| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Legality of sending unsolicited marketing e-mails Thread poster: Sarah Port
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Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 18:01
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Giving a business card versus listing in a directory | Sep 25, 2012 |
What counted in the defendant's favour was that he mentioned the business card in his e-mail, as well as the context in which the business card was given to him. From that information it was clear that the business card owner had given permission to be contacted by the defendant.
It is important to note that this does not apply to being listed (even voluntarily) in a business directory. Firstly, you don't always have control over whether you are listed in a business directory, and secondly, the purpose of being listed in such a directory is often to attract clients, and not invitations to become a client. So the fact that an agency is listed in the Blue Board or in ProZ.com's directories (even if they put their own entry there) is not consent (or an invitation) by itself to be contacted by freelance translators. For this reason it is still important to visit the web sites of agencies in such a directory, to see if they truly want to receive offers of assistance.
This was a case about a sales person sending the same email to 13 (thirteen) people who had given him their business card at the SIMO, an IT trade show in Madrid.
Yes, if I understand the report correctly (via Google Translate), the fact that he sent only 13 and not "many" e-mails also counted in his favour. The key was not that the e-mails were targeted or personalised, but that they were not many. Unfortunately the court did not define "many" for us.
| | | | | The safest way | Sep 25, 2012 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
Translator agencies' "careers/jobs" pages often invite service providers to contact them, so as long as you mention the URL of the page that invites the solicitation, the e-mail should not be construed as unsolicited.
Imagine that your unsolicited e-mail campaign worked at its best. You e-mailed a modest list of 1,000 agencies, and got a 3% response (a feasible, yet excellent return rate). You suddenly have 30 translation jobs, each one involving an average of 3,000 words with a very generous deadline: one week.
Can you translate 90,000 words in 30 unrelated jobs in a week?
IMHO a better option takes time and effort, however it really pays off on the long run. Go to the Blue Board, open each agency's profile, and check what translators say about them. Then go to their web site (there is usually a "Go" link there) and check it out.
A few things may lead you to refrain from applying:- They don't exist any more (their web site URL is dead)
- Despicably low WWAs (what's the point of working for free?)
- Translators praise their promptness in paying, however some/many comment on their low rates (unless your rates are low too)
- Their stated payment term is longer than the maximum you'd accept
- They specialize exclusively in languages you don't offer
- They specialize exclusively in subject areas/services (e.g. sworn, video) you don't cover
- They don't invite new translators to join them (and some expressly say they don't want any)
- They require as an absolute must something you don't have (Trados is the #1 most typical requirement here)
- ... other criteria you'll discover as you go.
Then search their web site for the page where they welcome translator applications. You'll find basically three types:
a) An online form for you to fill in. Supposedly it feeds a database that will make your record come up whenever a PM there queries your language pair and specialty subject area.
b) An invitation to send them your CV, often with a list of essential requirements. When you e-mail them, make sure to mention all these requirements, and to what extent you fulfill them.
c) A package of documents for you to download, fill in, and e-mail back to them.
If any of these seems too taxing, or too invasive on your privacy, simply give up. You don't want to work for such pesky people.
Some online forms won't upload unless you provide three references. Watch out! More often then not this is an automated client e-poaching robot. As soon as you submit their e-mails, your best clients will be automatically spammed to the tune of Whatever this jerk (your name, taken from the very same e-form) does for you, we can do it better, faster, and cheaper!.
In such cases, I fill in the references' e-mail field (the robot WILL check them for a valid e-mail before allowing upload) as "none @ zilch.net". The automated spam will bounce. In the other required fields, I put "Please see , my page on why I don't provide references.
Quite frankly, such slick scheme shows their desperation to find some work, a telltale sign that they won't have any for you.
Finally, have patience to wait. Translation is an end-customer-driven market. As a translator, you are at the opposite end of the supply chain. Yet all this effort will make translation outsourcers aware of your existence, and what you have to offer. On the long run, whenever you match their needs, they'll be contacting you.
From my experience, this offers you a much better chance to gradually acquire about one or two dozen frequent clients from, say, some 300-400 such applications, than sending 3-4 thousand e-mails at random.
It's not a matter of being legal, but an effectiveness issue. If you find, say, umpteen countries where it's perfectly legal to spam translation agencies, what do you gain from doing it?
My 2¢.
| | | | | Unsolicited vs unsolicited | Sep 26, 2012 |
Hi Sarah,
I am not sure about the legal concerns so I'll keep away from commenting that - but what you want to do is send your CV to translation companies offering your services, right?
As a PM, all I can tell you is, if your emails are customized to a minimum (dear "name of the person" instead of "Hello", for example) and that you just send it once, this is not spamming... See more Hi Sarah,
I am not sure about the legal concerns so I'll keep away from commenting that - but what you want to do is send your CV to translation companies offering your services, right?
As a PM, all I can tell you is, if your emails are customized to a minimum (dear "name of the person" instead of "Hello", for example) and that you just send it once, this is not spamming in the non-legal sense of the word. Here is an example of spamming (still in the non-legal sense).
Again this is probably not answering your questions on legality but regardless of this there are other ways of being seen as a spammer. I receive so many marketing e-mails daily, I really have better things to do than check that those emails are legal and sue if they are not, and this is probably the case for 95% of your recipient. But that should not prevent you from being respectful and more importantly, not having a spammer attitude
My two pences
Good luck!
Anne
[Edited for typo)
[Edited at 2012-09-26 08:17 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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