Cold email in the UK: companies, sole traders and PECR
Who you are writing to decides which rules apply. A plain-English guide to companies, sole traders and what PECR asks of you.
Two sets of rules sit over business email in the UK. UK GDPR covers personal data, and a named person's work email is personal data. PECR, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, covers electronic marketing. Between them they answer one question: can you send this email to this person?
The recipient decides which rules apply
PECR treats two kinds of recipient differently.
- Corporate subscribers. Limited companies, LLPs and some other organisations. You don't need their consent for a marketing email, but you must say who you are and give a way to opt out, and your email should be relevant to their business.
- Individual subscribers. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships. They're treated like consumers, so marketing email generally needs their consent.
That's why a sole trader's record is different from a limited company's, and why we show what kind of business each one is.
What to do for every email
- Say clearly who you are and, if relevant, who you act for.
- Give a simple, working way to opt out, and honour it promptly.
- Keep your own list of people who've asked to stop.
- Write about something relevant to them in their working role.
- Remember UK GDPR rights still apply to the person: they can object, and you stop.
Calls
Marketing calls have their own registers. The Telephone Preference Service covers individuals, including sole traders, and the Corporate TPS covers companies. Check them before you ring. Adapt Leads doesn't screen numbers for you, so that check is yours.
What Adapt Leads does and doesn't do
It shows what kind of business each record is, labels every email, keeps a do-not-contact list and applies a removal request everywhere. It doesn't decide for you whether you may contact someone. You're the sender, and the responsibility is yours. Our UK GDPR and PECR page sets it out.
When in doubt
If a recipient is a sole trader and you don't have their consent, use a channel with different rules, or don't send. A short, honest, relevant email to a company's named decision-maker, with a clear opt-out, sits on much firmer ground.
More from the blog.
A green tick next to an email address sounds like a promise. Here is what it proves, what it doesn't, and why we show four labels instead of one.
A catch-all server says yes to every address, including ones that don't exist. Here is what that means for your list, and how to send to them safely.
A practical walk-through: from a blank search to a saved list and a first campaign, with the checks that stop you wasting your time.
See it in the book.
Start free and search the UK, with every field labelled.