Does CASL Effect You?
Do I Care About CASL?
CASL is Coming! CASL is Coming! quick, everybody panic!
CASL is really really really long. We re Going To Hit The Highlights & Explore How To Survive in a Post-CASL World Overview of CASL CASL s Bite CASL Requirements In-Depth Look at CASL Consent How to Survive CASL Marketing Tips & Tactics
Legal Disclaimer I am not a lawyer. I have never been a lawyer. I do not play a lawyer on TV. This presentation is intended to provide general comments on the new law. It is not intended to be a comprehensive review nor is it intended to provide legal advice. Readers/Viewers should not act on information in the publication without first seeking specific advice from their lawyer.
Who Am I? CEO & Founder of Elite Email (Founded 2003) Canada s leading email & mobile marketing company A Few Awards Business Excellence Award Under 30, Toronto Board of Trade Top 50 Email Marketing Service Provider, Website Magazine Top 300 Canadian IT Companies, Backbone Magazine Top 10 Community Blogger, Itbusiness.ca One of two speakers in Canada for the Email Experience Council Featured speaker at Email World 2013 (San Diego), Email Evolution Conference 2014 (Miami) Father to one little princess with another baby on the way. Terrible golfer. A bit of media coverage:
What is CASL Trying to Achieve? Official Stated Goal: An Act to promote the efficiency and adaptability of the Canadian economy by regulating certain activities that discourage reliance on electronic means of carrying out commercial activities. CASL did not end up being a no spam law, it is a here is how you are allowed to communicate law.
Phased Implementation July 1, 2014 Bulk of CASL takes effect January 15, 2015 Unsolicited installation of computer programs July 1, 2017 Private right of action Government Enforcement By: Competition Bureau of Canada Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
Take Advantage of the Transitional Period When CASL goes live, there is a special provision that gives people 3 years to obtain express consent. This applies to implied consent contacts assuming they have been receiving communication from you already. This is instead of the usual 2 year implied consent window (or 6 months for inquiries) Section 66 deems implied consent for a period of 36 months (unless the recipient withdraws consent earlier) where there is an existing business or non-business relationship and the relationship includes the communication of CEMs. During the transitional period, the definition of existing business or non-business relationship is not subject to the limitation periods (6 months and 2 years) that would otherwise be applicable under CASL, for implied consent to exist.
When Does CASL Have Jurisdiction? CASL has jurisdiction any time a device in Canada is used to access the commercial electronic message (CEM). The sender of the CEM does not have to be in Canada. American companies that email Canadians need to comply with CASL. If a Canadian organization sends a CEM to a country that has their own spam laws, CASL is not in force.
Penalties for Violating CASL Individuals: Up to $1 million Companies: Up to $10 million Individuals in a company can also be held accountable on a personal basis.
Main Requirements of CASL CASL is all about consent. You need to have permission to email someone. There are rules about how to obtain valid consent. ex. You must include a statement that consent can be withdrawn. Consent needs to be an affirmative action. ex. No more pre-checked boxes on forms. An unsubscribe method is mandatory. Requests must be processed within 10 days.
More Main Requirements of CASL No misleading sender names, subject lines or forms. It must be clear who is collecting emails and who is sending them. Include a mailing address and a contact method. ex. web form, email address or phone number. PO boxes are acceptable. Track last purchase date for implied consent. Must know when the two year window lapses. Referrals need to be disclosed. The person who made the referral must be named.
Exemptions From CASL Messages Sent To Friends and family People within your company People in a company you work with People you think aren t in Canada Replying to an email you received Phone calls (telemarketing) & faxes Messages sent by a Canadian registered charity about raising funds. Messages about legal obligations Social networks are in a gray area. Some say direct messages are included, but others say they are not, provided the user can block messages via the social network. Messages sent from a Canadian political party or organization, or a person who is a candidate for publicly elected office.
In-Depth Look at CASL Consent The underlying key to CASL is consent. Do you have consent? How can you get consent? There are two primary types of consent: Express Consent Implied Consent
Express Consent AKA Explicit Consent Yes, I want to receive emails from (insert company name). Most obvious type of consent because you know you have it and you can prove it. The best type of consent because it s valid until the contact revokes it. Two most common ways to acquire express consent: A mailing list signup form on your website A confirmation link in an email
Valid Express Consent Clearly describe the purpose(s) for requesting consent. Provide the name of the organization/person seeking consent, and identify on whose behalf consent is sought, if different. Indicate that the recipient can unsubscribe or withdraw consent at any time. Being sneaky is not allowed. Don t even try it!
