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Transcript

CAN-SPAM | The Real Rules Regarding Marketing Outreach · Sharp Strategies Sweet Success

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone, and welcome.
• 0:02
  This is our live session on can spam act or basically the rules
• 0:11
  and regulations
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: regarding who we can send marketing to.
• 0:17
  So yesterday I did for the Sharp Marketing Mastermind a session
• 0:22
  on list building
• 0:24
  and what it means to grow a list and the kind of things that we
• 0:28
  should be sending
• 0:29
  them to increase the amount of referrals we get from people on
• 0:33
  our marketing list,
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: people who already knew us.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now,
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: this is a topic that when I during the session yesterday,
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I was kind of flipping my responses and basically said,
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: yeah,
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: yeah,
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: we can email them.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's not a big deal.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Keep in mind, I'm a marketer, not a lawyer.
• 1:11
  And so ultimately,
• 1:13
  like I'm more worried about how to be effective with our
• 1:17
  marketing.
• 1:18
  And a lot of attorneys and a lot of law firm marketers are also
• 1:23
  equally concerned
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: with following the rules and making sure we're not violating some sort of
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: guideline.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And email marketing in particular falls in this weird,
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: almost gray area where it doesn't feel like the...
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: the rules regarding email marketing are talked about enough.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of confusion there.
• 1:45
  And there's a lot of different layers of what you would call
• 1:49
  policing when it comes
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: to email marketing.
• 1:52
  And I think a lot of times the big issue comes with conflating
• 1:56
  what our email
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: service providers want versus what's actually required of us.
• 2:02
  So before I get into some research I'm going to share with you
• 2:07
  or some of the FTC
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: regulations regarding marketing and outbound reach,
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'll throw in the caveat that I don't know the rules for your state.
• 2:15
  There are like 50 states in the United States and each of them
• 2:18
  have different
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: rules,
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: legal marketing rules that we have to follow.
• 2:23
  I'm only talking about the broad federal rules regarding email
• 2:29
  marketing and
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: marketing outreach in general.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just going to start really quick,
• 2:35
  and I'm going to share links to my sources in the follow-up
• 2:39
  email after this live
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: session is recorded.
• 2:41
  And actually,
• 2:42
  I'm going to share my screen here so you guys can see what I'm
• 2:48
  seeing.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Audio sharing is coming soon.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: So this is me.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm going to pause sharing my screen.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'll share my sources later.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: I want to risk.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know what?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: We got to do it sometime.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: We got to do it sometime, right?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to share with you as soon as I find it, this article.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, good grief.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now I can't even freaking find the thing.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, here we go.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: So you guys can hopefully see this.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is from ftc.gov.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is straight from the horse's mouth and I can find it.
• 3:33
  These are the list of basically requirements that we as
• 3:39
  marketers have to follow to
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: comply with the CANSPAN Act.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: I won't leave this up here for too long, but I'll go through the list.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Don't use false or misleading header information.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: So your from, your to, your reply to should all be accurate.
• 3:55
  And you want to do that anyway,
• 3:56
  because it helps with your your sendability.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it also helps with your long term branding, right?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Don't use deceptive subject lines.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now,
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: deceptive,
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: being the key word here,
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: because a good subject line is a little bit deceptive to some degree,
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: right?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's not an outright lie, though.
• 4:16
  And what CAN-SPAM Act is telling us is we can't lie in our
• 4:19
  headline or in our subject line.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: We can't make the subject line,
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: I owe you $10,000 and open up the email and it be,
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: some marketing BS,
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: right?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't do that.
• 4:32
  A lot of advertisers,
• 4:34
  you've probably seen emails like that,
• 4:36
  do it anyway.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it's one of the things that, one of the rules that's often violated.
• 4:44
  But what's important to keep in mind here is that,
• 4:46
  you know,
• 4:46
  these things aren't,
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's no can spam act police.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's nobody,
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 4:53
  looking through what small businesses are doing with their
• 4:56
  email subject lines.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: They're going after the big companies,
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: the big spammers who are intentionally misleading people with their email
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: marketing.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Identify the message as an ad.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: But essentially,
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: a lot of law firm marketing require this anyway,
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: that we clearly label things as advertisement.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: But in an email newsletter,
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  SPEAKER_00: where we're updating somebody about community events or sharing important
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: information,
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  SPEAKER_00: it's not necessarily marketing.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's list building.
