Do you use email marketing as part of your marketing communications? So many companies are now using it to communicate with existing customers and prospects. There are so many benefits to email marketing, the main ones being:.
- Super low cost
- Super fast
- Super flexible
- Super instant reporting and analysis
So email marketing really is super. But do you know what isn’t so super? Being given a £1000 fine for not complying with the Companies Act 1985. Now I bet you’re thinking “1985?! Email wasn’t even around in 1985, how can there be legislation made up about something that didn’t even (commercially) exist!?”. Well the Companies Act 1985 has been updated on a regular basis I’m afraid, and was last updated in June 2010.
Companies Act 1985 and Email Marketing:
If your business is a private or public limited company or a Limited Liability Partnership, the Companies Act 1985 requires all of your business emails to include the following details in legible characters:
- Your company’s registered name (e.g. XYZ Ltd)
- Your company registration number;
- Your place of registration (e.g. Scotland or England & Wales); and
- Your registered office address
This information should also appear on letterheads, forms and your website.
It is not enough to just have this as a link in your email, pointing to the relevant page on your website. You must include something like:
Super Organisation Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales. Registered number: 1234567. Registered office: Super House, 21 Super Street, London, SE1 1AA.
The fine is enforced by Trading Standards and can also come with a £300 a day fine for each day you do not rectify the situation.
If you aren’t email marketing at the moment, but want to find out more about it, get in touch with us – call 023 8083 7271 or email info@SMEketing.com. We have a fully comprehensive email marketing tool – read this blog post for more details, or visit our Email Marketing services page.
Crikey! I didn’t realise this was actually something you had to add to emails and websites. I’ll get this added to my email footer asap!
Thanks for the advice.