CanCham CanSpam?

[Lammarite]

I seem to have been added to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce database and am getting bombarded by newsletters and other crap I haven't asked for. I am not a member of the chamber and, although they are obviously very active, I do not want any part of it.
There is no 'unsubscribe' on the newsletters which I thought was illegal. I know I can send them an email and ask them to unsubscribe me but that is not the point- I seem to recall that all newsletters must have an unsubscribe otherwise they are SPAM which is, of course, illegal no?

[mjk]

I think you are right and they need to provide something to unsubscribe.

Just checked, and my own countries chamber also has no possibility to unsubcribe. They do not bombard me with email, but still have me in their regular mailing list, without me ever having asked for it.

My embassy/consulate on the other hand provides the unsubscribe thingy (and there I willingly subscribed)

[PDLM]

If it's unsolicited then it should have unsubscribe information. But you may have solicited it by going to one of their events and leaving a business card?

In any case I'm sure a simple reply to the email will get you off the list.

[Lammarite]

If it's unsolicited then it should have unsubscribe information. But you may have solicited it by going to one of their events and leaving a business card?

In any case I'm sure a simple reply to the email will get you off the list.

I just got a 3rd one from them in one day!

I met a guy who works there and he obviously entered my details from my card.

Like I said, I could send an email to them and ask them to take me off the list, but that wasn't the point of the question.

[PDLM]

As the law stands, if it's solicited then it isn't required to have unsubscribe details which is what the "Part 2" refers to in the following:

The following messages are exempted from application of Part 2 of the UEMO
(rules for sending of commercial electronic messages) only (Table 2 of Schedule
2 of the UMEO):
• electronic messages sent in response to the recipient’s requests;
• the primary purpose of the messages is:
(i) to facilitate, complete or confirm a commercial transaction previously
agreed;
(ii) to provide warranty information, product recall information or safety or
security information with respect to a commercial product previously
purchased or used by the recipient;
(iii) to deliver goods or services, including product updates and upgrades,
that the recipient is entitled to receive under the terms of the transaction
previously agreed;
(iv) to provide notification or updates in relation to a subscription,
membership, account, loan, etc; and
(v) to provide information directly related to an employment relationship
or a related benefit plan in which the recipient is currently involved,
participating or enrolled.

Source: http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/uem/uemo_i.pdf

[Lammarite]

So would you say that adding someone you have met is unsolicited or not? There must be a pretty fine line when you are talking to someone you know works for a chamber who you give your card to.

[gandrewwork]

Andrew Work, ED for CanCham. Yep, just send us an email and we'll take you off. We get three or four requests a year like that. We do have a contact for that on all our emails (I think - I better go check!)

True, there is new legislation. I have had to look at a very expensive IT overhaul given our old systems to comply with a law when, well, given we get 3 or 4 requests a year, seems pretty wild. No doubt the people that provide these services convinced government it was cheap and easy - which it is if you don't have to coordinate it with your other systems, already have IT people on staff, etc. etc.

I really wish that someone could come to me and show me something that came close to justifying an ROI on this kind of spend. Instead it seems like tons of upfront costs and vague reassurances of someday returns. That you'll never measure, epspecially for a small organisation. Most ED's of non-profits don't have an IT background, and so it seems like heavy costs everytime the consultants come after us.

Email communication overkill is something that concerns us and we struggle with it daily. Please do send an email and we'll get you off the list. Cheers!

GAW

[Lammarite]

Thanks Andrew.
The content of the newsletters is no issue, it is the frequency. I have had 3 today which I think most people would admit is quite a lot.
I am not in IT but I know someone on this site who works with an email system which is very interactive and brings people to the host website so newsletter contact can be condensed into a teaser with the option to click for more. This would mean you could consolidate all newsletters into one and actually have the ability to effectively track your response rate. The nest thing is that it is an open source newsletter so costs either very little or is free.
An unsubscribe option can just as easily be a hyperlinked unsubscribe which prompts an email client to compose an email with the subject line: Please unsubscribe me.
Anyhoo- thanks for coming on and discussing it.