What you should know about the new Anti-Spam Legislation ...

As you may be aware, on July 1^st 2014, new legislation regarding anti-spam will come into effect. This will have an impact and possibly alter how businesses conduct their online marketing activity.

One of the most prominent changes will be establishing consent between customers prior to sending emails, text messages, and various other forms of communication such as connections through social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. This big change is called the Commercial Electronic Message (CEM).

As a result of this new legislation and what it requires, the onus is on the Canadian business owner to come up with a way to allow for its email recipients, for example, to have the ability to block or unsubscribe from receiving messages.

Thankfully, businesses will be given three years following the enactment of this legislation to make all the necessary changes that require compliance with these rules.

As a business owner, it goes without saying that the relationship between myself and my clients are the most important thing, as well as having the ability to communicate regularly with them.

One problem that stems from this new proposed legislation is that it will become difficult for businesses to contact potential clients via email because, as the legislation stipulates, these prospective clients will not qualify as a business relationship that has already been established.

As you can probably guess, there are some exemptions. These apply specifically to personal and family relationships, business to business emails, and referrals brought forth by a third party. 

Once again, as this legislation comes into force, it will be the responsibility of business owners to make sure that their employees abide by this new law. Failing to adhere could result in a hefty fine of up to one million dollars for individuals and up to ten million dollars for corporations.

In order to avoid any problems, be sure to conduct a thorough assessment of your business’ marketing activities keeping in mind that this new anti-spam law will affect the most common ways of communication for your business: emails, texts and social media outlets. It is also important to impose the option to unsubscribe on electronic messages.

This will allow for entrepreneurs to avoid foreseeable problems or potential consequences.