Nobody likes spam. We want the Intercom platform to help you create valuable, personal interactions between you and your customers. Combating spam is part of our mission to make internet business personal.
Note: If your sending practices do not comply with these guidelines we may suspend your ability to send email while our team investigates.
These guidelines are written to protect both your and Intercom's email sending reputation. Before you can send your first message, you'll need to confirm that you're happy to comply with these guidelines.
Our guidelines
👌 Have permission: Sending unsolicited email is an offence in many countries. Always ask your users if they wish to receive marketing email from you. We may ask for proof that you have confirmation from your users of their opt-in.
📩 Message valid users: Intercom doesn't tolerate the use of purchased, rented, scraped or borrowed lists. You should only message your own users, verifying the validity of the email addresses you're sending to. We may ask how you procured your list.
📈 Maintain a steady sending rate: It’s essential to send emails at a consistent rate, rather than in bursts. Mailbox providers can be sensitive to sudden spikes in email volume, so gradually increasing your sending volume will help prevent delivery issues.
📝 Only great content: Don’t send anything offensive, distressing or illegal, including “get rich quick” or pyramid schemes, using the Intercom platform.
👍 Be authentic: Don’t mislead the recipient into thinking they’re hearing from a good friend or a very generous, long-lost relative with Swiss bank accounts.
🕵️♀️ Be transparent: Include an easy to use unsubscribe option and a physical address to your business on all messages, even those using your own templates.
Creating opt-in emails with Intercom
A good option is creating a manual email message with a button within the body of the message which can be used as your opt-in button for users. From there, you can then track your users' opt-in as a custom attribute in Intercom.
For example, if the opt-in URL (where button directs users) is www.example.com/opt-in, you could include a parameter like "opt-in": true in window.intercomSettings on the page, so that all users who click your opt-in button have a value of true for "opt-in".
Here you can see more on how to set up custom attributes.
All email messages, sent through Intercom, contain an unsubscribe link, for any users who wish to unsubscribe.
For the audience, you can use the filter Email has any value, so as to target all users with a valid email address. Here's a guide on how to compose messages, including how to insert a button.
Message performance 📈
Bad sending practices are not just bad news for Intercom, but for your business too. High bounce rates mean your messages are not reaching their intended destination. High complaint rates mean people receiving the messages aren’t happy about it.
If you exceed our reasonable internal thresholds, we will be entitled to suspend your ability to send email while our delivery team investigates.
If we don’t see an improvement within a reasonable, defined period that we set, we may withdraw your access to the Intercom platform altogether.
If we feel you are misusing our products or services, we reserve the right to withdraw access to our products and services entirely.
Increase sending slowly ⏳
Increasing your sending volume too quickly can lead to delivery problems. Start with a low volume, focusing on engaged users and incrementally raise the volume over time. It’s crucial to maintain a steady sending rate and to avoid sudden bursts or spikes in volume to help safeguard your domain’s reputation to ensure smooth email delivery.
Sudden spikes, especially if you lack a history of high-volume sending can lead to rate limiting, negatively impacting your domain reputation or it may even result in emails not being delivered. For example, doubling your usual volume abruptly may result in delivery restrictions and/or domain reputation damage.
The legal bit 📖
These guidelines sit alongside, and are in addition to our Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. As an Intercom customer you accept that you will adhere to these guidelines and that they are subject to change periodically.
In compliance with applicable data, privacy, and email marketing laws, you must have permission from a recipient to contact them with marketing email. If you don’t, that email may legally be deemed as spam. You should ensure that your email activities comply with these laws.
Per Intercom's Terms of Service, Intercom's customers are responsible for the accuracy, content, and legality of all Customer Data, which is any data of any type that is submitted to Intercom.
This statement also applies to consent from your visitors and users for the data being sent to Intercom. Please see Section 3.3 of our Terms of Service for more information.
You must ensure you are meeting all your legal obligations. Don’t use Intercom's products in connection with data you don’t have permission to process.
You will fully indemnify Intercom against any and all losses we incur as a result of any personal data processed in relation to your use of the Intercom email service which breaches any applicable laws or causes us to be in breach of any such laws.
Please do make sure you’ve read and understand these documents. If we feel you are misusing our products or services, we reserve the right to withdraw access to our products and services entirely.
Contact 📞
We know that occasionally things can go wrong and mistakes can be made. If at any time you are concerned that these guidelines may have been breached then please do notify us as soon as you become aware at abuse@intercom.io.
Thanks for reading this far - we hope that Intercom can help you to create meaningful, personal connections with your customers.
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