Key takeaways
- Buying data is rarely the legal issue. How you contact people is.
- Email, calls and texts each have different rules.
- Honor opt-outs quickly and keep a suppression list.
What to do
- Know where your prospects are. The rules follow the recipient's location, not yours.
- Pick the channel deliberately. Manually dialed calls and one-to-one emails to business contacts carry the least risk in the US. Scrub numbers against the National Do-Not-Call Registry and your own do-not-call list before calling or texting.
- Keep a suppression list. Record every opt-out and do-not-call request and never contact that person again from any list.
- Ask your provider the hard questions. Where does the data come from, how do people opt out, and how quickly are removals applied?
| Region | Main rules | In short |
|---|---|---|
| United States | CAN-SPAM, TCPA, state privacy laws | Opt-out model for email, consent for automated calls and texts |
| European Union and UK | GDPR, ePrivacy rules | Needs a lawful basis, stricter for email marketing |
| Canada | CASL | Consent-based, with narrow exceptions |
What to know
For US email, the CAN-SPAM Act requires accurate sender information, a subject line that is not deceptive, a valid physical postal address, a clear way to opt out and prompt handling of opt-out requests.
For US phone outreach, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act restricts automated and prerecorded calls and texts to mobile phones without consent. The National Do-Not-Call Registry protects residential numbers, mobiles on the registry are presumed residential, and do-not-call rules cover marketing texts as well as calls. Some states go further. Scrub numbers against the National Do-Not-Call Registry and your own do-not-call list before calling or texting.
State privacy laws such as California's give people rights over their personal information, including the right to opt out of its sale. Reputable data providers offer an opt-out process and honor deletion requests.
This page is general information to help you ask better questions. It is not legal advice, and the rules change. Talk to a lawyer about your specific use.
