Email may be the top online activity and sales channel, but all email is not created equal. Strong prior consent from subscribers continues to be the foundation for ethical email communication that gets positive results. This month, permission email as we know it today turns 25. L-Soft Founder and CEO Eric Thomas invented LISTSERV, the original email list manager, in 1986 and added the subscription confirmation feature, also known as double opt-in, to the version released on March 15th, 1993. This strengthened recipient consent and launched permission email, which remains the industry gold standard. Informing and empowering subscribers is key. This image shows some of the main hallmarks of permission email. Please feel welcome to share it on social media using the icons below. Compliance with consent, authentication and data privacy requirements including the EU GDPR, for which enforcement begins May 25th, 2018, is now in major focus for digital marketers and communicators. Confirmed permission from recipients is fundamental, so keep these three keywords as top priorities: • Explicit: Ask your subscribers to actively give their consent, and don't do the work for them • Specific: State the purpose of the email list clearly, and deliver what you promise • Confirmed: Ensure your subscribers reconfirm that they initiated the subscription request to receive your messages in the future (confirmed opt-in/double opt-in) Watch one-minute video on key email best practices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqD9mmqueGU Learn more about new consent, data privacy and authentication requirements: http://www.lsoft.com/news/regandleg-issue1-2018.asp Read article on permission email:: http://www.lsoft.com/news/permission-issue5-2017.asp Thank you for being an EmailRules subscriber and Happy Emailing! ######################################################################## EmailRules - A LISTSERV Blog for Email Communicators View Blog: http://www.lsoft.com/blog Unsubscribe: &*TICKET_URL(EMAILRULES,SIGNOFF); Contact the EmailRules list facilitators at: [log in to unmask]