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Using Taelo in Germany and the EU

Last updated 26 September 2026

This page answers one question: may I email businesses in Germany that did not ask me to? It sets out the rule, names the cases where campaigns fit well, and says what Taelo contributes, and what it does not.

This is not legal advice. Whether a particular contact may be emailed is your decision as the sender. If in doubt, ask a lawyer who practises unfair-competition law.

In short

  • In Germany, promotional email generally requires the recipient’s prior express consent, in B2B as well.
  • There is an exception for existing customers, with clear conditions.
  • Taelo’s CRM side (import, clean-up, reading websites, suggesting the next step) sends nothing. Without a plan, sending is not possible at all.

What the law says

Under Section 7(2) no. 2 of the German Act against Unfair Competition (UWG), advertising by electronic mail is an unreasonable nuisance unless the recipient has given prior express consent. The provision does not distinguish between consumers and businesses: the head of purchasing at a supplier is a recipient in the sense of the law, too.

Section 7(3) UWG makes an exception for existing customers. It applies only when all four conditions are met:

  1. you obtained the email address from the customer in connection with the sale of goods or a service,
  2. you advertise your own similar goods or services,
  3. the customer has not objected to this use, and
  4. when collecting the address and with every use, you clearly point out that the customer may object at any time without incurring costs other than transmission costs at basic rates.

Data protection applies alongside: processing personal data for outreach needs a legal basis, and the people concerned must be informed. How Taelo handles this for its own lead sources is set out in the privacy notice.

Where Taelo campaigns fit well in Germany

  • Existing customers: within the limits of Section 7(3) UWG, for a similar product, a new service or a successor model.
  • Contacts who consented: people who expressly agreed to hear about your offer by email.
  • Replies to enquiries: when a contact approached you and you answer exactly that enquiry.
  • Contacts in other markets: other countries regulate emailing business addresses differently. Which rule applies depends on the recipient’s country; check it for each target market.

And trade-fair contacts? A business card handed over at a trade fair is not automatically consent to promotional email. Whether it is in a given case depends on what was agreed. For lists without such an agreement, Taelo’s CRM side is built to clean the list, match people to companies, read the websites behind them and suggest the next step for each contact. Nothing is sent in the process.

Where something was agreed at the booth, Taelo writes exactly that after the fair, and nothing else:

  • After the fair, the evening round sorts the booth conversations. A draft is written on its own only where a step was agreed at the booth, and then exactly one email per step.
  • At the step offer, one reminder follows 7 days after the first email. It is dropped as soon as the contact replies, and it goes out only once you approve it on its own.
  • Nothing goes out without approval. You approve every draft yourself before it is scheduled.
  • Existing customers get no prospect email. For them, Taelo creates a task for the colleague who looks after the contact instead.

What Taelo contributes

  • Approval of the first email. You approve every first email of a campaign individually; without approval it does not go out. The sequence’s follow-ups then go out without a second approval.
  • Stop on reply. When a person replies, or when a reply cannot be classified with confidence, the sequence ends for that contact.
  • Unsubscribe. Every email carries a visible unsubscribe link and the one-click unsubscribe header that mail clients offer directly.
  • Suppression list. Unsubscribes, complaints and hard bounces go on your workspace’s suppression list. It is checked before every send and ends running sequences.
  • Origin. Every contact has a field for where it came from; an import can fill it from a column. When an address comes from a Taelo lead source, Taelo records the source itself and names it in the first email.
  • Sender details. Before the first send, Taelo requires your sender name and postal address; both appear under every email. Mail goes out from your own mailbox, under your name.

What Taelo does not do

  • Taelo does not check whether you may email a contact.
  • Taelo does not record consent and keeps no proof of consent.

Responsibility for the content and the recipients of every campaign lies with the sender. Taelo provides the tool and keeps a record of what went to whom, and when.

Questions

Write to hello@taelo.net. We cannot advise on your specific case, but we will tell you exactly what Taelo does and what it does not.