Consent to advertise on bills/invoices?

El Camino

I'm looking for a little advice...

Does anyone know if there are any issues with placing advertising on custoemrs bills or business invoices. I know there generally are data protection concerns with direct marketing but none of their offices guidance touches on this specific point. Do i need every individuals consent to place a generic advert on a bill or invoice?

Thanks in advance.

dudara

El Camino - I presume that you're running a business? If you are, let me know, and I'll move this thread to a more appropriate forum

dudara

El Camino

Hi Dudara,

I'm not running a business at present but looking into this for someone who is. Another Busienss related forum may be more appropriate.

Thanks and apologies for incorrectly posting

jor el

Before doing anything, they should seek legal advice. Putting something like that on a bill or invoice may invalidate it, meaning people could choose not to pay it. Also, it would be highly unprofessional, and rude.

If they want to include advertising, then it should be on separate leaflets. We all know how annoying it is to get this kind of spam in your ESB bill, so personally I'd advise against it, unless alienating customers is his goal.

petes

That's an interesting question. Say a business has a recurring customer. Would putting details of upcoming special offers etc. be treated in the same way?

El Camino

Hi Insurgent,

That i believe was the intention i.e. advertise other special offers or upcoming events. However, depending upon the success fo this it may be a possible route to generating another revenue stream if other related services were to be advertised.

There is scope to include a bill insert as An Post are currently advertising quite a lot, but this option of using blank space on the bill is just something that came up.

I can't see how such an ad could invalidate the bill. The customer has most likely entered into a legal contract to pay for services obtained and surely this could not be invalidated by something as trivial as this.

I know there's lots of rules from the Data Protection Commissioner but these do not cover this point and I'm hoping somebody would be able to point me to some pther guidance or advice that they may be aware of.

jor el

El Camino wrote: »

I can't see how such an ad could invalidate the bill. The customer has most likely entered into a legal contract to pay for services obtained and surely this could not be invalidated by something as trivial as this.

A bill is a bill, and an ad is an ad, they shouldn't be the same thing. If I receive a bill with an ad on it, could that not easily be an ad with a bill on it? I'm not paying for an ad, so that can be ignored. Actual legal advice is needed for this, and not opinion from an Internet forum. Messing with bills or invoices is a bad idea. Putting ads on a bill is a crazy stupid thing to do.

El Camino wrote: »

I know there's lots of rules from the Data Protection Commissioner but these do not cover this point and I'm hoping somebody would be able to point me to some pther guidance or advice that they may be aware of.

The customer gave the business their details, for the purpose of billing or other related communication. If you go using that information for advertising purposes, the customers could be very upset. You can't use the information you were given for purposes outside of what they were given for.

dudara

I'm going to give this thread a go in the Marketing forum.

dudara

petes

jor el wrote: »

A bill is a bill, and an ad is an ad, they shouldn't be the same thing. If I receive a bill with an ad on it, could that not easily be an ad with a bill on it? I'm not paying for an ad, so that can be ignored. Actual legal advice is needed for this, and not opinion from an Internet forum. Messing with bills or invoices is a bad idea. Putting ads on a bill is a crazy stupid thing to do.



The customer gave the business their details, for the purpose of billing or other related communication. If you go using that information for advertising purposes, the customers could be very upset. You can't use the information you were given for purposes outside of what they were given for.

While I completely agree with you I still think it's a bit of a grey area. I know lots of places that put advertisments of special offers both on invoices and statements. I'd like to know what the story is.

jor el

Insurgent wrote: »

I know lots of places that put advertisments of special offers both on invoices and statements.

Really? I've seen advertisements coming with the bill, but never printed on it. That would seriously piss me off anyway.

petes

jor el wrote: »

Really? I've seen advertisements coming with the bill, but never printed on it. That would seriously piss me off anyway.

I have and to be honest without saying where I work we have customers actually asking us to do this on their invoices and statements. Be it a statement sent out at the end of a month or an invoice/receipt given in the shop.

antoinolachtnai

There is no problem, at least legally, with putting an ad on a statement or a bill.

There are practical issues with it though. Will it reach the decisionmaker? Will they pay any attention to it?

El Camino

i think the key driver with placing it on te bill itself is the fact that bills are generally opened and thoroughly read and detail taken in or understood. A simple bill insert is just that and can readily be disposed of, whereas the bill/invoice may be retained for records etc and the ad may have somewhat of a longer lifespan.

Further investigation on this suggests that there are no particular regulations/rules preventing this. The business is obliged to send these out on a regular basis and this advertisement should be just classed as part of that transaction/communication.

El Camino

So this week i have personally received a bill insert from my credit card company with details of a hotel offer. I don't believe that i agreed to receive anything of this nature from them, but they have just sent anyway.

They have not provided me with an opportunity to opt-out from receiving such marketing in future - surely this is a breach of marketing rules?

Any opinions/ideas?

PHONiC.ie

This is definitely fine to do. The hit rate might not massive from it, but im sure it would be worth the little extra it would cost...

AMPSound

Arn't ads on the back of shop receipts kind of the same thing?

But yeah, who ever looks at them!!