What is Benchmark Email’s permission policy for contact lists?

General Questions Updated on May 10, 2021

Benchmark Email requires that all lists uploaded are opt-in lists. This means that subscribers have given you direct permission to contact them via email. We will require that you fill out a Permission Confirmation Checklist for every list that you upload into your Benchmark Email account.

A Permission Confirmation Checklist is a list of boxes you must check to make certain that you’re following good email practices. You must read the list carefully and make sure you can check all the boxes honestly before you import any lists to our system. A copy of that check list is provided below:

• My list is permission-based When you check this box, you’re affirming that every person on your contact list has given you permission to contact them via email.
• My list is not a purchased list This item assures us that you didn’t buy or rent your complete list of email addresses – or any of the individual contacts on your list.
• My list does not contain distribution email addresses This checked box tells us that each email on your list only goes to one person, not a group or more than one person at a time.
• My list does not contained captured email addresses This last point makes certain that you got explicit permission from your contacts to email them, instead of simply “scraping” or copying visible email addresses from websites.

If you cannot honestly check all of these boxes, you cannot upload or use your list with our system. If you check any of the boxes, even though you know you can’t back up your claims, you’ll violate our anti-spam policy, which means your account will be terminated immediately.

By making sure each and every customer follows our permission rules, we are able to keep our delivery rates high – a necessity for any successful email campaign.