On July 1, 2014, Canada’s new anti-spam legislation, also known as CASL, went into effect with a bit of fanfare, and it has marketers concerned.
- Can legitimate businesses effectively continue email marketing campaigns targeted toward Canadian prospects and customers without being in violation and without being fined?
YES! As long as the rules for consent are understood and accounted for.
- How long will businesses have to comply?
Compliance for express and implied consent is required now.
- What will the consequences be for marketers who don’t comply with the new legislation?
Fines of $200 per infraction, up to $1Million per individual and $10Million per business. It doesn’t need to come to that if a compliant process is put into place.
- And what should marketers targeting Canadian individuals do to comply now? – Read on…
4 Recommendations That Will Help Now
At Growth Fusion, we’ve spent some time understanding the legislation and formulating an action plan for digital marketers. Here are 4 recommendations that we urge be taken now:
- Begin changing inbound forms to include “express” consent – Express consent means that an individual has given specific permission to be contacted by your company in an ongoing manner for commercial purposes. Unless your forms provided for opt-in express consent before July 1, you have implied consent or maybe no consent.
- Ensure that existing contact records have valid email addresses, company name, and country of residence for the addressee – Don’t rely on .ca email addresses or generic company mailing addresses
- Remove invalid contacts from mailings, including any contacts for which the country cannot be verified and Canadian contacts that do not meet the minimum guidelines for implied consent.
- Run express consent programs for Canadian leads and contacts determined to have given implied consent.
For greater context on CASL as it pertains to digital marketing, just send us an email at info@growthfusion.com and we will be happy to send you a helpful presentation that explains the new legislation and our recommendations to marketers in greater depth. We welcome your feedback and hearing about your own experiences.