If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear, does it make a sound? If a bill passes in Parliament and no one is around to care, does it still take effect? I never really had a great answer for the first question but, the answer to the second one is a resounding yes, and in the course of researching the implications of Bill C-27 for clients I was surprised by the distinct lack of opinions apparent from the Canadian email marketing community.
I recently made this comment to Jim Ducharme (editor of The eMail Guide), who recently posted his “5 Things Marketers Need to Know” here at the eMail Guide. Jim replied with a couple of points:
1- It appears many Canadian companies think of Canada after the US because so many do the bulk of their business there.
2- There’s a tendency to assume we won’t do it any different than the Americans and so if you are covered for Can-Spam you are covered for any laws here.
I think Jim hits the nail on the head, and it may also be a matter of many of us simply leaving our homework until the last minute like we used to in high school. There are some serious implications that will affect most email marketers; in particular that we won’t be able to email any customers that we haven’t had a “business relationship” with for two years. This is especially the case for those of us involved in winback or cross-promotion campaigns for former (or even current) customers that haven’t transacted with us for a while. It will certainly be interesting times for the Canadian email marketers in January if and when Bill C-27 does indeed pass.
Curtis Rushing,
CRM Planner and StrategistBlitz – a division of Cossette Inc.
Cossette.com
Bio
Curtis Rushing leads CRM initiatives for clients of Blitz, uncovering key customer data insights and optimizing new and ongoing marketing initiatives, including curriculum and trigger-based email programs.
Jim Ducharme
November 17, 2009 at 10:16 amJudging from the buzz we are getting from the “hill”, it would seem that C-27 is going to happen and as you point out, we all need to be ready!
Regards,
Jim
Jim Ducharme
November 17, 2009 at 10:16 amJudging from the buzz we are getting from the “hill”, it would seem that C-27 is going to happen and as you point out, we all need to be ready!
Regards,
Jim
Matt - @cauce
November 18, 2009 at 7:20 pmI’m actually very surprised by the tone of this article. Most marketer’s will only need to make minor changes to their existing email programs.
It’s important to remember that;
1- Opt-in is recognized as the standard best practice for responsible advertisers already
2 – Almost every anti-spam law in the world is based on an opt-in regime
3 – ISP are already demanding opt-in from bulk mailers
4 – PIPEDA has already been promoting Opt-in Data collection for over a decade
5 – Bill C-27 is not entirely opt-in: in circumstances where the law allows consent to be implied, this is effectively a form of ‘opt-out’ consent. As such, Bill C-27 can be described as a mix between opt-in and opt-out.
One other thing to point out is that if you do not have an active and ongoing business relationship with an individual over an 18 month period the likelihood that the individual is still going to engage with you is greatly reduced. Unengaged users over this time are more likely to report users as spam and or turn into Spam traps which will impact the overall performance of an email marketer’s program in the long run. This law promotes best practices and marketers in Canada that are already compliant with PIPEDA and CAN-SPAM should have little to worry about.
Matt
Director At Large
CAUCE
Matt - @cauce
November 18, 2009 at 7:20 pmI’m actually very surprised by the tone of this article. Most marketer’s will only need to make minor changes to their existing email programs.
It’s important to remember that;
1- Opt-in is recognized as the standard best practice for responsible advertisers already
2 – Almost every anti-spam law in the world is based on an opt-in regime
3 – ISP are already demanding opt-in from bulk mailers
4 – PIPEDA has already been promoting Opt-in Data collection for over a decade
5 – Bill C-27 is not entirely opt-in: in circumstances where the law allows consent to be implied, this is effectively a form of ‘opt-out’ consent. As such, Bill C-27 can be described as a mix between opt-in and opt-out.
One other thing to point out is that if you do not have an active and ongoing business relationship with an individual over an 18 month period the likelihood that the individual is still going to engage with you is greatly reduced. Unengaged users over this time are more likely to report users as spam and or turn into Spam traps which will impact the overall performance of an email marketer’s program in the long run. This law promotes best practices and marketers in Canada that are already compliant with PIPEDA and CAN-SPAM should have little to worry about.
Matt
Director At Large
CAUCE
C. Rushing
November 19, 2009 at 8:32 amThanks for the comment Matt. Your points are all well taken. Our experience has been that, especially with businesses where the product is subsrcription-based or has a long selling cycle, in many cases emails have routinely been going out to customers past the 18 month – 2 year range.
Often, especially for smaller companies who may even deploy emails in-house, and especially in the b2b world, the assumption has been that customers who have not opted out were fair game for email communications for an unlimited time period.
My concern is for these companies, sending newsletters, product updates, etc. to former customers, and having no awareness of the changing landscape after this bill is passed.
Regards,
Curtis Rushing
C. Rushing
November 19, 2009 at 8:32 amThanks for the comment Matt. Your points are all well taken. Our experience has been that, especially with businesses where the product is subsrcription-based or has a long selling cycle, in many cases emails have routinely been going out to customers past the 18 month – 2 year range.
Often, especially for smaller companies who may even deploy emails in-house, and especially in the b2b world, the assumption has been that customers who have not opted out were fair game for email communications for an unlimited time period.
My concern is for these companies, sending newsletters, product updates, etc. to former customers, and having no awareness of the changing landscape after this bill is passed.
Regards,
Curtis Rushing
Jim Ducharme
November 19, 2009 at 9:22 amHi Matt,
Thanks for the comment! In my opinion, the more dialogue we can generate about this, the better. I think the key point Curtis was making is that any new law which could affect your marketing or client communications, should be something you or someone within you orginization is tracking closely, in turn making that information available to the decision/policy makers.
Do you feel that the awareness level regarding C-27 is high enough? I know CAUCE has certainly been doing it’s part to get the word out.
Regards,
Jim
Jim Ducharme
November 19, 2009 at 9:22 amHi Matt,
Thanks for the comment! In my opinion, the more dialogue we can generate about this, the better. I think the key point Curtis was making is that any new law which could affect your marketing or client communications, should be something you or someone within you orginization is tracking closely, in turn making that information available to the decision/policy makers.
Do you feel that the awareness level regarding C-27 is high enough? I know CAUCE has certainly been doing it’s part to get the word out.
Regards,
Jim
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