5 steps for clean, compliant email systems

Why do we hesitate to hit “send” on a sales email?

Because we’re immediately worried we’ve annoyed half our list.

There’s two things going on here:

1. It’s a mindset issue, and you’re questioning yourself.
2. You’re not quite sure who actually consented to hear about this offer.

Today, I’m focusing on the latter.

You’ve likely just imported your subscribers without thinking. Or you copy an old segment because it “kind of worked last time”.

After a few rounds of this, you have no clear answer to three simple questions:

Who said yes? To what? And when?

Ignoring this does not make it go away.

UK rules say you must not send marketing emails to individuals without valid consent or a narrow “soft opt-in” for existing customers. 

At the same time, email lists naturally decay by around 25–28 percent each year, as people change jobs, abandon inboxes, or mark emails as spam. 

So a “set and forget” list is not just messy. It is risky and quietly shrinking.

You do not need an enterprise CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) to fix this.

You need a simple, consent-first structure that connects each email back to how someone joined and what you promised.

With a handful of tags, a few well-designed automations, and clear microcopy, you can move from “winging it” to well-run, and send sales campaigns with a clear conscience. 

In this blog I cover…

• Why messy email systems feel so stressful (and risky)
• A values-led lens on consent, not just bare-minimum compliance
• 5 steps for clean, compliant email systems
• Practical example: Bringing it together
• When to get help (and what to ask for)

Photo by Bench Accounting on Unsplash

Why messy email systems feel so stressful (and risky)

Most small businesses do not start with an email marketing strategy. They start with whatever their current email platform makes easy.

You add a newsletter form.
Later, a lead magnet.
Then you set up a waitlist for a programme.

Each one creates another list, or a mystery tag, or both.

Meanwhile, you import a CSV from that Zoom webinar you ran last year. 
Twice.
Now you have the same person three times with different statuses.

In the middle of all this, you’re trying to honour people’s boundaries.
You do not want to spam anyone.
You do not want to break the law.
You just want to tell the right people, at the right time, about the thing you built.

What the rules actually say

In the UK, email marketing to individuals sits mainly under two pieces of law.

• PECR (Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations) covers how you send electronic marketing.
• UK GDPR (UK General Data Protection Regulation) covers how you collect, store, and use personal data.

The ICO’s guidance says you must not send marketing emails to individuals without consent, unless a limited “soft opt-in” applies for your own similar products and services. This soft opt-in only works if you collected their details during a sale (or serious enquiry), offered an opt-out at that point, and continue to offer a clear opt-out in every message. 

Consent itself has a high bar.

It has to be specific, freely given, informed, and signalled by a clear affirmative action, such as ticking an unticked box. 

Pre-ticked boxes, vague wording, or “by giving us your card, you agree to receive all marketing” do not meet that standard. 

This applies whether you email 50 people or 50,000. There is no “too small to matter” exemption. 

Why “set and forget” is not an option

Even if you got consent right on day one, your list does not stay stable. ZeroBounce’s 2025 Email List Decay Report found that at least 25.74–28 percent of an average email list decays each year. 

People change roles.
Mailboxes get switched off.
Old inboxes become spam traps.

Deliverability specialists recommend removing or re-engaging subscribers who have not opened or clicked anything for 6–12 months, because these addresses drag down your sender reputation. 

A messy system hides all of this.
You cannot see who is genuinely engaged.
You cannot see whose consent is still valid.

That is why it feels stressful: your instincts are correct.

The good news is that you can fix most of this with a pencil, a blank page, and a few small changes to how you tag and automate.

Photo by Glenn Diaz on Unsplash

A values-led lens on consent, not just bare-minimum compliance

It is very tempting to treat consent as a legal formality.

Find the right sentence.
Paste it under every form.
Call it “done”.

The Maven of Momentum approach is different. You're not just trying to be compliant. You're trying to run “ethical and consent-aware” email journeys that feel good for both sides.

Consent as part of care

Think of consent as a promise. “I will use your email address in the ways described here, and you can change your mind whenever you like.”

Clear consent language tells people three things.

1. What they are signing up for (content type and topic).
2. How often they can expect to hear from you.
3. How they can switch things off or change preferences.

The ICO expects you to make withdrawal of consent as easy as giving it. That's not only a box to tick. It's a way of respecting your readers’ energy and attention.

For example, during a launch, a simple line such as:

“Over the next 7 days I will send several emails about [Course Name]. If you would rather not hear about this launch but still want my regular newsletter, click here to opt out of these launch emails.”

This honours their time, even if they say “not this”.

You keep the relationship, even if this particular offer is not right.

Growth without gimmicks

When you prune, segment, and respect preferences, you are not losing potential.
You are shaping a list of people who actually want to be there.
That is the foundation for any sustainable sales cycle.

5 steps for clean, compliant email systems

Step 1 – Map your entry points and promises

Before you change anything in your email platform, map where people come from.

