Case study: Newsletters mistakenly flagged as spam… What to do?

If you send out a newsletter, chances are good that at least one recipient has unsubscribed, and in doing so, cited “spam” as their reason for unsubscribing. If you have Hotmail, Yahoo, or Google email addresses in your lists or CRM database, flagging an email as “spam” is even easier for them.

Even if your newsletter or communication is not “spam”, people nowadays get easily irritated and take out their anger on email by hitting that spam button. Sad story, but true.

Now without having to get into the details of email deliverability, each time an email you or your company sends is tagged as spam, there are checks and balances that go on in the background, affecting your email deliverability score. If you score reaches a certain level, or if the email platform you use to send emails receives a certain amount of “spam” hits, you could receive a warning or worse, be banned from sending emails.

This is unfortunately what happened to one of our clients.

Situation:

Our client’s email address acquisition process was not optimised, and although their communications were definitely not spam, their newsletters were flagged by some. They received warnings and were only a couple of emails away from being blacklisted. And undoubtedly, equally close to receiving a notice from the CRTC.

This was a huge concern for our client as email was crucial to their business model. Without it, they would not have been able to serve their users.

Solution:

They were in a precarious situation and they needed to act quickly. Our solution for them was simple, set them up with a CASL Compliance Program.

As per CASL:

“A person must not be found to be liable for a violation if they establish that they exercised due diligence to prevent the commission of the violation.”¹

And as per the CRTC:

“The development and proper implementation of a documented and effective corporate compliance program is a useful risk-management strategy: it may (i) reduce the likelihood of businesses violating the rules and/or CASL, and (ii) help businesses establish a due diligence defence in the case of a violation of the rules or CASL.²

In our dealings with the CRTC, we know that they are not looking for companies and organizations to be perfect, but they do want them to be responsible.

Process:

As part of the process of establishing a Compliance Program, one of the first things that we did and that is required by the CRTC, is to perform a risk analysis.

We assessed our client’s situation according to one hundred items in our compliance grid, while at the same time searched for operational and marketing optimizations regarding electronic communications.

We then supplied them with a report of our audit, complete with recommendations for each issue, as well as optimisation tips and practical advice. Our client also operates in Europe so we provided GDPR recommendations as well.

They then fixed their issues, appointed a Compliance Officer, began documenting in the appropriate CASL registries, implemented a CASL Compliance Policy, and updated their Privacy Policy.

They are now CASL certified and can send electronic communications with peace of mind. They are no longer at risk of being blacklisted or of receiving a hefty fine.

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If you’re wondering if any of your emails or newsletters may have been flagged as “spam”, give us a call and we’ll help you out. 514-867-1230

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