Permission lasts for exactly 12 months

At least that's the official view of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, as unearthed by Denise Cox's delve into his Annual Report.

Denise has the details, but essentially (in Ireland) if you wait longer than 12 months between emails or before you send the first email, then you need to get the opt-in again.

I think that's the first time I've seen a permission timeframe cited in official anti-spam legal interpretations. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Once again, though, we see the critical difference between law and marketing. Legal compliance is just that. It stops you landing before a court. But as Denise points out, 12 months between communications is a non-starter from a marketing perspective.

If someone gets their first mail from you anything more than a couple of weeks after the opt-in event, don't be surprised if they forgot whether or why they signed up and send you to the junk folder marked as spam.

Especially if it was a sly opt-in obtained during a purchase process, rather than as an explicit sign up to an email list.

More on anti-spam laws and permission | Tags: email marketing ireland, permission

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