OneHive Mail exists to help businesses send email that people want to receive. This policy explains what we expect from every customer, what OneHive Mail does automatically, and how we respond to spam. It is part of our Terms of Service, alongside our Acceptable Use Policy.
Zero tolerance for spam
For this policy, spam means commercial email sent to people who haven’t given permission to receive it, or email that doesn’t meet the requirements of anti-spam law. We don’t allow spam to be sent through OneHive Mail, in any amount, for any reason.
Permission comes first
You may only send marketing email through OneHive Mail to people who have agreed to receive it from you. In practice:
- Express consent is best: the person actively agreed to receive email from you, for example by signing up on your website or ticking an unticked box. Pre-ticked boxes don’t count.
- Implied consent under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) is allowed only in the situations the law recognises, such as an existing business relationship (a purchase or contract in the last two years, or an inquiry in the last six months), and only while it remains valid.
- For recipients in the United States, you must also meet the requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act, including honest headers and subject lines.
- You must be able to show how and when each person gave permission. OneHive Mail records the consent you choose when you add or import contacts, so keep that information accurate.
Permission must come from the person directly and be specific to you. Lists that were bought, rented, traded, shared by a partner, scraped from websites or collected for a different purpose are never allowed, even if the seller says the people opted in.
What every email includes
Every campaign sent through OneHive Mail automatically includes a footer that identifies you, with your business name and mailing address and, where you’ve provided them, licence details and a way to contact you, together with an unsubscribe link. Campaigns also support the one-click unsubscribe button offered by Gmail and other email providers. These can’t be removed, and you must not hide them or make them hard to use.
Unsubscribes, bounces and complaints
- Unsubscribes take effect immediately for every campaign and automation in your account, well within the time the law allows.
- Addresses that bounce or whose owners report your email as spam are suppressed automatically and won’t be emailed again.
- Imports never re-subscribe anyone who has unsubscribed or been suppressed.
- You must not try to work around these protections, for example by adding someone again under another address or emailing them from another tool using the list you keep in OneHive Mail.
Keeping lists healthy
- Confirm before you email an old list. If you haven’t emailed people in a long time, ask whether they still want to hear from you, and keep only those who say yes.
- Remove addresses that never engage. Contacts who haven’t opened or clicked in a long time are more likely to complain or bounce.
- Make it easy to leave. An unsubscribe is far better for everyone than a spam complaint.
- Every import asks you to confirm that the people in it agreed to hear from you and that the list wasn’t bought or scraped. Only confirm if it’s true.
Monitoring and enforcement
We monitor bounce and spam complaint rates for every account. If they reach the limits in our Acceptable Use Policy, sending pauses automatically until we have reviewed it with you. We also investigate spam reports we receive. Depending on what we find, we may ask you to change how you collect or manage your list, pause your sending, or suspend or close your account.
Reporting spam
If you received an email sent through OneHive Mail that you didn’t ask for, use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email. It works immediately. To report spam or abuse, send us a message through our contact page, including the sender’s name, the email’s subject and when you received it, so we can identify the sender. We take every report seriously.