You may remember an earlier post about the confusion between marketing and service emails.
This matters because sending an email to customers that you think is a service message but is in fact a marketing one could be costly for your business.
Amex made this mistake and now Halfords have made the same costly error.
Amex got into big trouble when they sent 4 million messages in 2018 and 2019 to their customers believing them to be service messages.
You may remember, the emails detailed the rewards of using their card for online shopping and encouraged customers to download their app to make the most of their card.
They said clients would be disadvantaged if they were not aware of the best way to use their cards.
However, the ICO disagreed and fined them …
… £90,000!
Halfords have fallen into the same hole.
They sent nearly half a million emails telling customers about the Government’s “Fix your Bike” scheme. The scheme gave vouchers to cyclists towards repairs.
Halfords claimed they were acting in the public interest to support the scheme.
The ICO disagreed, saying the email was a marketing one, and fined them £30,000
These are pocket money to both Amex and Halfords, but I dare say a bit more painful for you.
You see, even marketers get confused about the rules on marketing emails and make the wrong call on a campaign, like those at Amex.
The first step is to know the difference between a marketing communication and a service one.
Marketing has a very wide definition, and it can be very easy to think you are just being helpful to your customers by explaining the benefits of your product or service they have, but this will be marketing comms, not a service one.
On the other hand, if you have updated the terms and conditions of that product or service, then you need to tell your customers, and this will be a service message.
HOWEVER…
This is often not black and white, as both Amex and Halfords found out, so it’s important you get this right.
How can you make sure you get it right?
Consult an expert.