What Gibboo does not allow

Gibboo does not permit the use of purchased, rented or third-party lists. Like many other reputable Email Service Providers, in order to make sure that emails from our system are well received by Internet Service Providers and therefore arrive in recipients' in-boxes without being diverted or falling into spam traps (which could have a detrimental knock-on effect on all other users), we require all users to confirm when uploading their contact files that they are using only permission-based lists, as set out in our Terms and Conditions.

Gibboo does not allow:

Purchased lists even when their email addressees have 'opted-in' to receiving unsolicited mailshots from third-party marketers.
Rented lists however certain the list owner is about the legitimacy of the addresses, and about the fact that all have opted in to receive emails from other parties. If you wish to communicate with those email addresses, the host may be able to send an email from his account on his own email system.
Third-party lists (such as a membership list of a special-interest group to which you belong, but for which you are not the administrator or 'data controller').

What Gibboo does to help you keep on the straight and narrow

Because of the many potential pitfalls you can encounter when doing email marketing, Gibboo helps you at every turn, making it as easy as possible for you to stay within the law and at the same time observe best practice. For example, Gibboo:

Automatically produces a confirmation email following a website sign-up, which when activated ensures a validated 'double-opt-in' account - the most secure permission-based contact.
Automatically deletes any 'hard bounce' email addresses, that is invalid email addresses or addresses that have been turned off because the account has been cancelled; these 'unknown user' accounts are sometimes converted into 'spam traps', which serve to catch spam senders, but may trap unwary email marketers who have not cleaned out their contact lists for some time, for example. It has been estimated that the presence of just one spam trap can drop email deliverability by over 50%, and could result in you being blacklisted.
Automatically deletes after three tries all 'soft bounce' email addresses, that is those recipients whose mailbox may be full or inactive, whose mail server may be temporarily down or the connection may have been broken.
Automatically enables your email to come from an authenticated source, so that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can be assured that your email is coming from a reputable IP address or domain, and is therefore unlikely to be spam. This greatly helps delivery. For the technically minded, all the emails sent on this system have the highest level of IP-based and cryptographic validation: DKIM, Domain Keys, SPF and Sender ID.
Automatically checks the content of emails to ensure that nothing could inadvertently be classed as spam by the leading ISPs, which could result in blocking and blacklisting; if such content is detected, the system will refuse to send the email.
Automatically includes all required information such as company registration number and address in email footers.
Automatically includes an easy-to-find 'unsubscribe' link for recipients to click if they no longer wish to receive emails from you (which is required by UK, EU and other international legislation, including the USA's Can-Spam act). The 'unsubscribed' lists are then filed, and emails are not able to be sent from the system to those addresses again.
Automatically includes a 'report spam' link so that recipients can report if they consider that an emailer has abused the system by sending out spam (officially referred to as an 'unsolicited bulk email'). Robust anti-spam measures will improve the delivery rates for legitimate emailers.

What all email marketers should know

The subject of mail marketing has a number of issues of which one needs to be aware before embarking on an email campaign - both legal and practical. For example, if you store a file of contacts' names and addresses - in a box, on your computer, or on a Contact Management System like this one - you will probably need to register as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998.
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You will also need to have a privacy policy, setting out how you deal with the information you hold, and you should ideally post a 'Privacy Notice' link to this on your website. Guidelines on how to prepare a Privacy Notice are produced by the Information Commissioner's Office.
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If you carry out email marketing, you will need to comply with the Privacy and Electronic Marketing (EU Regulations) 2003. Guidelines to this are also produced by the ICO.
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If you send email marketing communications to countries outside the UK, you will need to comply with the appropriate legislation - such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the USA. Guidelines to this are produced by The Federal Trade Commission.

You will need to be aware of the issues related to sending unsolicited bulk email (more commonly known as 'spam'). If you want your company to be considered reputable in its marketing, and want to ensure that your emails don't get blocked or your company blacklisted as a result of inadvertently falling into one of the many spam traps (both literal and figurative), you will need to follow the 'best practice' guidelines produced by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP).
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The main things to remember are to ensure that you always get active permission ('opt-in') in advance from your intended email recipients to send them communications, and that you regularly maintain your contact lists to ensure that they are up-to-date and correct, weeding out email addresses that are no longer correct or have ceased to exist.