• 5:28
  And it's not necessarily an ad in the traditional sense that
• 5:32
  they're discussing here.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Tell recipients where you're located.
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  SPEAKER_00: Make sure your address is displayed.
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  SPEAKER_00: A lot of CRMs do this by default.
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  SPEAKER_00: You don't have the option to switch it off.
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  SPEAKER_00: Tell recipients how to opt out of marketing from you.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure your subscribe button is visible.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: remember that members and subscribers can unsubscribe too.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's basically telling you the same thing twice.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like people should be able to opt out.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter how engaged they are with you as a business.
• 6:00
  So a lead can opt out of your newsletter as equally and as
• 6:05
  easily well as somebody
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: who's paying you a client can.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now you can talk to the client.
• 6:10
  You know,
• 6:10
  if somebody opts out of your email newsletter and it was a
• 6:12
  client,
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: you see that in your CRM,
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: you can absolutely call them and say like,
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: hey,
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: I saw you decided not to get the newsletter any longer.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Can I ask you some questions?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what could we have done to make it better?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or you could tell them like, hey, you've opted out of this email.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Just want to let you know you may miss important updates in the future.
• 6:32
  And you can talk to them and maybe they don't want to receive
• 6:34
  marketing and that's fine.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just live and let live.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Honor those requests to opt out.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Again, most CRMs do this automatically with a button press.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Gmail lets me unsubscribe in my email.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even have to visit anyone's site.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then monitor what others are doing on your behalf.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's a list of eight rules that you have to be compliant to CAM spam.
• 6:56
  Notice that nowhere here does it say anything about who you can
• 7:02
  send emails to.
• 7:04
  None of these rules require that you get consent to send
• 7:07
  emails,
• 7:09
  that you can't buy a list.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: You absolutely can, according to these rules.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: None of these rules forbid that.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so with email marketing, you are free to email emails.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: anyone whose email you have access to,
• 7:24
  but you have to make it easy for them to stop receiving your
• 7:27
  emails and you have to
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: be honest about the information that you're presenting.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's the letter of the law.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like hopefully if you're reading this and you,
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know,
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: maybe you're surprised,
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: you're like,
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: hold on,
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: like,
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: I need some extra reassurance, Tiffany, you know, not just by exclusion.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: I know it says you can't,
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: it doesn't say you can't buy a list,
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: but,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: what,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Tiffany,
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  SPEAKER_00: why should I take your word on it?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, fair enough.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, fair enough.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's another article here.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: I already got it set up.
• 8:02
  I bought a list of email addresses for people likely to be
• 8:04
  interested in my niche product.
• 8:06
  If I comply with commercial email requirements at CanSpam,
• 8:09
  do I have anything to worry about?
• 8:11
  The CanSpam Act doesn't require indicators of commercial emails
• 8:15
  to get recipients'
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: consent before sending them commercial emails.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is from the FTC.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So,
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Again,
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: there is nothing stopping you from adding people to your marketing list,
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  SPEAKER_00: who you meet,
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: who you call,
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: who contact you.
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  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to email, you're free to email people.
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  And there may be individual state rules regarding legal
• 8:42
  marketing and rules of
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  SPEAKER_00: solicitation that say,
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  SPEAKER_00: You can only,
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: contact somebody or do outreach to somebody who's already initiated that
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: relationship.
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  And most of the time when somebody calls you about a case,
• 8:56
  they're initiating a relationship.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so that typically satisfies the requirements.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now,
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: if you back up a little bit,
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: think broader about this,
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: take the focus off email for a second,
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  there are a lot more stricter rules and regulations regarding
• 9:13
  outbound phone calls
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  SPEAKER_00: and outbound text messages.
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  SPEAKER_00: And if you ever had to set up a lead docket to send text messages,
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: you know it's a process,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: right?
• 9:25
  The lead docket has to send you the text that you have to put
• 9:29
  on your website.