Most small businesses have at least six entry points.

Typical examples.

• Newsletter form on your website
• Lead magnet (for example, checklist, guide, mini-course)
• Webinar or workshop sign-up
• Waitlist for a specific programme or product
• Client intake form or discovery call application
• Purchase or booking
  
  

For each entry point, write one sentence that answers two questions.

1. What did we promise they would receive?
2. How often did we say we would email them?
   
   

Examples.

• “Newsletter sign-up: fortnightly emails about calm, sustainable business growth, plus occasional updates about new offers.”
• “Lead magnet: 3-part email series on ethical launches, then option to stay on the newsletter.”
• “Waitlist: updates about [Programme Name], including dates, bonuses, and early-bird windows.”
• “Client intake: service updates and similar offers, using soft opt-in, with an opt-out on every email.”
  
  

Now sketch a simple table or whiteboard map.

This map becomes your source of truth.

Every email you send should be traceable back to one or more of these promises.

Step 2 – Design your minimum viable tag set

With your entry points clear, you can design a lean tagging system.

The goal is simplicity, not cleverness.

You can think in four tag types (you don't need all of these, just choose what makes most sense for what you're trying to do).

1. Source tags: How they joined.
   For example, newsletter, lead-magnet-[name], webinar-[date], waitlist-[programme].
2. Status tags: Their relationship to you.
   For example, prospect, client, past-client, customer-[product].
3. Preference tags: What they want or do not want.
   For example, sales-email-opt-out, topic-operations, topic-email, no-launch-[programme].
4. System tags: What your automations are doing.
   For example, in-welcome-sequence, completed-welcome, in-reengagement.
   
   

Supporting UK requirements with tags

The ICO guidance makes two points that your tags can help you honour.

• People must be able to opt out of direct marketing at any time. 
• If you rely on soft opt-in, you must only market similar products or services and must always include an opt-out in every message.
  
  

Preference tags make this practical.

Examples.

• If tag = sales-email-opt-out, your launch sequences exclude those contacts, but they still receive the main newsletter.
• If tag = customer-[product], you suppress them from that product’s future promo and instead send onboarding or “alumni” content.
• If tag = no-launch-[programme], you continue sending other launches or offers, but respect that boundary for this specific one.
  
  

You avoid complicated logic.

You rely on a few clear tags that align with what you promised and what the law requires.

Step 3 – Build consent-aware automations, not just “funnels”

Automations are where these decisions come to life.

Instead of funnel diagrams with 27 arrows, think in four stages, based on the Soulful Systems Setup process: Clarify → Build → QA → Handover. 

1. Clarify
   Start with your entry point map and promises.
   Decide what happens immediately after someone signs up.
   Decide how they move into regular communication later.
2. Build
   Create clean workflows inside your email platform that add the right tags, send the right emails, and stop at the right time.
3. QA (Quality Assurance)
   Test your automations using dummy accounts.
   Check that tags apply and remove correctly.
   Check that opt-outs work as expected.
4. Handover
   Document the logic in plain English.
   Make it easy for future-you (or a colleague) to understand and update.
   
   

Two simple automation examples

Example 1: Newsletter sign-up

• Form submits → apply newsletter and email-newsletter tags.
• Send a confirmation email (double opt-in) so they confirm ownership of the address. 
• After confirmation, start a 5-email welcome series over 10–14 days.
• At the end, remove in-welcome-sequence, add completed-welcome, and move them into the regular newsletter segment.
  
  

Example 2: Waitlist sign-up for a programme

• Form submits on the programme waitlist page.
• Apply waitlist-[programme].
• If the copy also clearly offers the main newsletter, apply email-newsletter.
• Send a confirmation email that restates what they will receive and how often. 
• When you run your 7-day launch, send sales emails to:
  • All waitlist-[programme] contacts.
  • Newsletter subscribers who have not opted out of launch emails (sales-email-opt-out absent).
• Include a special link in each launch email:
  • Clicking it adds sales-email-opt-out.
  • Your launch automation excludes that tag from further sends.

These automations are not about pressure.

They are about keeping your promises to the right people, at the right time, in a way your future self can understand.

Step 4 – Create clear consent and transparency microcopy

Microcopy is where values and compliance meet.

A few well-chosen lines can reduce spam complaints and unsubscribe rates, because people remember saying “yes” and know how to say “not this”.

Forms

Each form needs three elements.

1. What they are signing up for.
2. How often you will email.
3. A link to your privacy notice.

Examples you can adapt.

• Newsletter
  “Get fortnightly emails about calm, sustainable business growth, plus occasional updates about new workshops and courses. You can unsubscribe at any time.”
  
  
• Lead magnet
  “Send me the 5-step checklist. You will also receive 2–3 follow-up emails to help you apply it, plus the option to stay on the main newsletter.”
  
