To ADV or not to ADV, That IS The Question!
We get this question quite a bit. It’s about the <ADV> Tag that marketers are required by law to add to their marketing emails.
Here’s the short version:
Subject: <ADV> Then comes your subject line
You must use this tag when you are sending unsolicited commercial email to businesses and individuals in Singapore. Unsolicited may mean the recipient may know of you, have given you their business card or email contact before, but did not specifically ask to be on your mailing list.
Now the longer version
The main confusion comes in the way we define unsolicited commercial email and how marketers should deal with the grey areas of whether to <ADV> or not to <ADV>.
Let’s first look at bad practices in using the <ADV> tag.
There is only ONE flavour of the tag that the law recognises:
Subject: <ADV> All Caps, Add the Triangular Brackets Before and After, Add a Space, then your Subject Line
These very creative variations do not make the mark:
- ADV
- adv
- <adv>
- <A D V>
- <Adv>
- <ADv>
- <A.D.V.>
- (ADV)
- [ADV]
- (adv)
The only one that the law recognises is:
- <ADV>
Now the BIG Question: When MUST We Use It, When Can We Omit It and When Is It Optional?
MUST USE <ADV>
The situation where it is a must have is when the email is completely Unsolicited, there is no prior business relationship and that person has otherwise not given his or her explicit consent to receive your messages.
Add the <ADV> and then seek the recipients’ permission to mail them more valuable emails if they choose to OPT IN.
CASE STUDY 1
The classic case: Businessman Tom has been in business for 5 years now and he’s got a chunky business card holder in his drawer. He decides to use email to make even more money for his business, so he asks an assistant to complete the data entry of all the business cards and email contacts. He then proceeds to send them an email. The problem is, Tom doesn’t know all the people in his business card file personally. Some of them were acquaintances, friends, friends of friends, ex-colleagues moving to new opportunities, and a small handful of them were previous and current clients.
The first time he sent them an email, he received a terrible backlash and a loss of over 20 hours in productivity responding to “Who are you?” messages and some rather nasty “stop sending me **** or else…” emails. He did get one or two responses thanking him for the update, saying they would keep him in mind if they were considering a purchase.
The Solution: Tom should add the <ADV> tag to his email as most of the people on his list did not sign up for his email newsletter. They also did not give consent or have a prior business relationship to want to receive his emails. Tom can also add a tiny line at the end to say that the person is receiving the email because: 1) he may know Tom, 2) he may need Tom’s services, or 3) he may be in line for a referral reward if he can recommend Tom some new business. Either way, since nobody said they wanted to be on Tom’s email list, then Tom’s best best is to use the <ADV> tag and offer an unsubscribe link in the email from the start.
Case Study 2:
There could be another situation where although the company and the email recipient have a business relationship, there was never a time the company openly asked for permission to send them newsletters and promotional emails.
This is very obvious in all our locally based banks in their email newsletters. Since every bank has made an effort to collect email addresses to keep your information up to date, they have also found that if you have some money sitting in your bank, perhaps you will consider putting more money in, getting a credit card or even consider investing some of that money in higher earning investment vehicles. They start sending you a newsletter, but the technical issue is that although they did ASK for your email, they did not say they will be including you in all the newsletter that the bank produces.
Subscribers end up getting very upset that the bank they’ve been using for 10 years and after updating their email 3 years ago have suddenly started receiving 2-3 emails per month since 2 months ago.
The Solution: Many of the banks now use the <ADV> tag in all their email newsletters to avoid the hassle of going back to each account holder to ask for permission to mail. The alternative is to ask and risk losing over 50% of the database due to indifference and those not knowing what to do to remain subscribed to the newsletter.
OPTIONAL TO USE <ADV>
There are some conditional clauses that allow the optional use of the <ADV> tag. These include people who have an active relationship with the company or business that is emailing them. It also includes those where prior consent was given to contact them on promotional and seasonal offers, or to be included in an updates list. The company may also already be sending a physical newsletter to the subscribers, and now have moved to offer an online version to save some money and save the Earth too.
Case Study 3:
A retailer has been collecting customer information for years and been sending them Christmas cards and in the last 3 years, started a monthly printed newsletter that is mailed to all his loyal customers. Most of his customers are regulars and do repeat business with him on an average of 3 times a year.
Now that he has decided to start an email newsletter, he wishes to convert most, if not all his customers to the online version of his newsletter.
