Lay My Hat

I have been trying to get to grips with data protection legislation and the rules around direct marketing. It seems if I want to send previous guests emails to offer 10% off their next holiday, for example, I have to put an 'opt out' option in all emails I send them, right from first receiving their information.

Have I understood this right? And if so, how exactly do people do this? I was thinking about something like "if you would rather not hear from me in the future with any offers or discounts for our holiday apartment please let me know by replying to this email"

Thanks

I don't recall if it's part of the Data Protection stuff, but you've pretty much got it right for direct marketing.
You need to have permission to contact in the first place (which seems a bit loosely defined), but more importantly you have to make it simple for the recipient to unsubscribe. Whatever message you choose to include as a tempter for them to keep receiving your offers, following with something like "or please reply with the word 'Unsubscribe' in the subject of your email" covers it.
You also need to mention why they're receiving it "as a previous guest etc etc"
Or you could consider using Mailchimp to manage all your marketing messages.

As Greenbarn says you must offer an unsubscribe option and not sign them up to a list they didn't ask to sign up to.

Mailchimp do not encourage you to add databases to their site that you have gained without getting the subscribers permission, so personally if you're going to go that route, I would use your own email system and not mailchimp.

Then start building a new list on mailchimp by asking for opt ins with new guests. I detest being added to a list and then told to opt out when I didn't subscribe in the first place. I have a sign up on my website and something at the bottom of my emails that leads to a sign up. It's a gentle trickle, rather than every guest signing up.

Over here in Germany they are quite protective over Data protection or in german "Datenschutz" there is so many rules and regulations set out in the european directive.

However i am ( or we are ) only owning or managing holiday accommodation / hotels, i do keep a guest register of who stays at the accommodation & the information is obtained on the booking form completion ,however some booking portals withhold this information & sometimes it is difficult to get this information from the guests before arrival but as the information is also used in the case of emergency procedures as i have 4 apartments in the one building i have to know who is staying where
just like the large corporate hotels that get you to sign a registration form on check in.

So when i ask for any personal information i put at the bottom of the request " this information is for the use of (" our company" ) and not shared ,we sometimes have information that we would like to share with you if you do not wish to receive this please inform us ...etc...etc and so far nobody has said NO . however i do not hassle them with info maybe only like you want to do an offer mail-shot
but i aways clearly compile the mail-shot that it is from me and not some SPAM or Phishing e mail

You need to have permission to contact in the first place

I'm sure I read that for previous guests or enquirers there is a 'soft opt-in', in that you are allowed to send them stuff if you got their details as part of a sale or 'negotiations for a sale' (ie enquiries), as long as you give them an opt out option? I read this to mean you don't specifically need them to 'opt in' or give permission?

Jenster wrote:

You need to have permission to contact in the first place

I'm sure I read that for previous guests or enquirers there is a 'soft opt-in', in that you are allowed to send them stuff if you got their details as part of a sale or 'negotiations for a sale' (ie enquiries), as long as you give them an opt out option? I read this to mean you don't specifically need them to 'opt in' or give permission?

That's why I described it as "loosely defined" - I can't remember the detail but what you say sounds about right, although I believe the "preferred" option is a hard opt in.
Anyway I don't think at our level of business we're likely to have a SWAT team on the doorstep for sending an initial contact that maybe one or two previous guests might not welcome. Accentuating the point that you don't want any of your future emails to be unwelcome (and maybe give a suggested likely frequency for them? Monthly? Yearly?) along with a clear and simple Unsubscribe does at least show good intent; is anyone likely to report it?

To cover the UK a quick search; this come up at the top of the list.
https://www.gov.uk/marketing-advertisin ... -marketing