Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) is a law aimed at regulating commercial electronic messages (CEM). It applies to any marketer sending commercial electronic messages (CEM) to or from Canada. As part of CASL, in order to electronically contact a Canadian customer (via email, social media, instant messenger, etc), you must ensure that your message contains ALL of the following:
- you have the prior express or implied consent of the recipient,
- the message contains certain information to identify you, and
- the recipient has a mechanism to allow the recipient to unsubscribe from getting CEMs from you.
As Ambassadors, we know that contact with your customers is crucial. To maximize your contact options with your customers, please be sure to:
- Specifically ask Canadian customers and Hostess if it is okay to contact them after the Event to provide delightful customer service with future sales, specials and offers. Your spoken consent request has to have the same information as the email written consent requested above. After June 30, 2014, you cannot send an email to seek consent.
- If the customer gives their consent, indicate this on Dottie or in your files. Send the person an email confirming he or she consented and save that email confirmation for your records. Follow up as normal, with every guest within 7 days of the Event and at line launches.
- If the customer does not give their consent, follow the CASL Addendum to the Independent Ambassador Policies & Procedures and reach out to this person only by phone. The good news is – phone calls yield higher results!
- If someone chooses to unsubscribe from getting your emails, you must honor this choice and stop sending this individual emails.
- f you have Customers and Host from whom you have not already obtained express consent, reach out via a phone call and obtain express consent from them. If they give you verbal consent, please send them the following simple email consent request and ask them to reply with written consent. Save that emailed reply for your records.
[Pursuant to Canada’s anti-spam legislation (“CASL”), I am seeking your consent on behalf of myself, as an Independent Stella & Dot Ambassador, to receive information about Stella & Dot LLC’s products, Events and events via email and text messages.
If you wish to withdraw your consent to receive communications from me, you may do so at any time by replying to this email or writing to me at [insert your mailing address here].
In addition, if you would like to withdraw your consent to receive marketing communications from Stella & Dot emailprivacy@stelladot.com.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding our or CASL compliance, please contact me at [insert your email address here], review Stella & Dot’s Privacy Policy, or contact Stella & Dot LLC at privacy@stelladot.com or by post, Attn: Privacy Administrator, 1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 375, San Bruno, CA 94066.]
What’s left? Just to continue growing your business! Remember that the fortune is in the follow up and that doesn’t change! Provide the same amazing service you always have, receiving consent from all your contacts prior to email or text.
CASL FAQs
We always want to be in service to our loyal customers. The Canada Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) became effective Tuesday, July 1, 2014. Please use these FAQs to help understand how CASL impacts your selling and promoting activities. Please note that these FAQs are to serve as a resource but are not intended to provide you with legal advice. We would advise that you carefully review the CASL Addendum to the Ambassador Policies and Procedures and make sure to follow the policies provided in the Addendum.
Q: What is CASL and t whome does it apply?
Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), effective July 2014, is a new law aimed at regulating commercial electronic messages (CEM). It applies to any marketer sending commercial electronic messages (CEMs) to or from Canada.
Q: What if I sent a message to a recipient that I believe is located or resides outside of Canada? Does CASL apply?
CASL will not apply when messages are sent from Canada to certain countries listed in the CASL regulations, including but not limited to the United States, members of the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, China, and Japan, that have their own anti-spam legislation, as long as the commercial electronic message (CEM) complies with that country’s anti-spam laws, which address conduct that is substantially similar to conduct prohibited under CASL.
Q: What is a commercial electronic message?
A commercial electronic message (CEM) is a message that deals with a sale of goods, services or land, or that encourages participation in such commercial activity. This includes but is not limited to advertisements and information about promotions, offers, business opportunities, and events.
Q: What types of communications are included in CASL?
CASL includes more than just email. It includes any commercial electronic message (CEM) with the purpose of encouraging participation in a commercial activity. This can include email, social media, instant messenger, text messaging and more.
Q: What about the phone?
While phone calls do not fall under CASL, text messages are included and identified as commercial electronic messages.
Q: How can I send a commercial electronic message now?
As part of CASL, all CEMs are prohibited unless it covers all of the following:
- you have the prior express or implied consent of the recipient,
- the message contains certain information to identify you, and
- the recipient has a mechanism to allow the recipient to unsubscribe from getting CEMs from you.
Q: What is the difference between express and implied content?
Express consent exists where the recipient elects to receive electronic messages. It must be positive opt in consent. Easy to opt out consent under Canadian or other privacy law does not count (i.e. no pre-checked consent boxes). Express consent lasts until the person chooses to unsubscribe.
Implied consent exists in certain business-to-business situations such as:
- the person is in an “existing business relationship” by having purchased something from you or supplying or selling you a good or service. This implied consent is time limited. It expires 2 years after the business relationship ends. Under a special CASL rule this implied consent is deemed to last until July 1, 2017.
