There’s a new anti-spam law in Canada. And it’s beginning next week. If you haven’t sent notices to your Canadian prospects yet, you should do that right now.
The key to the new law is consent. It’s a bit stricter than the U.S. laws. Most notably, you can’t email prospects unless you have their consent. There is implied consent with people you’ve conducted business with recently, but anyone else is off-limits. Get those requests for permission out this week!
For more information on the details of the law, known as CASL, download this paper from Real Magnet.
Here is a sample of an email you can send to your prospects to get their consent.
Hello [First name if you have it],
Canada’s new anti-spam legislation (CASL) comes into effect July 1st, 2014. After that date businesses require consent from their customers to contact them via e-mail.
If you’ve conducted business with [your organization] in the past two years you are deemed to have provided “implied consent” but if you have not, we require your express consent to send you e-mails.
If you wish to continue receiving e-mails from [Your organization], please reply to this message.
If you do NOT wish to remain on our e-mail list, do nothing and as of July 31, 2014, you will be removed from our list and will no longer receive our e-mails.
We look forward to continuing a relationship with you and hope you have a nice summer. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact [insert a name and email/telephone number].
Sincerely,
[Name, title, company]