Can we write to an address found on a company website?

There is an exception for conspicuously published addresses with no exclusion notice, provided the message is relevant to the person's role. It's a narrow exception, widely misunderstood, and it doesn't cover bulk sending. Get it validated before building a strategy on it.

What does a small business actually risk?

The penalties in the legislation are high and apply to small businesses too. In practice the most common risk isn't the fine: it's sender reputation, which degrades and eventually sends your legitimate email — quotes and invoices included — to the spam folder.

Following up without breaking anti-spam law

The two forms of consent

Type	How it arises	How long
Express	The person ticks a box or explicitly asks	Until withdrawn
Implied	Existing business relationship, e.g. a purchase	Generally two years

The most useful practical distinction: implied consent exists when the person made a move toward you. They bought, requested a quote, filled in a form. It does not exist because their address appeared on a website.

Why a quote follow-up is generally defensible

The person requested the quote themselves — the move came from them.
The message is about what they asked for, not about something else.
There is a dated, traceable business relationship.

Conversely, sending a promotion for a different service to that same person falls outside their original request, and needs a firmer consent basis.

What you must be able to show

If there's a complaint, the sender must demonstrate consent. A useful record contains at minimum:

The date and time of consent.
The EXACT text that was accepted — not a summary written afterwards.
The channel it was given through.
The unsubscribe history, honoured without delay.

The text message case

The law covers commercial electronic messages, which includes text. An appointment reminder or a work-completed notice is an expected transactional message, treated differently from a promotion. The line is crossed the moment an offer is added to the service message.

Can we write to an address found on a company website?: There is an exception for conspicuously published addresses with no exclusion notice, provided the message is relevant to the person's role. It's a narrow exception, widely misunderstood, and it doesn't cover bulk sending. Get it validated before building a strategy on it.

What does a small business actually risk?: The penalties in the legislation are high and apply to small businesses too. In practice the most common risk isn't the fine: it's sender reputation, which degrades and eventually sends your legitimate email — quotes and invoices included — to the spam folder.