- the recipient’s email address is voluntarily given to you or Stella & Dot, such as it is handed to a Stella & Dot employee or Ambassador in an exchange of business cards at a trade show.
- the recipient’s business contact details are conspicuously posted on such recipient’s website or elsewhere.
For both (b) and (c) above, the message must be about the recipient’s business duties or interests rather than about the recipient’s personal life. All implied consents end if the person unsubscribes from future electronic communications.
Q: What are valid unsubscribe options?
In order for the unsubscribe mechanism to confirm to CASL requirements, it must:
- Enable the recipient (at no cost) to readily remove himself or herself from the mailing list;
- Stay valid for a minimum of 60 days after the CEM has been sent; and
- Process requests without delay.
The Ambassador must move to unsubscribe the recipient to honor his or her choice to unsubscribe within 10 days of the date the request is made.
Q: How does CASL apply to third party referrals and forward-to-a-friend programs?
If a third party refers someone to you, you are permitted to send one CEM only to the prospect. The full name of the person who provided the referral to you is required within the CEM to this prospect. This allows the recipient to contact the person who referred them and ask them not to provide other parties their contact information.
Q: Are there any exceptions?
Some CEMs are excluded from CASL. Examples of excluded CEMs include the following:
- Messages sent within one organization about the business of the organization, such as internal work within the company.
- Information that is merely posted on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or the like. This posting is not considered a message as it is not directed to a person; the readers choose to come to the posting. By contrast, using LinkedIn as if it were email to send a message to one person could be a CEM depending on the content.
- Messages sent between people in a “family relationship” or in a “personal relationship”:
- “family relationship” means the relationship between an individual who sends a message and the individual to whom the message is sent if those individuals are related to one another through a marriage, common-law partnership or any legal parent-child relationship and those individuals have had direct, voluntary, two-way communication.
- “personal relationship” means the relationship between an individual who sends a message and the individual to whom the message is sent, if those individuals have had direct, voluntary, two-way communications and it would be reasonable to conclude that they have a personal relationship, taking into consideration any relevant factors such as the sharing of interests, experiences, opinions and information evidenced in the communications, the frequency of communication, the length of time since the parties communicated or whether the parties have met in person.
** For a “personal relationship” to exist the people involved must have at least met face to face, as opposed to being one of our very many friends on a social media site, such as Facebook.**
Q: Why is it important to comply with CASL?
Failure to comply with the CEM requirements of CASL may result in monetary penalties of up to $1 million for individuals. In addition, Ambassadors who do not take care to ensure they are complying with CASL requirements as set forth in this Addendum are also subject to termination by the Home Office pursuant to Section 10.4 of the Stella & Dot Policies & Procedures.
Q: I have a potential Ambassador that I’d like my upline to reach out to. In the past I would have done this via email. Can I still do this?
Your upline will always be able to reach out to potential Ambassadors over the phone. If you have received an inquiry from this person about becoming a Ambassador OR express verbal consent from your potential Ambassador that it is ok for your upline to reach out to her via email, your upline may then reach out with one email only until there is a formal business relationship. In that email, your upline should acknowledge that this potential Ambassador has inquired about becoming a Ambassador or that the potential Ambassador was referred to your upline by you to make the relationship clear.
Q: I meet someone at Starbucks who loves my necklace and I give her a look book and get her contact info. What do I do next?
While you’re exchanging contact information, ask her if it’s ok for you to reach out via email or text messaging to discuss the product further. Also ask her if she would like to be included on Stella & Dot’s emails as a Style Rewards Insider. If she tells you email or text message is ok with her only to learn about this product, this consent applies to one email only, unless the business relationship continues or she opts into additional communication. If she expressly opts in to be included as a Style Rewards Insider, follow up with an email that confirms that she has expressly opted in and can contact you or Stella & Dot at privacy@stelladot.com if she wishes to unsubscribe. If she does not give consent, you can still contact her with a phone call.
Q: I like to send a quarterly email to all of my customers about my season switchover sale. Now what?
Before July 1st, send an email to all of your customers and Hostess asking for their consent to continue to receive information about Stella & Dot LLC’s products, Events and events via email and text messages.
Q: If one of my customers has let me know she’s already opted in to a Stella & Dot marketing email, can I now continue to reach out to her over email and social media as well?
Stella & Dot customer emails may be viewed as being separate from the invites and offer emails that you send your customers and Hostes. You should not assume that a customer wants to receive both.
Q: Can I still share Stella & Dot pictures and Event invites on Social Media?
