A newsletter people read starts with an opt-in list

Email marketing is the way to reach your customers without depending on social media algorithms or an ad budget. A newsletter list is the company's own asset; it doesn't disappear when a platform changes its rules. However, sending commercial email in Türkiye has a legal framework, and the major email providers are applying increasingly strict rules to bulk sending. In this post we go through, in order, what you need to know before you start sending a newsletter.

The legal framework — Law No. 6563 and IYS

In Türkiye, promotional and campaign emails, SMS messages and calls fall under Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce and the related Regulation on Commercial Communication and Commercial Electronic Messages. The core idea of this legislation is this: sending a promotional message requires the recipient's prior consent, and the recipient must be able to opt out easily at any time.

İYS (the Message Management System, Türkiye's national consent registry) is where these consents are recorded centrally. Put simply, it is the official record that says "this person agreed to receive email from this company." Service providers sending commercial messages are expected to register their consents in IYS and rely on that record before sending.

What to watch for in practice:

• Consent must be explicit and separate. A pre-ticked box on a sign-up form doesn't count as consent. You need a separate, unticked box such as "I'd like to hear about campaigns by email."
• Every message must include a way to opt out. There should be a one-click unsubscribe link at the bottom of the newsletter, and opt-out requests must be processed within the period the legislation sets.
• Informational messages are different. Messages about an existing relationship, such as order confirmations, invoices and password resets, don't count as promotional. But squeezing a campaign into these messages can turn them into commercial messages.
• For messages to merchants and tradespeople, the legislation has separate provisions on the prior-consent requirement; however, the obligations related to the right to opt out and IYS still apply. If you have a B2B list, we recommend confirming your situation with your legal advisor.

On top of this, an email address is personal data; collecting and storing the list requires a privacy notice under KVKK (Türkiye's Personal Data Protection Law).

Don't buy ready-made lists

Sending to a purchased or scraped email list is both legally problematic and technically self-harming. These lists contain abandoned addresses and "spam trap" addresses; email providers quickly flag domains that send to them. As a result, not only your newsletter but also your sales team's everyday correspondence can start landing in spam folders.

An opt-in list grows slowly, but it grows healthily. Reasonable ways to grow the list:

• A newsletter sign-up area on the site that says clearly what subscribers will get
• An optional newsletter consent when someone downloads a data sheet, catalog or guide
• Business cards collected at fairs and events with written consent
• A one-time, simple invitation asking existing customers for consent

Technical setup — reaching the inbox

Whether a newsletter arrives depends on technical settings before it depends on content:

• SPF, DKIM and DMARC records must be set up correctly on your domain. These three records tell the receiving server "this email really comes from this company." Details are in our post on SPF, DKIM, DMARC.
• Since 2024, Google and Yahoo have explicitly announced requirements for bulk senders: authentication, one-click unsubscribe and low spam complaint rates. Mail that doesn't meet these requirements can be rejected.
• Bulk sending shouldn't go out from the same server and address as everyday business correspondence. Using a separate sending service or subdomain for the newsletter protects your main address's reputation. It's important to set up your business email with this separation in mind.

Content — why should they open it?

Once the technical and legal parts are done, the hardest question remains: why should anyone read this email?

• Look at whether you have something to say, not at frequency. A rich newsletter once a month beats an empty one every week.
• One main topic. Instead of squeezing everything into one newsletter, build it around one piece of news, one guide or one product.
• Let the subject line describe the content honestly. Clickbait may raise open rates, but it raises unsubscribes too.
• Segment. The newsletter going to dealers shouldn't be the same as the one going to end users. Even a simple "customer type" field on the list makes a big difference.
• Readable on mobile. One column, large text, one prominent button.

Checklist before you start

How we do it at Globya

We start newsletter work with the infrastructure: domain records, sending separation, the sign-up form, the consent box and the privacy notice. Then we set up list management in line with IYS and the unsubscribe flow. On the content side, we work out together the topics where the company genuinely has something to say. KVKK requirements are never left incomplete in Globya's work, and there is no extra charge for them; see KVKK compliance.

Frequently asked questions