Is sending emails to potential customers for my side project legal?
Hi,
I have a list of 17,000 emails that I would like to contact, to pitch my side-project and see if they would be interested in trying it. Is that considered spam?
I was looking at https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business and cannot really decide if my use case is considered commercial.
I am located in the US (SoCal, posted on here before).
I can maybe show the content of the email if it helps.
I didn't buy that list of emails, they are contacts of schools in California. I found that list on http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/si/ds/pubschls.asp so it is public knowledge.
Thanks,
Jeremy
The answer often depends on where your recipients are located and which privacy or anti-spam laws apply. Beyond legal compliance, it's also worth asking whether the outreach is transparent, relevant, and gives recipients an easy way to opt out. Good compliance and good customer experience often go hand in hand.
I'm a strong advocate of sending cold emails as a way of kickstarting your startup, but it's something that should be done carefully.
I'm not a lawyer, so I won't comment on the legality of what you want to do. But I do believe that sending a mass email to thousands of people who haven't opted in would be considered spam by most, and rightfully so. (If that's not spam, what is?)
With Indie Hackers, I sent probably 140 cold emails to get my initial 15 or so interviews, and each and every email was directed at a specific individual who I'd researched beforehand. As a result, I was able to do a good job tailoring each message, which made them much more effective in aggregate.
Not only do your recipients respond at higher rates when you put more effort into these emails, but you learn a lot more about your customers via your preliminary research and the subsequent conversations. This puts you in a better position to build a successful business.
I've seen similar stories from others. For example, Jason Grishkoff spent 4 months sending 1000 handcrafted emails to get his initial customers onto SubmitHub.
Yes, so far I sent 200 emails, but I am considering just narrowing down the people I contact to local schools, that I could even visit in person. I guess I am still thinking that the broader the audience, the more likely they will sign up, but quantity !-= quality. I just need 10 recurring schools using it to still move on with that project.
Thanks @csallen for the answer!
Kind of makes me wonder about a service that scrapes the internet of people and their "personal data" which can then be used to send "tailored" emails that seem to be aimed at them specifically. I mean if their data is on public sites like Twitter and what not and you see trends on their likes/subscriptions... that could be used right? Assuming you had a matching email address.
There's probably ToS on using site's user data. Doesn't stop debt collectors.
This comment was deleted 8 years ago