  
• Waitlist
  “Join the waitlist for [Programme Name]. I will email you about dates, early-bird pricing, and helpful resources while doors are closed.”
  
  
• Post-purchase
  “We will use your email to send receipts, service updates, and similar offers. You can opt out of marketing emails at any time via the link in each email.”
  
  

Footers and launch headers

The ICO expects a clear opt-out in every marketing email. 

Most platforms add this automatically, but you can strengthen it with a one-line reminder near the top.

Examples.

• Regular newsletter:
  “You are receiving this because you asked to join my newsletter at [page / event]. If this is no longer useful, you can unsubscribe at the bottom of this email.”
  
  
• Launch sequence:
  “Over the next 7 days I will email you about [Programme Name]. If you would rather not receive these launch emails, but still stay on the main newsletter, click here to opt out of this launch.”

These small sentences matter.

They make your values visible.

They also evidence that you are meeting the ICO’s expectations around informed consent and easy withdrawal. 

Step 5 – Keep your list healthy with simple hygiene rituals

A clean database is not a one-off project.

It is a habit.

Because around 25–28 percent of a typical list decays each year, you need regular maintenance to keep it accurate and safe. 

Deliverability specialists recommend pruning hard bounces and long-term inactive subscribers to protect your sender reputation and inbox placement. 

A quarterly 30–60 minute hygiene ritual

Once a quarter, block out 30–60 minutes for list hygiene.

Make a cuppa.

Put your phone on ‘Do not disturb’.

Get comfy.

Here’s your checklist.

1. Remove or suppress hard bounces: Any address that has bounced permanently should be removed from active sending.
2. Review soft bounces: If an address has soft-bounced several times in a row, consider suppressing or validating it.
3. Scan spam complaints: Make sure anyone who marked you as spam is added to a “do not email” list.
4. Identify long-term inactives: Create a segment for people who have not opened or clicked anything in 6–12 months.
5. Run a short re-engagement sequence: Send 2–3 emails over 7–10 days that say, in essence, “Do you still want to hear from me?”
   Make it easy to say “no” with a clear unsubscribe link.
6. Prune with confidence: Anyone who does not engage with the re-engagement sequence can be unsubscribed or moved into an archive segment.

This keeps your list smaller, cleaner, and more aligned with your actual audience.

And before you say “but a small list is BAD!” - it’s not. A disengaged list is bad. 

A smaller engaged list makes metrics such as open rate and click-through rate more meaningful, because they are based on people who are still there, actually reading your emails.

Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash

Bringing it together – sending sales emails with a clear conscience

Rightio, that all sounds like a lot of work.

It is, but it is worth it.

And if you have a tech person or VA, they may be able to do this for you.

But let’s bring these pieces into a practical example.

You’re planning a 7-day launch for a new course.

You feel a familiar knot of worry.

Step A – Define who should receive launch emails

From your tags and segments, you decide.

• Include:
  • All newsletter subscribers with valid consent, excluding anyone with sales-email-opt-out.
  • Everyone on waitlist-[course].
    
    
• Exclude:
  • Anyone with sales-email-opt-out.
  • Anyone with customer-[course].
  • Any archived or inactive segment you have just cleaned.
    
    

This is already a calmer starting point.

You know who is in and who is out.

Step B – Add clear consent language

In email 1, you include a short explanation.

“Over the next 7 days I will send a small run of emails about [Course Name]. If you would rather not receive these launch emails, but still want my regular newsletter, click here to opt out of this launch.”

The link adds sales-email-opt-out.

Your automation uses that tag to suppress further launch emails, while keeping these people in the main newsletter.

This aligns with ICO expectations on easy withdrawal of consent, and with the soft opt-in rules if you are emailing existing customers.

Step C – Rely on your hygiene rituals

Because you cleaned your list last quarter, you know you are not sending launch emails to a large pool of inactive accounts. 

Your deliverability is healthier.

Your numbers are more honest.

Emotionally, this changes the experience of “selling by email”.

You are no longer guessing.

You are working from a clear map of consent, tags, and preferences.

When to get help (and what to ask for)

You can do a surprising amount of this yourself.

Especially the mapping, microcopy, and basic tags.

It’s worth bringing in support when you:

• Are moving between email platforms and want to avoid carrying the mess across.
• Have multiple forms, freebies, and programmes with overlapping audiences.
• Don’t have the time or headspace to translate mapping into reliable automations.

When you talk to a consultant or developer, ask for three things:

1. Consent mapping: A clear diagram or document that shows entry points, promises, tags, and lawful bases (consent or soft opt-in).
2. Tag audit and reorganise: A plan to merge, rename, or retire tags so you end up with a lean, consistent set.
3. Re-engagement and hygiene plan: A simple schedule and set of templates for quarterly list tidies.

If you want a partner to think this through with you, you can explore Soulful Systems Setup, where we stitch together forms, bookings, payments, and email journeys in a way that feels aligned with how you actually want to work.