Count your Contacts: In or Out?

I get it... this anti-spam stuff is onerous and complicated. So you might be thinking that you’ll send your current subscribers a consent request just to be safe. It can’t really hurt anything, can it? Safe, not sorry, right?

This is a situation where safety has a significant price tag.

Here is an example to show how your current email marketing efforts will be impacted.

Let’s say you have a list of 1000 subscribers. (Keep in mind that you may already have express consent from some of them.)

We’ll be generous and say you get an average open rate of 25% (industry average is 20%). That means that 250 people open your newsletter, but not always the same 250 people.

Out of those 250 who open your email, how many do you think will opt-in? Statistics (and my experience) show that it will be about 30% - in this case, 75 people.

With one swift move you've reduced your mailing list from 1000 to 75. Will you continue to publish a newsletter for 75 people?

And what about those 925 subscribers you lost? Well, you asked for permission and they didn't provide it, so you can’t email them again... even to ask again. Your permission has been revoked.

Before you sabotage all your hard work, take the time to understand how the legislation (CASL) impacts your business. Three-minute news spots and brief newspaper articles do not address all of the exemptions and exceptions – they’re only telling a tiny portion of the story.

It’s a serious business decision, not a mandate.

originally published in Work Better, Not Harder June 25, 2014

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