• 9:30
  Your web vendor,
• 9:31
  your SEO company has to put it on the forms,
• 9:34
  on every form on your site.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: It has to be visible in your footer.
• 9:38
  You have to be able to go to the privacy policy page and read
• 9:41
  what essentially is a
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: disclosure that says,
• 9:45
  By filling out this form,
• 9:46
  you are consenting to receive our text messages.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what that is.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then once you're in compliance,
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: your website is in compliance,
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: you can then apply to basically send SMS marketing messages.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to be approved by a regulatory body.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: I forget exactly the body name, but it's federally regulated.
• 10:12
  And once you get that permission,
• 10:13
  once you display that your site is in compliance,
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: and you completed the registration,
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: you fill out all the information they need,
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: boom,
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: you can send text messages from Lead Docket.
• 10:24
  And you can do so specifically to people who've contacted you
• 10:29
  and who've initiated
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: a relationship.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: And this is really, really important.
• 10:33
  And this is a hard lesson I have to teach some marketers who
• 10:39
  want to follow the rules.
• 10:40
  I feel like there are a lot of people out there who just have
• 10:42
  the best intentions and
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: They don't want to do anything wrong,
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: particularly in the marketing and the legal marketing space.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're extra cautious.
• 10:51
  But the extra caution makes them ineffective marketers because
• 10:57
  what they're doing
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: is saying like,
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: oh,
• 10:59
  we got to be real careful about who we send emails to and real
• 11:02
  careful about we
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: have to make sure we get an opt-in,
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: a double opt-in,
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: get their signature on this form.
• 11:10
  But like if you're putting layers between you and being able to
• 11:15
  market to the lead,
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: you are literally like crippling yourself.
• 11:20
  You are making it difficult for you to do your job and for you
• 11:25
  to meet your KPIs.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so you need to be aware of these rules,
• 11:30
  if only to be aware that it's not something you have to like
• 11:33
  tiptoe around.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can send an email newsletter.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can and I mean, literally, you can send an email.
• 11:40
  You could put you buy a list of everyone in your city and put
• 11:43
  them on your email
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: newsletter and start sending it tomorrow.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well,
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: depending on your state's legal marketing ethics rules,
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: according to the FTC,
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: you're good to go.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're fine.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: But here's how here's why you may not want to do that.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the nuance.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, here's the nuance here.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:04
  Because we have laws and regulations governing our
• 12:08
  communication right here through the FTC.
• 12:11
  But we also have the email service providers,
• 12:14
  the MailChimp,
• 12:15
  the active campaigns.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then, frankly, we just have the people we're emailing.
• 12:21
  And we want to,
• 12:22
  as marketers,
• 12:23
  give everyone a good experience with our content.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: I really hate spammers who,
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: like,
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: operate in the name of,
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: we're doing cold outreach and marketing.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's like,
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: no,
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: you're spamming a list,
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: casting a wide net,
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: and,
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: hoping that some people bite.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the rules of math,
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: kind of marketing and math,
• 12:42
  kind of say you're going to net a few sales if you do a whole
• 12:45
  bunch of cold
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: outreach,
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: right?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know...
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're not talking about that, right?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about email newsletters.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about law firms.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about nurturing referral relationships.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't do that by spamming people into oblivion, right?
• 13:02
  But there's a difference between sending out 25 unsolicited
• 13:08
  emails to a single
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: person in two days and sending an informational,
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: educational,
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: entertaining newsletter once a week,
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: twice a week.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Even every day.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And really think about it like this,
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: the frequency in which you can send and it be,
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: good with your audience entirely hinges on how good your content is.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: There are some people who I get email newsletters from.
• 13:36
  I'd be happy if they emailed me twice a day with the same level
• 13:40
  of content they're
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: giving me once a week.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not realistic, right?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, to make good content, it takes time, right?
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so they email you once a week because that's all they can supply.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm getting off track a little bit here.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: So let me wrangle it back in.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: But basically, you can email a list that
• 13:59
  as much as you want if you're delivering on the promise of
• 14:02
  being a good marketer
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: and giving them good content and entertaining them.
