How Many Laws am I Breaking Here?

[Matt Barrington]

Hey guys, help me out with your thoughts on this.

I've been affiliate marketing for a little while now, and I'm doing great! Things are going well, but I'm trying to treat this as my craft rather than just a hobby.

So in the spirit of improvement, I'm trying to expand my operation into the List building side of things. I know, I know, I should have been doing it all along, but I'm still learning, and doing it one step at a time.

So I noticed that in Clickbank, they have an option for me to email the people who bought products through my affiliate link. Now, if I copy those email addresses into a list and send them an email offering them my "Fantastic new Ezine absolutely free (Insert all sorts of cool sales copy here)" is that spamming? I don't do spam. I think it buillds weak businesses, and I want to build a STRONG business.

So, Demi-Gods of Web and Marketing, what do you think?

[Janet Sawyer]

Matt,

As a semi, demi, once or twice removed God, don't even think about it.
They are not your customers.
They don't even realise they purchased through your affiliate link.
You really don't have a right to their information and Clickbank shouldn't even make it available to you (or me on my account either)

They are keen on the VAT issue, but I don't know where their data protection registration number is listed, do you?

Clickbank try, but there are some things they have got horribly wrong.

I would never ever contact anyone who has purchased through my affiliate links, I really don't have the right to do so.

Regards from a mere mortal.

[George Wright]

Hi,
Why does CB make this info available. What do they say it's for. I did not know they made it available to affiliates.

Curious George Wright

[timpears]

I frankly can't see anything wrong with that. I can only speak from the perspective of the USA and what I understand of our laws. But as far as I understand it, you may only send commercial email to people that you have a relationship with. So, somehow or other, they were on a web page of yours and clicked your affiliate link. In my mind, that would give me a relationship of some kind.

Let me explain it from another perspective. You acted as a sales person for the product when they clicked your link. You got a commission from the sale. So if you look at it like that, you as the sales person are directly connected to the sale. If you had been a traveling salesman and called on a prospect, they would be your customer. I think that may be going a little too far, but I think it is similar.

In my book, Clickbank wouldn't give you access to that data if it was illegal. I would think you can do it, I will not say whether it is a good idea or not though. That I am just not sure about.

[Floyd Fisher]

Originally Posted by Matt Barrington

Hey guys, help me out with your thoughts on this.

I've been affiliate marketing for a little while now, and I'm doing great! Things are going well, but I'm trying to treat this as my craft rather than just a hobby.

So in the spirit of improvement, I'm trying to expand my operation into the List building side of things. I know, I know, I should have been doing it all along, but I'm still learning, and doing it one step at a time.

So I noticed that in Clickbank, they have an option for me to email the people who bought products through my affiliate link. Now, if I copy those email addresses into a list and send them an email offering them my "Fantastic new Ezine absolutely free (Insert all sorts of cool sales copy here)" is that spamming? I don't do spam. I think it buillds weak businesses, and I want to build a STRONG business.

So, Demi-Gods of Web and Marketing, what do you think?

Yes.

Here's how to do it right: When you reply to those people, make sure you advertise the ezine, and a signup url, in a signature line. You should be able to set that up so it goes out automatically with the email, if you need help, let me know and I'll guide you through it.

[sbucciarel]

They purchased a product through your affiliate link ... nothing more. They never agreed to allow you to send them email. A legal list is comprised of people who willingly opted in to receive your mail and then verified that they opted in. Anything else is inviting being reported for spamming.

[activetrader]

You are not allowed to send e-mails to anyone unless they have agreed to receive e-mails from you even if it's your own product they have bought

[pseudo]

Ask yourself a simple question: How would you feel if someone did what you propose to do, with your email address?

[Rachel Rofe]

You could always email them (not from an autoresponder), tell them you noticed that they purchased, thank them, and tell them you have more information if they're interested - then direct them to your opt in.

I certainly wouldn't want to let BUYING LEADS go that easily and I know as a customer, I wouldn't mind if someone gave me the option.

[kindsvater]

I disagree with a lot on this thread.

IMHO, Matt, you're not breaking a single law - assuming we're talking about US law and you're otherwise compliant with the CAN-SPAM law.

Someone said they're not you're customers. That's a big assumption. No one has seen your sales page or the merchant's page. Very likely, they are your customers AND the merchant's customers.

*** Ironically, the "merchant" is Clickbank. Clickbank is the retailer, what we normally consider the 'merchant' is just a wholesaler to Clickbank. Just read Clickbank's terms ***

If you have any concerns, include in your website terms that you reserve the right to send emails to anyone to makes a purchase as a result of one of your recommendations / affiliate links.

Someone said "You are not allowed to send e-mails to anyone unless they have agreed to receive e-mails from you even if it's your own product they have bought"

That is 100% false. A good example of why you should not be asking legal questions on any forum. CAN-SPAM does NOT prohibit unsolicited emails - it merely regulates them with required notices and opt-out provisions.

[Black Hat Cat]

Originally Posted by activetrader

You are not allowed to send e-mails to anyone unless they have agreed to receive e-mails from you even if it's your own product they have bought

Bzzzzt, wrong answer. Thank you for playing "Guess What Qualifies as SPAM".

[highprofitdi]

If you think you are in any way breaking or close to breaking any laws seek legal advice outside of the forum dont want to risk your business over some silly screw up.

[DennisM]

Hey Matt,

A couple of ways to handle this. First, put an opt-in form on the THANK YOU/DOWNLOAD page stating you'd like to add them to your newsletter.

Another option is again, to have the opt-in form on the "download" page but offer a FREE "leaked" chapter of your next product, a bonus chapter of the download product or even create a simple webcam video talking about the product the customer just purchased. The catch is, of course, they must OPT-IN to get this bonus. This is nice, sneaky way to build a list to sell to forever. :-)

What's great about this is you'll know if you're getting ripped off from an affiliate because you'll get e-mail opt-ins for this "bonus" which can then be cross referenced with your monthly commission report. If the customer that requested the bonus is not on the commission report then you didn't get paid.

To recap, put an opt-in form on the download page. My testing has proven that the "bonus" relate to the product the customer JUST PURCHASED converts much better. Just use double opt-in to be safe.

Hope this helps,
Dennis

[greff]

You can send email to anyone you like. You can put them on your list if you like.

But you must be ready to withstand the punishment, like you could get dropped from your website hosting account.

I would steer clear of this one.