Rules and ethics
Email marketing software advertising rules: pre-send checks
Email marketing software advertising rules: a UK pre-send checklist for claims, consent, platform controls, accessibility and deliverability.
Use this email marketing software advertising rules checklist for campaign emails sent to recipients, including the subject line, preheader, personalisation, image text, footer and destination. It covers advertising checks alongside the email-platform and deliverability controls to review before sending. Passing it does not establish compliance: data protection, accessibility and security remain separate release gates.
The checklist was assembled on 5 September 2026 for marketing communications sent by organisations operating in the UK. It uses UK regulator material, is not ranked, and excludes sector-specific rules, broadcast advertising, paid-media formats and a legal assessment of any real campaign. It is guidance, not legal advice. The publisher has no supplier conflict to disclose.
What to take away
- The checklist covers email adverts, including their subject line, preheader, personalisation, image text, footer and destination.
- Every factual or comparative claim needs documentary evidence before publication, matched to its scope.
- Testimonials, reviews and affiliate content require verified provenance, permission and clear commercial disclosure.
- Check email-platform controls for audience suppression, unsubscribe handling and dynamic content, as well as sender authentication and list hygiene.
- Re-run the checklist after any change to copy, offer, audience, affiliate, evidence or landing page.
- Named reviewers for advertising, consumer, privacy, electronic marketing and accessibility must record their decisions.
Before copy approval
- Identify the advertiser and commercial purpose.CAP Code Section 2 requires marketing communications to be obviously identifiable. For unsolicited email, recognisability matters before opening, so a buried footer may be too late. Record how the sender and intent appear in the inbox context.
- Classify the communication.A receipt or safety notice is not permission to add a sales panel. The ICO's electronic-marketing overview explains how promotion can change a purported research or service message. Review every conditional content block.
- Confirm the recipient route separately.Check every address in the intended audience and establish whether it is an individual or corporate subscriber: sole traders and some partnerships are individual subscribers; limited companies are corporate subscribers. Unsolicited marketing email to an individual subscriber needs prior consent unless the soft opt-in applies. For consent, check it was freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous, with a clear affirmative action; keep evidence of who consented, when, what they were told and the scope, and remove anyone who has opted out. For the soft opt-in, verify all three conditions: the details were obtained directly from the person during a sale or negotiations for a sale; the marketing is for your own similar products or services; and a clear, simple opt-out was offered when the details were collected and in every email. These requirements are set out in the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR): regulation 22 covers unsolicited direct-marketing emails, and regulation 23 requires the sender's identity not to be concealed and a valid address for opting out. Corporate subscribers do not need PECR consent, but the email must not conceal the sender’s identity and must provide a valid opt-out route. Where personal data is used, record the applicable UK GDPR lawful basis and meet its transparency and rights duties. Attach the audience query, subscriber category, address source and relevant consent or soft opt-in evidence to the campaign ticket. Block release if the route cannot be verified for any recipient.
For each factual or comparative claim
- Write the precise proposition.Split "fastest and most trusted" into each factual claim a consumer may take from it. Include implied messages created by images, price framing or a comparison table.
- Match evidence to scope.CAP guidance on substantiation says documentary evidence should exist before objective claims are published. Check population, geography, measurement period, method and material exclusions. A global supplier study does not automatically support a UK claim.
- Worked example.Evidence from a March 2026 test of 50 UK users supports 'fastest among the 50 UK users tested in March 2026'. It does not support 'the UK's fastest app', which needs evidence covering the whole UK market and period.
- Distinguish opinion from fact.Adding "we believe" does not neutralise a measurable assertion. Narrow or remove wording when the evidence file cannot support the ordinary consumer interpretation.
- Name the evidence owner and expiry.The owner should retain the original record, not a screenshot without context. Price, availability and performance comparisons need a publication-day check.
For testimonials, reviews and affiliate content
- Verify provenance and permission.CAP guidance on testimonials and endorsements requires evidence that testimonials are genuine and advises retaining contact details. Editing must not change the sense of the endorsement.
- Disclose the commercial connection where people will notice it.The disclosure should be clear before or as the endorsement is encountered. CAP guidance on affiliate marketing says affiliate content must be obviously identifiable when the context does not already make that clear.
- Do not manufacture social proof.The CMA's unfair commercial practices guidance covers the consumer regime under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Part 4, Chapter 1, which took effect on 6 April 2025 and includes practices around reviews. Record incentives and moderation instead of presenting selected or rewarded feedback as spontaneous opinion.
Before release
- Read the subject and first screen without images. Check that the sender identity, promotion and material qualifications still make sense, and review the subject line and preheader against the approved content.
- Test links, price qualifications, unsubscribe handling and the plain-text version. In the email marketing software, test that unsubscribe requests work and that suppressed addresses are excluded from the audience. Check SPF, DKIM and DMARC authentication for the sending domain, and review list hygiene, including invalid addresses and opt-outs.
- Check practical accessibility in the rendered email and its destination: meaningful alt text, sufficient colour contrast, logical reading order, descriptive links and keyboard access. Do not infer accessibility from a design-tool badge.
- Compare every dynamic variant with the approved claim file. A valid master does not clear an unsupported personalised sentence. Test conditional content and audience rules in the platform before release.
- Have named advertising, consumer, privacy, electronic-marketing and accessibility reviewers record their decisions. Before release, the electronic-marketing reviewer must record a pass or block for the exact recipient population, subscriber categories and permission route. Record each decision in the campaign ticket with the reviewer name, date, gate, evidence reference and outcome. Rejecting one gate cannot be offset by a projected click or revenue figure.
Re-run the checklist after a copy, offer, audience, affiliate, evidence or landing-page change. Current CAP, CMA and ICO pages should be checked again immediately before publication; their guidance explains the framework but cannot decide the lawfulness of specific facts.
Before you act
- Identify the advertiser and commercial purpose in the inbox context; check the subject line and preheader.
- Classify the communication and review every conditional content block.
- Check each intended recipient’s subscriber category; verify consent or every soft opt-in condition where required, remove opt-outs, and record a pass or block for the exact audience.
- Write the precise proposition for each factual or comparative claim; match evidence to scope and name the evidence owner and expiry.
- Verify provenance and permission for testimonials and reviews; disclose affiliate or other commercial connections and do not manufacture social proof.
- Test links, price qualifications, unsubscribe handling and the plain-text version; confirm the email platform excludes suppressed addresses and applies dynamic content as approved.
- Check sender authentication (SPF, DKIM and DMARC) and review list hygiene, including invalid addresses and opt-outs.
- Check accessibility in the rendered email and destinationmeaningful alt text, sufficient colour contrast, logical reading order, descriptive links and keyboard access.
- Have the named advertising, consumer, privacy, electronic-marketing and accessibility reviewers record their decisions and evidence in the campaign ticket.
- Re-run the checks after any change to copy, offer, audience, affiliate, evidence or landing page.
Common questions
What does the checklist cover in an email advert?
The email advert, including subject line, preheader, personalisation, image text, footer and destination.
How should factual or comparative claims be handled?
Write each proposition precisely, match evidence to scope, and name the evidence owner and expiry.
What must be done for testimonials, reviews and affiliate content?
Verify provenance and permission, disclose the commercial connection, and do not manufacture social proof.
