Tweaking your emails in the CASL-era
You may have noticed WP emails arriving in your in-box at odd times. Apparently, our service provider has been dealing with the consequences of the new email legislation known as CASL. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.
That said, the spotty email service provides a nice way to get into a conversation about how advisors have dealt with CASL.
The legislation, as anyone sending mass emails knows, represents a serious shift in the way online communication will work. The new anti-spam legislation, unofficially called "CASL", was finalized in December 2013. According to the lawyers at Miller Thomson, "CASL is one of the toughest laws of its kind in the world". The law has the potential to impact "any individual or organization who sends e-mails, texts, social media messages or any other form of electronic communication to third parties in Canada, whether they are businesses, consumers or individuals."
What does this mean for advisors? Tanner Holtman, an associate consultant with Investors Group, has some ideas.
"Our company has been implementing compliant requirements and regulations for quite some time to ensure that we were completely ready for the new legislation to take action on July 1st," says Holtman. He points out that his firm has added the "Unsubscribe" option to their initial email signature, a nice option for the receiver. As well, when it comes to "cold" prospecting there are a few extra steps in terms of documenting that communication. But at the end of the day, not much will change.
"The biggest changes are similar to the Do Not Call legislation... there are a few extra checkpoints you have to clear before you can make business emails to individuals, but once we work through the gray area, I believe it will become 'business as usual.'"
Hopefully this will be the case with the WP daily mail as well.
That said, the spotty email service provides a nice way to get into a conversation about how advisors have dealt with CASL.
The legislation, as anyone sending mass emails knows, represents a serious shift in the way online communication will work. The new anti-spam legislation, unofficially called "CASL", was finalized in December 2013. According to the lawyers at Miller Thomson, "CASL is one of the toughest laws of its kind in the world". The law has the potential to impact "any individual or organization who sends e-mails, texts, social media messages or any other form of electronic communication to third parties in Canada, whether they are businesses, consumers or individuals."
What does this mean for advisors? Tanner Holtman, an associate consultant with Investors Group, has some ideas.
"Our company has been implementing compliant requirements and regulations for quite some time to ensure that we were completely ready for the new legislation to take action on July 1st," says Holtman. He points out that his firm has added the "Unsubscribe" option to their initial email signature, a nice option for the receiver. As well, when it comes to "cold" prospecting there are a few extra steps in terms of documenting that communication. But at the end of the day, not much will change.
"The biggest changes are similar to the Do Not Call legislation... there are a few extra checkpoints you have to clear before you can make business emails to individuals, but once we work through the gray area, I believe it will become 'business as usual.'"
Hopefully this will be the case with the WP daily mail as well.
