The DMA Adopts New Viral Marketing Ethics Guideline

The Direct Marketing Association (The DMA) introduced a new set of rules for the use of online referral, or "viral," marketing. These rules govern their members but are available as an industry standard to all marketers including nonprofits.

The DMA "approved the first set of guidelines ever established for online referral marketing," said H. Robert Wientzen, president & CEO, The DMA. It is published below in its entirety:

Article #39

Online referral marketing is a technique marketers use to get new marketing leads. Typically, the online marketer:

   1. encourages an individual to forward a marketing piece on to another individual (personally identifiable information is not collected), or
   2. asks an individual to provide the marketer with personally identifiable information about another individual so the marketer may contact that person directly.

This guideline relates only to the second type of online referral marketing above, where personal information about a prospect is given to the marketer.

A marketer should not use personally identifiable information about a prospect provided online by another individual unless:

    * the marketer has first clearly disclosed to the referring individual the intended uses of the information;
    * the marketer has disclosed to the referring individual that their own contact information will be provided to those they have referred to the marketer;
    * the marketer discloses to the referred person the fact that their contact information was obtained from another individual. The marketer should make the referring person's information available in the first e-mail communication to the prospect. Or, the marketer can tell the prospect how to get the referring person's contact information at no cost; and
    * the marketer provides, in the first and any subsequent e-mail communications, the ability to remove the referred person's name from future contact.

Marketers should not sell, rent, share, transfer or exchange a referred e-mail address unless they receive prior permission from the referred person to do so.

Adherence to The DMA's Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice is a requirement for Association membership and is strictly enforced by The DMA's ethics committees.All of The DMA's Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice can be viewed online at www.the-dma.org/guidelines/ethicalguidelines.shtml. There are two other online marketing guidelines. Article #37 covers what information all online marketers should reveal to site visitors. Article #38 covers e-mail marketing and requires at least opt-out permission.

Consumers, marketers, members of the press, and government officials concerned about possible ethics violations can alert The DMA by using the Ethics Case Complaint Form at www.the-dma.org/guidelines/EthicsComplaintForm.pdf.

The DMA's Ethics Publications and Tools can be viewed online at http://www.the-dma.org/guidelines/quickreference.shtml.

November 2003

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