Marketing activity

Your co-op is likely to engage in marketing activity – where this marketing and promotion is to named or specific individuals it is referred to as ‘direct marketing’.  

Whether you are marketing your co-op’s products and services, campaigns or membership there are restrictions to marketing using electronic means (as opposed to by post).   

Marketing via email, SMS or automated phone calls to individuals requires their prior consent; you must have proof that the individual consented by means of an ‘opt-in’, you cannot use a pre-ticked or ‘opt-out’ consent box.  

There are two exceptions to this general rule – firstly if you are marketing to existing customers and secondly in relation to business-to-business marketing.  

You do not have to obtain consent to marketing via electronic means if the recipient is an existing customer and you are using the email address/phone number they provided during a previous transaction to market similar products, services or campaigns offered by your co-op to the ones they previously bought. You must, however, give them the option of stopping you sending further marketing materials. 

The second exception reflects the fact that the rules for business-to-business marketing are less strict. If you’re emailing a corporate entity/business or a contact within a business on an email address that has a corporate domain (eg @uk.coop) the only requirements are that you identify the organisation sending the email and include a simple way to opt-out of future marketing emails.  

In all cases, when a person has opted-out or clicked ‘unsubscribe’ you must stop sending marketing communications. You should consider which of your communications are marketing and which are necessary for fulfilling your legal obligations to your members (for example issuing notices for general meetings and election communications). 

Sending marketing material by post and telephone (non-automated calls) is less restricted. You should cross reference the names and addresses against the Mail Preference Service or Telephone Preference Service to check whether the individuals have stated they do not want to receive marketing. Similarly to emails, the sender of the marketing by post must display their name and contact details to enable the recipient to opt out. Marketing by telephone should always display a telephone number to allow the recipient to reply.