Amazon tests letting sellers email customers directly about new products and sales

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon is testing a new feature for sellers that will let them contact customers directly by email to notify them of things like new product announcements or sales. It’s a major change from Amazon’s current policy, which is to limit the amount of interaction between customers and companies that sell on Amazon, outside of resolving things like returns or order issues.

As CNBC reports, the new “Manage Your Customer Engagement” tool won’t let companies just spam previous customers with promotional emails. They’ll only be able to contact Amazon users who have specifically chosen to follow a particular company.

Crucially, Amazon isn’t giving sellers blank-check access to customers’ personal contact information. Rather, Amazon will tell…

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