Hey all got a potential legal query about collecting email a

Question

Hey all got a potential legal query about collecting email addresses My client has been adding additional emails to his list by watching sessions on HotJar where users input their email into the form but somehow forget to hit the subscribe button or just exit the page Basically the equivalent of a cart abandonment I told him that might not be completely legal as they haven t hit the subscribe button and technically haven t said we can email them He said they ve still accepted our privacy policy when they land on the site so all their data is free to use for marketing purposes I said I d check this email issue just to be sure

Damian Wisniewski · Answer

Ooph I m not sure the main issue here is legal I just think this is unlikely to be a high quality set of potential contacts

Damian Wisniewski · Answer

Maybe another way to put it is that your client has undertaken a complex data integration project to artificially boost his bounce and spam rates

Alex · Answer

Hi Just seems to happen I am a Data Protection expert lol I just joined

Alex · Answer

There is no such thing as accepting a privacy policy

Dave Rodenbaugh · Answer

Several things I m an ESP so this is something we spend a lot of time thinking about The low quality of leads is definitely an issue but that s the least of your legal problems This is a clear violation of CAN SPAM They did not consent to marketing emails which is separate from a privacy policy and this is required for sending ANY promotional emails at all Abandoned cart emails fall under prior business relationship and thus get transactional status for one email only Courts agree on this beyond that it s promotional What you re doing here has no prior business relationship and is just plain unethical and illegal depending on the country you live in This is not a practice I would endorse or recommend to anyone trying to build a serious list If this is your best effort to get customers you ve got some more work to do sunglasses

Alex · Answer

and by no means you can assume that a user accepts their data to be used for marketing purposes just because they landed on the site

Alex · Answer

So it would be very difficult to justify Consent has been given for the purpose of marketing communications under the GDPR When you actually message them then ePrivacy Directive Applies Would be very difficult to justify that the communication is lawful since the user really didn t press subscribe for a reason

Aditya · Answer

Just curious to know is this cart abandoned related to shopify

Robbie King · Answer

no not related to shopify

Bill Scully · Answer

< Dave Rodenbaugh> I was with a Fortune 50 when Can Spam came out and followed it for a year or two but I never hard of any enforcement I ve been out of email for years Has there been any enforcement