• 14:07
  And so when it comes to email service providers and your
• 14:10
  marketing list in general,
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: no,
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: you don't want to spam.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like you don't want to create a bad experience for somebody.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: You want to pay attention to your email marketing metrics,
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: open rate,
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: click rate,
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: opt-in rate,
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: opt-out rate,
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: unsubscribe rate,
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: all the rates.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you want to
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: You want to catch all of those.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you want to make sure that they're trending in the right direction.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're measuring these things on a continuum.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And each week, your click rate's getting a little better.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Your open rate's a little bit better.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you're just driving for better metrics.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we're doing this,
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: and we're talking about this in conjunction with spam and marketing,
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: because the email service providers...
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's like its own Google algorithm, right?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if you send somebody an email,
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: it doesn't get opened,
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: it doesn't get clicked,
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: it doesn't get a reply.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Google, which is Gmail, is huge.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Outlook, Outlook is also huge.
• 15:10
  All of these email service providers have their own algorithm
• 15:14
  for deciding how
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: important an email is.
• 15:17
  And if you don't create this good experience where people open
• 15:20
  it,
• 15:20
  engage with it,
• 15:21
  reply to it,
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: The algorithm learns that your email is not important.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so it gets pushed to promotions or spam.
• 15:30
  Your sender score,
• 15:31
  which is like your domain rating for your email,
• 15:35
  right?
• 15:35
  That slowly degrades because the email service providers say
• 15:39
  this person sends low
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: quality content
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Often, and people don't react to it, so they don't love it.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not a question of do they hate it?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's a question of do they love it?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, that's the big secret of marketing.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you make something bad, nobody's going to watch it.
• 15:56
  So,
• 15:56
  you know,
• 15:56
  you don't have to worry about making things,
• 15:59
  you know,
• 15:59
  make things.
• 16:00
  And if they're bad,
• 16:01
  nobody will see them and,
• 16:02
  you know,
• 16:02
  the world moves on.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: But if people love them, everyone sees it.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so our aim in marketing isn't to make things that people don't hate.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's to make things that people love.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so the same goes for email.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you're delivering on a good experience,
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: something that people love to open and love to engage with,
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: you're showing these email service providers that
• 16:25
  people enjoy our content,
• 16:26
  then you're going to get a better domain rating.
• 16:30
  And then last thing I'll touch on,
• 16:32
  which is the question of double opt-in.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Should we get double opt-in?
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Double opt-in is not required via the can spam rules.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a rule.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like we don't have to get a double opt-in.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Double opt-in is a best practice.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a best practice that mainly benefits MailChimp, ActiveCampaign.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: And hold on.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: I got to check my cameras.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hold on.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Hold on one second, guys.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: I have to pause the live.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Everett?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Everett!
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: Don't scream like that.
• 17:22
  This is what happens when you work from home and your kids are
• 17:24
  screaming.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's ridiculous.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway,
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: so ActiveCampaign,
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: MailChimp,
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: all of these email senders that we use and leverage,
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: right?
• 17:38
  They want you to get double opt-ins because it's basically like
• 17:42
  a mechanically
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: requiring the people who use their service to follow best practices.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: So if somebody double opts into an email,
• 17:52
  they're committed to open your email because they made a
• 17:56
  contact with you.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: They filled out a form.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: They did a call.
• 18:00
  They received an email that says,
• 18:01
  hey,
• 18:01
  would you like to see our marketing?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then they clicked yes.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: I know that it sounds really simple, but it's a big lift.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Not many people are going to follow through with that.
• 18:11
  But if they do,
• 18:12
  they're really likely to engage with your email and interact
• 18:16
  with your email.
• 18:17
  And that helps MailChimp and ActiveCampaign and these other
• 18:20
  senders down the road
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: because Gmail,
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Outlook basically learned to respect them.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: So they know MailChimp sends good emails and they're not spam.
• 18:32
  And so the double opt-in is more a requirement these companies
• 18:36
  put on the people
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: who use their services,
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: small businesses.
