CASL-Compliant E-Mail Subscription Form
Nowadays, newsletter sign-up forms require way more information than they used to. Just asking for name and E-mail is no longer enough to legitimately contact a user through their E-mail. If you want to make sure your marketing list generation method is legal, there are certain criteria to meet for CASL requirements.
- Clearly explain why you are asking the user to opt-in.
- Make sure you include the name of the sender (company/individual) and that you have contact information near the form (such as mailing address, phone and/or E-mail address).
- Include an easy unsubscribe method and state that they can unsubscribe anytime.
- Provide a check box stating that "by checking the box, the user agrees to receive electronic communication from the sender."
It's also important to inform your audience of what you're going to send and why they might need it.
CASL-Compliant Text Messaging Opt-In Engagement Points
Text messaging is a great channel to develop a high-quality marketing list. You can create points deliberately meant to engage your audience to offer them a chance to opt-in to your marketing list. This gives you a list that's filled with an audience who is aware of their opt-in and interested in what you can deliver. Also, advanced text messaging software allows marketers to collect and store proof of consent from the customer.
The same rule applies to E-mail as well. Customers have to check "subscribe" if they want to receive electronic content from you.
SMS opt-in is especially convenient when building a mobile marketing list, since every time you text message your audience, they can respond back on their mobile device and create a response logged into the software.
Physical Forms during Trade Shows and Events
You can also mine contacts during trade shows and events by asking people to fill out a hard copy form. The one catch is that you still need to be able to prove that consent was given. You'll need to add the necessary opt-in sections on your form and have a good system for document storage to create a CASL-safe marketing list during challenging environments like face-to-face events.
A Few Tips
Avoid Poorly Designed Subscription Forms
Subscription pop-up windows that only ask for the name and email of the user will not work. It's considered spam to send consumers spontaneous promotional electronic messages. To avoid spam filters and CASL penalties, make sure that you not only have the necessary information prompts included in the window but that you also receive their information after the user fills out the form and clicks enter.
Don't Use Your Old Subscription List
If you didn't ask your subscribers that enrolled before July 1, 2015 to re-confirm their agreement to continue receiving newsletters, offers or any other type of electronic communication from you, you should stop using those contacts. You don't know if you might get penalized by using this disapproved CASL list since your customers can file a complaint any time they receive a message that they didn't opt-in for.
This blog post originally appeared on TTAG Systems' SMS Marketing Blog.
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