Course description

You send marketing emails, or you'd like to, and you want to be sure you're doing it within the rules. This course explains the UK rules on email marketing in plain terms and shows you how to put them into practice: clear sign-up wording, records you can rely on, an unsubscribe that works, a suppression list, a privacy notice section and a yearly check.

It's written for small businesses, sole traders and charities. You begin with the two sets of rules, PECR for sending marketing emails and UK GDPR for the personal data, and what counts as direct marketing. Then you work through consent done properly, the soft opt-in for existing customers, where your list comes from, what every message needs, lawful basis and privacy information, tracking and your email service, and keeping your list lean, accurate and safe. A section for charities covers fundraising emails, the new charitable purposes soft opt-in and the Fundraising Preference Service, with texts and calls in brief.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons. Each lesson has a worked example, common slips, questions people often ask and a short exercise to try, and each section ends with a short quiz. You follow Temperance, who runs a yarn shop in Hebden Bridge and is a trustee of a small community transport charity, as she sorts out her list, rewrites her sign-up forms and builds her compliance pack. In the final lessons you build a compliance pack for a made-up garden centre in Shropshire and a local hedgehog rescue charity, with a worked model answer. Every section has a practice pack, including a direct marketing or service message sorter, a consent wording builder, a consent record spreadsheet, a soft opt-in checklist, a list sourcing risk card, a footer and unsubscribe checklist, a suppression list template, a privacy notice section template, a plain legitimate interests assessment template, a breach response card, a charity emails checklist, a yearly compliance checklist and a glossary.

What you'll learn

• The rules in outline: PECR and UK GDPR in plain terms, what counts as direct marketing and what is a service message, individual and corporate subscribers, and your own starting point.
• Consent done properly: what valid consent looks like, sign-up forms and wording, consent records, double opt-in, and consent in the shop, at events and on paper.
• The soft opt-in: the conditions one by one, offering the opt-out when you collect details, what similar products means, and running consent and soft opt-in lists side by side.
• Where your list comes from: growing a list fairly, why bought and rented lists are risky, partners and shared sign-ups, old lists you can't account for, and a list sourcing check.
• Every message: saying who you are, an unsubscribe in every message, handling stop requests quickly, suppression lists and the advertising rules for email content.
• Lawful basis and privacy information: choosing a lawful basis, legitimate interests and its three-part check in plain terms, a short assessment, the emails section of your privacy notice and the right to object.
• Tracking and your email service: tracking pixels and the cookie rules, your email service as a processor, contracts and checks, international transfers in general terms and your sign-up journey.
• A lean, accurate and safe list: collecting only what you need, retention and cleaning, accuracy and preferences, security, and what to do after a breach.
• Charities, texts, calls and social messages: charity fundraising as direct marketing, the charitable purposes soft opt-in, the Fundraising Preference Service, texts and calls in brief, and complaints.
• Your compliance pack and final project: a yearly compliance check, putting your pack together, and a pack for a made-up garden centre and a local charity with a worked model answer.

Who it's for

Small business owners, sole traders, charity staff, trustees and volunteers who send or plan to send marketing emails. No legal background is needed, and you don't need any particular email service: the course works with whatever you use, plus a simple spreadsheet.

What this course is, and isn't

This is a practical course, not legal advice. Legal points come from official UK pages from the Information Commission (still known as the ICO), legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK, the Fundraising Regulator and the Advertising Standards Authority, read on 4 November 2026. Rules can change, so check the official pages, and for your own situation take advice from a qualified adviser. Temperance, Orlando, Teodozja and every other person and organisation in the course are fictional.

What will I learn?

• Explain how PECR and UK GDPR apply to marketing emails, and tell direct marketing apart from service messages
• Write clear sign-up wording and keep consent records that show who, when, how and what
• Use the soft opt-in for existing customers correctly, and run consent and soft opt-in lists side by side
• Grow a list fairly, avoid bought lists, and pause and clear old contacts without emailing them to ask
• Make sure every marketing email says who you are and has an unsubscribe that works, and keep a suppression list
• Choose a lawful basis, write a plain legitimate interests assessment and the emails section of a privacy notice
• Check tracking settings, processor terms and international transfers for your email service
• Keep your list lean, accurate and secure, and know the steps to take after a personal data breach
• For charities, apply the rules to fundraising emails, use the charitable purposes soft opt-in and act on FPS requests
• Run a yearly compliance check and build an email marketing compliance pack for your own organisation

Frequently asked questions