Supermarket giant, Morrisons, is the latest household name that has been subject to fines due to breaking e-mail marketing laws. The company has been fined over £10,000 for sending thousands of marketing e-mails to customers who said they didn't want them. Consumers have long been protected with e-mail marketing legislation, however, B2B marketers will now have to be more careful too.

Laura England, account executive.

In compliance with new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules, both B2B and B2C marketers must now be able to prove that all recipients on e-mail marketing lists have agreed to be contacted with marketing materials via e-mail.

Earlier this summer, Honda and Flybe were fined for attempting to find loopholes in the law. Ironically, Flybe sent more than 3.3 million e-mails asking customers to update their marketing preferences to allow them to send marketing e-mails to their address. You could argue that the e-mails were sent to ensure their customer data was held in compliance with the new GDPR ruling, but in doing so, Flybe broke the regulation.

"The company deliberately contacted people who had already opted out of e-mails from them," explained Steve Eckersley, head of enforcement at the Information Commissioners Office. "Businesses must understand that they can't break one law to get ready for another."

With some high-profile businesses facing fines, many smaller organisations that use e-mail marketing are becoming much more cautious. If you use e-mail as part of your marketing efforts, or you were planning on exploring the practice, get in touch with the experts at Stone Junction to ensure you are not breaking any laws.

We've been delivering e-mail marketing campaigns for over a decade and our team of experts are hot on the tail of the changing laws, regulations and best practice methods regarding e-mail marketing. Let us do the research, so you don't have to. Call us on 01785 225416 or send us a message at sayhello@stonejunction.co.uk.