No More Pre-Checked Boxes Express consent must be an affirmative action. You cannot have a pre-checked box on your signup or checkout forms. Any existing subscribers that were obtained with a pre-checked box, need to be re-confirmed.
Implied Consent I m totally a customer of (insert company name). You get implied consent automatically when someone makes a purchase or signs a contract. Implied consent expires. More subjective and ambiguous. Express consent is always better.
When Does Implied Consent Exist? The recipient & sender have an "existing business relationship" or an "existing non-business relationship." The recipient has "conspicuously published" their email address, the publication is not accompanied by a statement that the recipient does not wish to receive unsolicited messages, and the message is relevant to the person's job. If the recipient has disclosed their email address to the sender without indicating that they do not want to receive unsolicited messages and the message is relevant to the person's job. This can be thought of as the business card consent.
Business Relationships Defined An existing business relationship exists where the sender and recipient have engaged in business together within the previous two years from the date the message is sent. An existing business relationship also exists when the recipient made an inquiry to the sender in the previous 6 months.
Non-Business Relationships Defined Donor or volunteer to a registered charity, political party or political candidate. Member of a club, association or other voluntary organization. Providing a service to the public (such as a hospital or other medical providers) does not grant a non-business relationship The scope for non-business relationship is VERY narrow. It is typically not what people would assume.
Step 1: Know The Date Circle July 1, 2014 on every calendar you have. Your countdown to CASL begins now!
Step 2: Get Out That Rage Yes, becoming CASL compliant will require some work. Yes, no one wants more work. However, this is happening, so bang your desk, shout out some curse words, and then come to terms with the fact that it s time to get down to business.
Step 3: Internal Awareness You re watching this presentation, so you know all about CASL. Great job! Bring everyone in your organization (from the very top to the very bottom) up to speed on CASL. They don t need to know the nitty-gritty details, but they need to know the basics.
Step 4: Identify Key Players CASL has broad rules and probably impacts many parts of your organization. Try to create a list of all the people & departments that need to be consulted. Build your internal team of CASL compliance super heroes so you can be confident nothing gets overlooked.
Step 5: Initial General Assessment Look at every aspects of your organization to pinpoint where CASL can have an impact. Online data capture (e.g. mailing list sign up forms, landing page forms, lead generation forms, etc.) Offline data capture (e.g. trade shows, phone leads, received business cards, etc.) Offline forms (e.g. registration forms, etc.) Existing mailing lists CRM (customer) databases Current triggered emails (e.g. welcome email, confirmation email) Current email campaigns (including engagement metrics) Current manually sent emails
Step 6: Dive Into Existing Databases You may have subscribers that are already CASL compliant. We need to find them! Look at EVERY database you have. Do you have valid express consent for those subscribers? Create a segment of Valid CASL Subscribers and Everyone Else.
Step 7: Implied Consent Customers Tap into your existing customer data. Does your CRM system track last purchase date? If not, it needs to start, as that date triggers the implied consent window. The implied consent window resets to a full 2 years after each new purchase/contract. Track the date of inquiries because a 6 month window is created.
Step 8: Start Emailing Implied Contacts The special transitional period gives you a 3 year window for implied consent contacts instead of the usual 2 year. That only holds true if you have been emailing them before CASL goes live. You identified these people in step 7, now make sure you are emailing them.
Step 9: Audit All Inbound Data Funnels In step 5, we identified where new data is coming from. Now we are going to make sure that anything that feeds data into your organization is CASL compliant. Review what it means to acquire valid express consent. Take a look at every signup or enrollment form (online and offline) and make sure it meets compliance standards. Can processes that happen orally be modified so a paper trail is created? We need the proof. Take a screenshot of CASL compliant signup forms. This way you can do one final check and have it as evidence.
