This policy is applicable to all Shape Services that may be used for transmitting bulk emails, commercial emails, SMS or MMS text messages, or outbound phone calls (“Covered Services”).
You agree to the Shape Anti-Spam Policy as a precondition to use of Covered Services. Covered Services may be used only for sending mails or messages to persons from whom you have an express permission to send mails or messages on the subject of such mail or message, such as permission-based email marketing. We are very serious about our Anti-Spam Policy. If we discover that you are sending emails or messages to people without their permission, we reserve the right to terminate your user account.
What Counts as Permission
By “permission” we mean express and provable permission granted to you. A permission to send commercial emails may be through:
- Submission of email address as part of downloading anything from your website or ordering a product or service from you.
- Subscription to an email newsletter by filling a form on your website.
- Someone has provided you with the email address as part of participation in any contest, event or survey conducted by you and you have informed him/her that you would be sending them marketing emails.
- Any instance where a person completing a form has checked an opt-in checkbox indicating their willingness to be contacted by you through email, provided the checkbox is unchecked by default and you have informed such person that the nature of the emails will be commercial.
- Any business card given by a person who has expressed his/her willingness to receive emails of a commercial nature. Willingness to receive emails of a commercial nature will be presumed where the business card was dropped in your booth at a tradeshow.
The rule of thumb is “Do not use Covered Services to send emails or messages to email addresses to which you do not have express permission to send emails on the subject of the email.” We insist on 100% compliance with the above rule.
When we say 100%, we do not include those instances where the recipient of an email has marked it as Spam although you have an express provable permission to send emails to that email address. It should be borne in mind that a permission once granted is deemed to have been revoked if the recipient of a mail has opted out of receiving emails from you.
Compliance Requirements
In particular, you shall strictly comply with the following rules, which clarify the Rule of Thumb mentioned above:
- You should have explicit permission to contact the recipient on the subject of your email. You shall maintain sufficient proof of the fact that you have received permission from all recipients of emails sent by you through Covered Services.
- You shall not import or send emails to email addresses that you have bought, loaned, rented or in any way acquired from a third party, irrespective of any claim about quality or permission, while using Covered Services. You shall also refrain from importing into your Covered Services account or sending mails to email addresses you have collected from other websites.
- You shall ensure that the routing and header information including your emails “From” and “To,” the originating domain name and email address are true and accurate.
- You shall not use subject lines that mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.
- You shall provide a one-click unsubscribe option in all emails and refrain from sending emails to persons who have opted out or unsubscribed from your mailing list. The request to opt-out from the mailing list should be honored within 10 days from the date of request.
- You shall include your valid physical postal address in all emails sent through Covered Services.
- You shall include a conspicuous notice in all marketing emails that the message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient can opt out of receiving more commercial emails from you.
We may, at any time, require you to prove that you have express permission to send emails to email addresses you have imported to your Covered Services irrespective of whether you have sent marketing emails to such email addresses.
Text Messages and Phone Calls
The same permission-based principles that apply to email under this Anti-Spam Policy also apply to text messages (SMS/MMS) and phone calls sent or placed through Covered Services. You may only send text messages or place calls to phone numbers belonging to persons who have given you express permission to be contacted by text or phone on the relevant subject matter.
Permission to text or call may be established through:
- Submission of a phone number as part of downloading anything from your website or ordering a product or service from you, where you have disclosed that texts or calls may follow.
- An opt-in checkbox on a web form indicating a person’s willingness to receive texts or calls from you, provided the checkbox is unchecked by default.
- Express written or verbal consent obtained and documented in the ordinary course of business, such as during a sales call or in-person conversation.
- A business card or other contact information voluntarily provided by a person who has expressed willingness to be contacted by phone or text.
In particular, you shall strictly comply with the following rules for all text messages and phone calls sent or placed through Covered Services:
- You shall maintain sufficient proof of consent for every phone number you text or call through Covered Services.
- You shall not import or use phone numbers you have bought, rented, or otherwise acquired from a third party without independently verifying consent.
- You shall honor all opt-out requests, including replies of “STOP” or similar, immediately and in no event later than the timeframe required by applicable law.
- You shall not contact any number on the National Do Not Call Registry or your own internal Do Not Call list.
- You shall comply with all time-of-day restrictions and other requirements imposed by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and any other applicable law.
- You shall not use automated dialing or prerecorded messages except in compliance with applicable law and Shape’s Terms of Service.
For additional requirements specific to SMS, MMS, and voice calling, see the Short Message Service (“SMS”) Service Policy and Telephone (“CRM Dialer”) Service Policy sections of our Terms of Service.
Your use of Covered Services signifies your unconditional acceptance of this Anti-Spam Policy.