Acceptable Use Policy

The short version

DemandSwarm sends email under your name to people at other businesses who did not ask to hear from you. That only works if every email is honest, relevant and easy to stop.

These rules apply to every customer and every swarm. Some are built into the software and cannot be switched off. The rest are promises you make by using the service.

Rules the software enforces

1. A few people per business, never the whole office. The swarm writes to a small number of named people at a business: two at a small one, three at a mid-sized one, five at a large one, at least four working days apart. Once anyone there replies or asks to stop, no swarm in your account writes to anyone else at that business, unless the reply names a colleague to ask instead.
2. Two follow-ups at most. If there is no answer, the swarm sends a follow-up after about four working days and, if there is still no answer, one more about six working days after that. Then it stops.
3. Stop means stop. Every email says how to opt out. Anyone who replies asking not to be contacted, in any wording, is added to your do-not-contact list automatically and is never emailed again. Addresses that bounce are added too. You cannot remove someone who opted out.
4. Work addresses at businesses. The swarm writes to people at businesses about business offers. It does not write to consumers.
5. Your real identity on every email. Each email carries your name, your business name and a valid postal address for your business. The sending domains are registered for your account and are not disguised.
6. No invented facts. Emails may only state prices, numbers and claims that you wrote in your offer or profile. Drafts that contain anything else are held back for a person to look at.
7. A steady pace. Sending is limited per mailbox per day, ramps up slowly on new mailboxes, and is capped each month by your plan.
8. A short cooling-off between customers. If another DemandSwarm customer wrote to the same person recently, your email to them waits.

What you may not use DemandSwarm for

1. Anything illegal where you or the recipient are, or any offer you are not licensed or permitted to make.
2. Deceptive content: false claims, fake urgency, misleading subject lines, pretending to have a prior relationship, or pretending to be someone else.
3. Offers in these categories: adult content, gambling, weapons, illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia, tobacco and vaping, payday or high-cost lending, get-rich-quick or multi-level marketing schemes, cryptocurrency or investment solicitations, debt relief, counterfeit goods, and political or election campaigning.
4. Health claims that are not supported, and any offer that promises to diagnose, treat or cure a condition.
5. Referral inducements in healthcare. If you ask a medical, dental or other healthcare provider to refer patients to you, you may not offer or hint at anything of value in return: no gifts, meals, discounts, fees or favors.
6. Collecting personal data for any purpose other than the conversation itself. You may not sell, rent or share the contact details the swarm finds, and you may not load them into another outreach tool.
7. Harassment, threats, or contacting someone who has asked you to stop by any route, including by phone or in person.
8. Writing to people or businesses outside the United States. DemandSwarm is built for US business-to-business email only.
9. Trying to get around any limit in this policy, for example by opening several accounts to contact the same business more than once.

Your responsibilities

1. Your offer and your profile must be true, and you must be able to deliver what the emails offer.
2. You answer the replies. Drafted answers are suggestions. You are responsible for what you approve and send.
3. If you already have a list of people who have asked you not to contact them, add it to your do-not-contact list before your first swarm.
4. Keep your postal address and business details current. Email cannot go out without them.

If this policy is broken

We may pause a swarm, hold drafts, or suspend the account while we look into it, and we will tell you why. Serious or repeated breaches end the account without a refund.

We may also act on complaints from recipients, mailbox providers or our sending vendors, because one customer's behavior can damage delivery for everyone.

To report an email sent through DemandSwarm, write to abuse@demandswarm.com. We read every report.