How the new spam law affects speakers
By John Shattock, The Marketing Coach –
www.marketingcoach.co.nz
What’s this anti-spam law everyone is talking
about, and how does it affect NSA members?
Like me, you will have received numerous emails in recent days from
businesses asking you to confirm it is OK for them to stay in touch.
The phrase they use is something like: "The Unsolicited Electronics
Messages Act 2007 requires us to make sure you still want to receive
correspondence from us via email."
You may be wondering whether you need to do this too.
Let’s get this straight. The Act does not require you to reconfirm
everyone on your list. If you obtained permission originally, you
do not need to do anything.
Even if you did not obtain permission, you may still not have to
do anything.
If you have done business with the recipient previously, they have
provided their email address to you, or requested information from
you by email - then those situations come under what the Act calls
"inferred consent".
But if your email list includes people whose addresses you obtained
by other means, then you could be asking for trouble by continuing
to send them commercial emails. Those emails asking you to confirm
it’s OK to keep in touch are seeking “express consent”,
albiet somewhat belatedly.
For example, if you got my address from the NSA membership list
and included me in your electronic mail-outs, you have neither “express”
nor “inferred” consent and you are in breach of the
Act.
There’s no need to worry about me. In my business I need to
be a student of other people’s marketing. But others could
get upset and complain.
On the website Internal Affairs has set up about the Act, a not-for-profit
organisation is used as an example of Inferred Consent:
"Inferred consent is limited in its application. For example
if people join a tennis club you can infer consent to send them
a tennis newsletter, but you could not infer consent to send them
an investment newsletter."
How to get people to subscribe to your email list (even while you
are speaking) is another story (or maybe even a seminar).
The other important requirements now required by law are:
- All email newsletters need to include your full contact details
- You must have a working method for people to leave your list.
This must operate for at least 30 days after emails are sent and
“unsubscribe” requests must be actioned within 5 days.
Online resources:
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