He sends them a letter to announce that the printed newsletter will be discontinued from the next issue, but customers who do not have their email addresses with the store can either update their email contacts or pick up a personal copy in the store.
Since he has an active relationship with his customers, and they have been receiving his newsletter for some time now, it is safe to assume that he has already gotten permission to email them.
However, the first time he email his customers, there was a flurry of responses that asked why he was sending email to that address, for people asking to be unsubscribed and even, a confused husband wondering who’s been using his email address to sign up for a women’s clothing store. This led the retailer to become very uncertain about sending his 2nd issue of the email newsletter.
The Solution: While the retailer has indeed been keeping close contact with his customers via mail, he must understand that communicating via email might be a new channel of communication for some of his customers. It’s true that not everyone gives out their personal email addresses (for fear of getting spammed) or simply because they might have forgotten their email address. To be safe, until it’s been established that the majority of the email recipients are keen to receive the email newsletter, he should use the <ADV> tag.
Another way is to start informing customers to expect an email and that if they wish, they could unsubscribe immediately and never receive another email from the store. Respecting customers and their privacy alerts them to the retail store’s fair practices and encourages them to respond more favourably to future email contact. When the trust is there, the <ADV> tag may be omitted as there’s a current and active business relationship.
No Need to Use <ADV>
You may have been waiting for this part for quite a while now.
Just think about it: Your best friend just received news that will save you 50% off your airfare for your next vacation and simply loves to share Good Stuff with you.
Wouldn’t it be strange if the email started like this:
Subject: <ADV> Bob, you can’t afford to miss this deal (50% off airfare)
Surely, your years of relationship means you would willing agree to receive his emails, and that you already trust your BEST Friend, and that you may honestly want to learn more about that promotion.
That’s the fundamental basis of reasons why you may not need to use the <ADV> tag.
Case Study 4
Eunice is a successful florists. She has a nice website and all her regular clients sign up online to receive a reminder near major holidays and special occasions so they can order a bouquet for their loved ones. When they sign up, they agree to receive all email updates and communications including promotions and newsletters.
Eunice’s clients love her newsletters which are colourful and always pack some great ideas on how to woo a girlfriend or to dazzle your wife. Yes, even some really touching stories around Mother’s Day gets a tearful eye or two. Once, she was away for a long holiday and her clients emailed to ask why they did not receive that month’s email newsletter. They showed their concern to ask if something was wrong.
Eunice has recently automated her email newsletter scheduling and reminders. She batches all her work so she only needs to pop in once or twice a month to see how things are going, and then she’s off doing what she does best: creating even more fantastic floral bouquets. She wonders if she needs to use the <ADV> tag in her email newsletter (since the law came into effect only last year).
The Solution: No need to use the <ADV> tag. All of Eunice’s clients signed up via the website to receive more information and to use her email reminder service. Since they entered the email addresses themselves and read the terms before sending in their forms, they have given their consent to receive the email newsletters. They also trust Eunice and love receiving her latest newsletters. The newsletter is also a great source of repeat business for Eunice and the emails that she sends now are personalised to each person’s name and email. All her clients wonder how Eunice manages to find the time to send each newsletter and hand crafted email individually to them. They want the emails and miss it when it’s not available.
Here’s where you want to be… eventually
The cases where you DO NOT NEED to add the <ADV> tag are as follows:
- Your subscriber knowingly gave you permission to email them when they gave you their email address. This can be a checkbox in a customer sign up form, or agreeing to the terms and conditions of your store membership (which includes allowing all email and phone contact) when they got their discount card.
- Your customers signed up on your website to receive your newsletter and email updates.
- Your customers asked for you to email them more information about a product, items they have purchased and specifically to notify them when more products are in the store.
- Your subscribers were imported to an email list, but the first email they received was an email that asked them to confirm that they wanted to receive more emails from the store, and you only mailed those who clicked the link to confirm their intention.
- You turned up at an event and with every business card you received, you asked for permission to add them to your regular newsletter list and they all agreed.
The three determinants to whether you can fully omit the use of the <ADV> tag is really:
- Is there a prior relationship with the business?
- Does the recipient feel the emails are relevant to him or her?
- Was prior consent given (ideally online) to receive your messages?
If the answer to all 3 is a resounding YES, then it’s okay to omit the <ADV> tag and just include the company contact information and unsubscribe link in the footer. Remember, the more you respect the email recipients and their privacy, the more they will come to respect and trust you more.
Contact us if you wish to share your email marketing challenge or are looking for automated solutions to manage your email marketing campaigns.