The Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) – a definite step towards better consumer rights – shook small to mid-sized enterprises not only in Toronto but the entire country. After all, inbound marketing employs a number of channels that use commercial electronic messages (CEMs), which fall under the new CASL regulations.
One inbound marketing effort that will need to be kept CASL-compliant is your email marketing. Email list management, in particular, can now be trickier than you’re used to. Luckily, you can take practical steps to not only manage your local Toronto email list for better inbound marketing but also stay compliant to all of CASL’s rules.
Never Purchase or Rent a List
Seriously, with the advent of spam, this was a shady thing to do even before CASL anyway. While it is true that the grey of renting or purchasing lists presented a lot of opportunities for small businesses in principle, it simply isn’t an inbound marketing best practice.
With CASL’s nuanced rules on consent and the renewal of consent, it’s imperative that if you still buy or rent email lists, you stop. Before you droop your shoulders and bow your head, however, know that this is in fact an opportunity to learn the actual best practices in email list building, which are more sustainable and profitable in the long run anyway. If you haven’t already invested in a third party email management company such as HubSpot, MailChimp or Constant Contact now is the time.
Scrub Your Email Lists
“Scrub” is the operative word here, and it’s used intentionally. No, you don’t just “clean” your lists, you scrub them. CASL regulations are very strict on the management of implied and express consent email addresses. At the same time “scrubbing” your email lists is more about good inbound marketing practices and not just complying to CASL.
Every time you launch a campaign your third party service provider, provides a campaign performance report that identifies hard bounces or irregular email addresses that can mislead your performance monitoring. It’s those email addresses you want to scrub.
Drop the Spreadsheets
CASL specifically indicates that your lists should not be maintained in different places – be it physical or digital. So if you’re still living in the age of multiple spreadsheets, drop them.
An email management service provider will function far better than a bunch of spreadsheets anyway, and it also helps your overall inbound marketing efforts. The aim of this particular CASL regulation is for businesses to centralize their lists so that email sending is better regulated.
Well, there you have it, but remember: the most practical tip for CASL-compliant email list management is to always attempt to secure express consent instead of being satisfied with implied. People who expressly consent to receiving a CEM are more likely to purchase anyway.
Keep compliant to CASL and your inbound marketing campaigns in Toronto and elsewhere will undoubtedly improve.
