ANTI-SPAM POLICY

Spam is classified as an email you send to someone who has not given you their direct permission to contact them on the topic of the email.Permission is a word open to interpretation so let’s get into some precise scenarios so you are clear on what does and does not constitute permission.

Who can I email with Vtech?

To send email via Vtech to anyone, you must have clearly obtained their permission. This can be done through the following means:

  • A “subscribe to our newsletter” form on your website
  • An opt-in checkboxwhich the person willingly selects to indicate they want to hear from you. Checkboxes which are checked by default do not apply.
  • If someone enters a competition or completes an offline form, you can only contact them if it was explainedto them that you would be contacting them by email AND they ticked a box indicating they would like you to contact them.
  • Customers who have purchasedfrom you within the last 2 years.
  • If someone gives you their business card and you have explicitly asked for permission to add them to your list, you can contact them. If they dropped their business card in a competition bowl, there must have been a sign indicating they will be contacted by email about that specific topic.

In summary, you are only permitted to email someone who has clearly given you permission to email them precisely about the subject you’re contacting them about.

With Vtech, which email addresses ARE NOT OK to send to?

Here are some examples to make sure we’re crystal clear, but anything outside the examples listed above doesn’t equal permission in our eyes. By using Vtech, you agree not to import or send to any email address which:

  • You do not have explicit, provable permissionto contact in relation to the topic of the email you’re sending.
  • You bought, loaned, rentedor in any way acquired from a third party, no matter what they claim about quality or permission. You need to obtain permission yourself.
  • You haven’t contacted via email in the last 2 years. Permission doesn’t age well and these people have either changed email address or won’t remember giving their permissionin the first place.
  • You scraped or copy and pastedfrom the web. Just because people publish their email address doesn’t mean they want to hear from you.

Some people might have given you their email address, but you are still required to have their permission to receive commercial messages. Sending promotional emails to people who haven’t opted-in won’t be effective and will more than likely see your email marked as spam by many of your recipients.

Vtech inserts default unsubscribe links

Vtech includes a single-click unsubscribe link which will instantly remove the subscriber from your list. Once a recipient has unsubscribed, you will not be able to email them again.

Vtech monitors compliance with anti-spam policy

Vtech has numerous layers of approval and monitoring to ensure you comply with our anti-spam policy. Here’s a few of them:

  • Until your account has been approved by a member of our team, every email you sendmay need to be approved before it is released for delivery. Our software is directly integrated into the spam reporting systems for the biggest ISP’s like Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL. If you receive a complaint rate greater than 0.3% of all recipients (that’s 30 complaints for every 10,000 recipients) you will receive a warning email requesting an explanation and giving you advice. False spam reports are taken into account with this generous figure.  Higher levels of complaints will result in accounts being locked or terminated.
  • All large distribution listsimported into our software are verified by our team.  Until we’ve given it the all clear, you may not be able to send to it.
  • Blacklists and our abuse accounts are monitoredall day every day. It is easy for Vtech to pinpoint who is causing us delivery problems or attracting complaints.

Your account will be terminated immediately should we discover you are sending unsolicited emails. At Vtech, we take permission very seriously. By creating an account and agreeing to our Terms of Use, you are also agreeing to this anti-spam policy. Should you wish to report spamming activity by one of our customers, or you would like more information regarding our Anti-Spam Policy, please contact our abuse department at: abuse@vtechnol.co.za