VerticalResponse Introduces Email Registry Compliance Program

Email marketer’s new service ensures compliance with state Child Protection Laws and “Do Not Email” registries.

San Francisco, CA – Dec. 7, 2005 – VerticalResponse, Inc. introduced its Registry Compliance Program today, enabling legitimate email marketers to easily comply with recent state laws passed in Utah and Michigan covering email communication to minors.  These registries were created to protect children from receiving emails that promote products or services that are restricted to minors due to their age.  In response to the new legislation, VerticalResponse created the Registry Compliance Program to ensure that clients are protected when sending email campaigns to residents of Utah, Michigan and additional states that may adopt similar measures in the future.

In Utah and Michigan, parents and guardians can add minors’ email addresses to a registry, which then acts as a “Do Not Email” list for that specific state.  Entire email domains belonging to schools or other organizations can also be added to the registry.  The Vertical Response Registry Compliance Program offers a data scrubbing service that reconciles subscribers’ email lists against the registries on a monthly basis.  Matches that are found within the registries will be blocked so they can’t be mailed from the designated VerticalResponse account, ensuring compliance with the state laws .  Since VerticalResponse manages set-up and program maintenance, clients who join the Program can focus on core business tasks rather than time-consuming compliance concerns.

“The VerticalResponse Compliance Program serves the dual purpose of helping to uphold consumer protection laws passed on the state level while ensuring our clients can comply with all relevant legislation in a pain-free, cost-effective manner,” said VerticalResponse CEO Janine Popick.

All VerticalResponse clients are eligible and may join the Program to have their email lists scrubbed against the registries on a monthly basis, but the service is of special benefit to companies that advertise products and services that are restricted to minors, a list including but not limited to:

• Alcohol
• Tobacco
• Firearms
• Gambling
• Matchmaking sites
• Adult content

Content that is less obviously targeted, but could also be impacted by the legislation includes:

• Financial services
• Credit cards
• Automobile sales/rentals
• Pharmaceuticals
• Any good or service that is a prohibited or restricted use item for a minor

As a general rule, VerticalResponse’s Terms and Conditions prohibit the sending of campaigns that promote adult content, but many legitimate verticals, such as the wine industry, fall squarely under the terms of the new legislation, while others, such as financial services, occupy a gray area. Since the laws went into effect on July 1, 2005 and are subject to current legal challenges, it is not clear how enforcement efforts will proceed.  VerticalResponse encourages all clients, partners and other interested parties to consult with their own legal advisers for further interpretation.

About VerticalResponse

VerticalResponse, Inc. ( http://www.verticalresponse.com) is a leading provider of self-service email and direct mail services empowering businesses of all sizes to create, manage and assess their own direct marketing campaigns. VerticalResponse’s flagship product, which allows customers to deliver sophisticated yet easily deployed email campaigns, is the most intuitive and affordable Web-based direct marketing solution available. VerticalResponse is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For additional information, please visit www.verticalresponse.com.