Commercial damage? Well, no. But the other side of the issue is a
better return on investment. The whole point is to render a better
return to shareholders, and that means spending fewer pennies for each
pound earned.
Managing a huge database has a large cost, a scalable cost. Data has a
quantifiable value, and that value is the greater if permissions are
gathered and acted upon. Marketing to that dataset effectively both
costs less and creates a better yield. And a strong part of that is
that the PECR militates towards good and permission based practices.
Prior to the PECR I worked as a consultant to Peoplesoft, then not under
the Oracle umbrella, to help them cleanse their database and introduce
Permission Based Marketing initially in Europe. Their sales enquiries
went DOWN and their profitability went UP, both substantially. And
their reputation, even in the difficult time of a hostile takeover, went
sky high. Reputation risk from poor marketing all but became a thing of
the past. And their ability to respond properly to the very few
complaints they still received (people still forget that they have given
permission) saved them quite large costs that they would previously have
incurred to investigate and resolve them.
Commercial damage is damage to the bottom line when all is said and done
Tim Turner wrote:
> Is there any evidence that any commercial company has ever suffered
> any significant commercial damage on the basis of their email habits?
>
> I doubt it. I could name many big companies with awful data protection
> and PECR practices who thrive because their products and services
> are cheap. The large majority of people who ignore the junk and the
> minority who are annoyed are - I suspect - offset by the other
> minority who respond. Otherwise, why would anyone do it? Apart from
> the anecdotes, I have never seen any proof from the IC or anyone else
> that people make decisions on what products or services to buy on the
> basis of DP or PECR.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Tim Trent
> *Sent:* Wed 23 April 2008 16:13
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: [data-protection] Oh the irony
>
> It depends if you are the subscriber at that email address and an
> individual. But this is also why Permission Based Marketing is
> essential. Blasting emails, even if lawful, to email lists that have
> not been properly opted in to is a recipe for reputation disaster
> whether lawful or not.
>
> Nigel Roberts wrote:
>> As far as I'm concerned one of the most interesting parts of the PECR
>> and the directive is the phrase 'individual subscriber'.
>>
>> One of the techniques used by the House of Lords (soon to be Supreme
>> Court) in construction is, where European Law is concerned, looking
>> at the words used in the Directive the transposing legislation is
>> supposed to implete, and even the various versions in other Community
>> languages.
>>
>> Now looking at the directive, it appears to me that the prohibition
>> of direct marketing by email is intended to protect natural persons.
>> The UK's 'individual subscribers' phrase appears to imply a narrower
>> construction.
>>
>> So is [log in to unmask], sitting in his office at work, within
>> or without r.22 of PECR 2003?
>>
>> On reading the Directive, I've come to a fairly strong conclusion.
>> What do others think?
>>
>>
>>
>> Tim Trent wrote:
>>> Chaps, have you issued a complaint to the UKIC? And have you
>>> considered the example Nigel Roberts has set by issuing either a
>>> summons or a demand for payment to charity as an out of court
>>> settlement?
>>>
>>> Roland Perry wrote:
>>>> In message
>>>> <[log in to unmask]>,
>>>> at 12:23:45 on Wed, 23 Apr 2008, Ekin Caglar <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> writes
>>>>> Just got another one! Easycheck from selectabase.co.uk... On their
>>>>> unregistration page, they state "We require that our clients
>>>>> follow email best practice and send only permission based emails.
>>>>> We do not allow them to use Selectabase Ltd to send Unsolicited
>>>>> Emails."
>>>>
>>>>> Talk about irony... But of course, they'll claim they've sent the
>>>>> mail to [log in to unmask], not to an individual. And I'll claim
>>>>> it's very easy to find out on whose desk sales@ emails land in our
>>>>> organisation!
>>>>
>>>> Ignore the email address, mine was sent to "Dear Dr Lamb", whoever
>>>> he might be. Sounds like an individual to me - and an instant alert
>>>> that they are either doing a dictionary attack, or have bought a
>>>> very broken list off someone. That's a Fourth Principle offence, to
>>>> add to all the others...
>>>>
>>>
>>
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>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *Tim Trent* - Consultant
> */Tel/*: +44 (0)7710 126618
> */web/*: ComplianceAndPrivacy.com <http://complianceandprivacy.com> -
> where busy executives go to find the news first
> */personal blog/*: timtrent.blogspot.com/ <http://timtrent.blogspot.com/>
>
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--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Tim Trent* - Consultant
*/Tel/*: +44 (0)7710 126618
*/web/*: ComplianceAndPrivacy.com <http://complianceandprivacy.com> -
where busy executives go to find the news first
*/personal blog/*: timtrent.blogspot.com/ <http://timtrent.blogspot.com/>
*Important*: This message is private and confidential. If you have
received this message in error, please notify us and remove it from your
system. This email and any attachment(s) are believed to be virus-free,
but it is the responsibility of the recipient to make all the necessary
virus checks. This email and any attachments to it are copyright of
Meadowood Associates, owners of Compliance And Privacy, unless otherwise
stated. Their copying, transmission, reproduction in whole or in part
may only be undertaken with the express permission, in writing, of
Meadowood Associates, at Meadowood House, 30 Redditch, Bracknell,
Berkshire, RG12 0TT.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
Any queries about sending or receiving messages please send to the list owner
[log in to unmask]
Full help Desk - please email [log in to unmask] describing your needs
To receive these emails in HTML format send the command:
SET data-protection HTML to [log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
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