gets your emails sent to spam.

How iynbox helps

iynbox Business records consent at sign-up, adds a one-click unsubscribe to every email, and stops emailing addresses that bounce or complain automatically.