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.
