What are email permissions?
Email permissions, or permission to send emails, is very important no matter what type of business you have. Sending an email to someone who has not agreed to receive emails from you can damage your brand reputation and prevent future emails from reaching your customers' inboxes. Therefore, email permission is not only a necessity, but also something you should take seriously if you want your emails to reach your customers' inboxes rather than their spam folder.
In email marketing, having permission means that the recipient has given you explicit and informed consent to send messages to them. Permission can be collected in a number of ways, such as:
- A new user checks a box in your signup flow indicating that they want to receive emails from you.
- A customer enters their email address in a form to receive updates and offers from you.
- An event attendee adds their email address to a list so they can receive additional information from you.
In all these scenarios, the person understands exactly what they are signing up for and knows who you are. They expect emails from you in the future, so they are likely to open them.
Sending unsolicited email is also an offense in many countries - you should consult a legal expert to ensure you comply with all applicable laws and regulations if in doubt.
Consequences if you do not obtain email permission
Your email reputation is largely based on how recipients interact with your emails. If someone receives an email from you that they weren't expecting, their actions can negatively impact your success when sending emails in the future.
Opening rate
If you don't have permission to send emails to users or a lead, your opening rate the first thing that will be affected. This also applies if the recipient doesn't recognize who the email is from or doesn't remember signing up to receive it. A low open rate will make it harder for emails to land in your customers' inboxes in the future.
Unsubscribe frequency
One of the most common reasons for high unsubscribe rates is sending emails to people who never consented to receive it.
Spam
Spam complaints occur when a person marks an email as "spam" or "junk". Someone may mark a message as spam if they have never agreed to receive your emails or if they no longer want to receive your messages.
Blocked emails
If you send enough emails to people who didn't explicitly give you permission, various databases will likely list your domain as malicious. This will cause your emails to be blocked before they ever reach the recipient and will damage your reputation.
