As email marketing continues to grow, becoming a significant element in the marketing mix, the Email Marketing Council has addressed a wide range of issues which could hinder the development of the medium and prevent it achieving its full potential.

Following the UK's implementation of the EU Privacy & Electronic Communications Directive in December 2003, the Email Marketing Council focused on developing best practice guidelines for the industry. The Guidelines were submitted for comment by the industry in June 2004 and have now been reviewed by the Information Commissioner who provides a foreword.

Spam is undoubtedly the issue of most concern to the industry. The DMA Secretariat and the Email Marketing Council have contributed to several international fora and are taking an active part in the DTI's Anti-spam initiative, which seeks to track down the companies that are having such a devastating effect on the industry.

The Council has also engaged with the internet service providers (ISPs) to address spam and email delivery issues. LINX (London Internet Exchange), which is a mutual organisation with around 150 members, including all the major UK ISPs, have joined forces with the DMA to set up a working party to consider how to combat spam. The DMA publicly supported the LINX initiative, announced in August 2004, to get tough on spammers by shutting down the websites of companies engaged in spam activity. The DMA also supports the LINX call to all ISPs to close websites used to sell spam tools, such as CD-ROMs, containing millions of illegally collected email addresses.

The Council has considered ways in which legitimate email can be guaranteed delivery. Currently, it is estimated that around 25% of all bulk email is not delivered. A postal fee and various mechanisms to create white lists are under consideration.

The Council has joined with TANK! to conduct the first UK research to establish valid email marketing response rates for the industry. The results will be published towards the end of 2004.

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If you work in this sector and have any concerns or queries, please contact the Council - they may well have the answers you need.