• 18:40
  So small businesses are following the best practices that will
• 18:44
  long-term make the
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: businesses look good,
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: hurt their marketing a little bit in the process because you're
• 18:50
  getting double opt-ins and only reaching like about a quarter
• 18:53
  of the people you
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: could potentially reach.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So they're limiting your marketing,
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: forcing you to follow a really narrow rule of best practices.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Long term,
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: it helps MailChimp an active campaign,
• 19:05
  but usually doesn't help the small business who's out there
• 19:08
  hustling and trying to
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: get more referrals,
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: right?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: So
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: that's why I tell people,
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: I get double opt-ins from clients,
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: because I want to make sure clients are committed to us.
• 19:21
  And we're more likely to get double opt-ins from clients
• 19:24
  because they are committed to us.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they've signed the fee agreement.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I like to try to get double opt-ins from that group to really,
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: like,
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: secure them in the email list.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: But a double opt-in, particularly at the intake level...
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: is not required.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: There's no rule requiring it.
• 19:42
  And I'm pretty sure I'd be really surprised to hear there's
• 19:46
  like bar rules
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: regarding double opt-in.
• 19:49
  Because double opt-in,
• 19:51
  that's,
• 19:52
  again,
• 19:52
  like a mechanical,
• 19:54
  it's not written down in any kind of
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: legal rule book that I can find regarding email marketing.
• 20:01
  Double opt-in was put forth by these email service providers to
• 20:08
  force businesses to
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: do something they should already be doing,
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: but it's too much.
• 20:14
  It's too much of a lift for a small business to get a double
• 20:17
  opt-in for every single person.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's just unrealistic.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: So,
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then we talk a lot of like the little for me,
• 20:28
  a little bit of irony here is I talk to a lot of legal
• 20:32
  marketers who are concerned
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: about email marketing,
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: concerned about text messages.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to violate any rules.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to do this.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: They don't want to do that.
• 20:41
  But I never hear marketers talking about what are the rules
• 20:45
  regarding telephone outreach and
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: And there are a lot.
• 20:49
  There are a lot of rules governing how we can do outreach by
• 20:54
  phone to potential clients.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: There are a ton.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: But...
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: It never comes up because picking up the phones,
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: returning calls is a core business necessity for law firms.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's how law firms make money.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so it never comes up a question of,
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: oh,
• 21:12
  do we have enough permission to return this person's phone call
• 21:16
  who contacted us
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: about a legal case?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 21:18
  That doesn't come up because if we didn't do it,
• 21:20
  these law firms wouldn't make money.
• 21:23
  And so there are more rules regarding that form of outreach
• 21:27
  than there are about
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: email marketing.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: So keep that in mind.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Keep that in mind when you're stressing about it.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: And with the rules, I can be a little flippant.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an outlaw, as I like to say.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, so I...
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not the type of person who's going to stress over,
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: is my email newsletter compliant?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the type of person who's going to say,
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: is my email newsletter going to get the results that I want?
• 21:59
  You know,
• 21:59
  is it going to speak to people in a way that represents the
• 22:02
  brand well?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the questions we should be asking.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily like, how do we adhere the rules to the best?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we don't need that.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: But we need to be asking, how do we be effective marketers?
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: And be familiar with this stuff.
• 22:17
  I'm going to provide you these links that I shared here in this
• 22:20
  live call.
• 22:22
  Look into the call,
• 22:23
  the rules regarding,
• 22:25
  you know,
• 22:25
  phone call outreach as well.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just eye opening.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then don't stress as much.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Send your email newsletter,
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: build your list,
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: add them to the marketing list,
• 22:36
  because unless there's a state or local legal marketing
• 22:41
  requirement that's
• 22:43
  10 times more strict than what the federal government requires,
• 22:46
  you're fine.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Don't stress that.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope you learned something today.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Next live session,
• 22:53
  I will schedule it and everyone will get an email when it's
• 22:57
  scheduled to go out.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of learning how to use this feature.
• 23:00
  If you have any comments or you want to ask me a question about
• 23:05
  anything you heard
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: on this video,
• 23:07
  send me an email,
• 23:08
  leave a chat or a comment on the video,
• 23:12
  and I'll answer it.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you guys so much.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to you soon.