Step 10: Ready. Set. Reconfirm! In step 6, we identified subscribers you already have express consent from. Our goal is to get ALL our subscribers into that group so we can keep emailing the most amount of people. The idea is to get them to click a valid confirmation link. Visit our website = Not Valid Click here to confirm your interest in receiving our emails = BINGO! Two core types of confirmation requests: Dedicated vs. Embedded
Dedicated Confirmation Campaigns Only purpose is to request confirmation. No other competing content. Very simple email with a clear call to action of clicking the confirmation link. Do not over-send this type of mailing because it doesn t really have any value to the recipient. Once someone confirms, they should never get this type of mailing.
Embedded Confirmation Campaigns Your standard email newsletter with an added special confirmation section for unconfirmed contacts. These emails still have a value to your audience because it has your typical content. With more competing content, you may get less confirmations on an individual email. You can include the confirmation call to action on every upcoming email until the implied consent window lapses. Start tracking confirmations as a key metric.
Step 11: Purge Non-Compliant Contacts Before CASL goes live, it s time to trim your mailing list! Identify contacts that you do not have proper express or implied consent, and remove them from your mailing list. While this may be sad, keep in mind that subscribers who did not confirm, are probably far from your best leads. Sending email to a smaller group of the right people is better than a bigger group of the wrong people. It s not the size of your mailing list, It s how you use it!
Step 12: CASL is Here! The date you circled on your calendar so long ago has arrived. Pat yourself on the back for doing a great job. Tell your boss you deserve a raise because you might have saved them huge fines. Call your other marketing friends who are in a crazy panic and rub it in their face that you re sitting pretty. ( but don t tell them I told you to do that!)
Step 13: Document Your Efforts Take a minute and document what you have done to become compliant. If you get in trouble with CASL, but can demonstrate you may strong efforts to comply, that will play a big factor. Now might also be a good time to check your organization s privacy policy.
Step 14: Keep an Eye On Things The goal wasn t just to get compliant. The goal is to stay compliant. Monitor your inbound data channels and make sure nothing falls out of compliance. Be strict about processing unsubscribe requests. Practice good list hygiene.
The Digital Multi-Channel Marketing Landscape Throw Away The Old Rule Book! + + Email Mobile Social Any customer can have a car painted any color he wants so long as it is black. -- Henry Ford Any customer can engage with us as long as they only use one channel. -- Bad Marketers Everywhere
Email Still Reigns Supreme 3 Times as many email accounts as there are Facebook & Twitter combined. The total posts on Facebook and Twitter combined add up to 0.2% of all email traffic. The total number of searches on Google, Yahoo! & Bing combined equals just 1.1% of all email traffic. The Direct Marketing Association puts email marketing's ROI for 2011 at $40.56 for every $1 invested.
Content Is King Context Is Queen
What Interests Your Customers? Coupons New Products Promotions Special Events Breaking News Health Tips Media Coverage New Items / Products Tips & Tricks Lifestyle Suggestions New Locations Delivery Service Extended Hours Recipes
Build Your Content Calendar Plan Now, Execute Later
Multiple Remarketing Channels Engage your customers wherever they are.
Pick The Right Channel Your method of communication impacts your results. What is your objective? What are the pros and cons of each channel? How will you measure results? Don t skip the question: what channel should I use? Open Rate Averages SMS Text Message: 98%* Email Marketing: 19.7%** * Frost & Sullivan, 2010 ** Silverpop 2013 Email Marketing Benchmark Study, 2013
Leverage Mobile Coupons to Grow Your Database No Printing Coupons, No Wasted Paper
Traditional Advertising 2.0 Same Ad. Now building your database. Turn static print ads into an interactive lead capture tool. Capture both a mobile number and email address for multi-channel lead nurturing. Tip: Use a contest to sweeten the incentive!
Mobile Business Card Here is my information. Now would you like to join my mailing list?
Connect With Elite Email Whether you ve got a big question or a small question We Are Always Here To Help! Toll-Free: 877-789-ELITE (3548) Toronto: 416-747-6111 New York: 212-330-8020 facebook.com/eliteemail Sales: sales@eliteemail.com Support: support@eliteemail.com @eliteemail 5511 Steeles Ave. West Suite 200 Toronto, ON M9L 1S7 1133 Broadway Suite 706 New York, NY 10010 blog.eliteemail.com youtube.com/eliteemailvideos