You can post anything to your wall or tweet out messages as you always have been. If you send a direct message to a customer via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc, this may be included in CASL as commercial electronic messaging. We recommend that you refrain from sending direct messages unless you have valid consent (under CASL) or you have a pre-existing business or personal relationship.
Q: I am given a potential Host or Customer referral from a customer/Host of mine. Can I reach out?
You may reach out one time over email explicitly stating your name and the name of the customer or Host from which you received their information. The potential Host of customer will then need to give you her consent to receive additional emails, text messages, Facebook messages, or other commercial electronic messages. Pease follow the Third Party Referral requirements in your email (see the FAQ “How does CASL apply to third party referrals and forward-to-a-friend programs?” on page 2).
Q: How can I be CASl compliant using the Invitation Tool?
We are making adjustments to our invitation tool to ensure that you as Ambassadors are compliant when using this tool. To help protect yourself from violating CASL requirements, we would suggest that you use our invitation tool instead of other 3rd party invite tools, such as Paperless Post, Evites, etc., which we cannot guarantee are compliant under CASL. While using our invitation tool, keep in mind the following:
- You have the ability to turn OFF the automated reminder and follow-up emails in the tool’s “Invitation Settings” tab.
- You have the ability to manage and delete guests from a Event on the “Manage Guests” page. Access the Manage Guests page by clicking the “Manage Guests” button from the “View RSVPs” tab.
- Guests have the ability to unsubscribe from receiving additional emails about the event within all automated event related emails. Please Note: Guests that have unsubscribed from receiving specific event emails, have not unsubscribed from receiving Stella & Dot marketing emails and may need to do so in addition when placing an order.
- Unsubscribed guests will be highlighted on the “View RSVPs” tab, marked accordingly on the exported guest list, will not be included when using the “Email All” feature on the “View RSVPs” tab and will no longer receive any of the automated event emails
Q: What about this 3 year transition period I’m hearing about?
CASL provides that you have the implied consent of the recipient if you and the recipient are in an “existing business relationship” (as defined in the CASL regulations). But this implied consent is time limited and expires 2 years after the business relationship ends (for example, 2 years after the person last purchased goods).
There is a special rule under the CASL regulations that gives an extra year if you are in an “existing business relationship” (as defined in the CASL regulations) between you and the recipient of a CEM as of midnight June 30, 2014, that will extend to July 1, 2017. If you do not collect their express consent before July 1, 2017, then you must stop sending them electronic messages upon such date, but you can still phone or mail them materials.
As such, we would suggest that you reach out to all your pre-July 1, 2014 “existing business relationship” contacts prior to July 1, 2017 to obtain express consent so you can continue to contact them via email or text without having to separately track and monitor those for whom you have only implied consent.
If you are not in a “personal relationship” or “existing business relationship” with the recipient, you cannot send an email, requesting consent after July 1, 2014 as CASL considers this email to be a CEM, and you will be in violation of CASL.
Q: What are the key things as a leader that I need to be know.
Leaders should make sure that they train their Downline to review the CASL Policy as well as the FAQs. Please feel free to also refer Ambassadors to the official Canadian website on CASL: http://fightspam.gc.ca.
Q: How do I train a new Ambassador on this during NST?
Each new Ambassador should review the CASL Policy (the Addendum to the Ambassador Policies and Procedures) as well as the FAQs we have provided. Ambassadors are also encouraged to visit http://fightspam.gc.ca, the official Canadian website on CASL, for updates on the CASL regulation interpretations and enforcement. For new customers, simply ask each guest at a Event during checkout.
Q: How do I coach/train Ambassadors who sent out their emails but heard back from very few people?
We recommend that Ambassadors refrain from emailing people they have not heard back from with respect to their opt-in solicitation. Again, Ambassadors are encouraged to pick up the phone, send mail via Canadian post or meet with people in person to follow-up and connect with their contacts.
Q: How can I to coach seasonal/hobby Ambassadors who do the majority of their follow up and connection via email?
We recommend that Ambassadors use traditional means of communication if they do not have implied consent from an individual (via a pre-existing business relationship), a personal relationship with the individual or express consent. Ambassadors are encouraged to pick up the phone, send mail via Canadian post or meet with people in person to follow-up and connect with their contacts.
Q: How do I proceed with regular weekly/monthly training support under CASL?
Same as above – if CASL requires that you receive consent from an individual (i.e. there is no implied consent or an exception) then you should not be contacting them via electronic means. Use traditional forms of contact to reach out to these individuals.
Q: How does CASL impact invitations? We have always encouraged our Hostess to invite a large group. Are they still able to invite people that they do not have a close relationship with? Am I liable or is our Host?
If someone were to complain about a CASL violation related to an invitation, this would place both the Host and the Ambassador at risk. To avoid any issues as well as personal liability, you should make it very clear to Hostess that they should invite only those individuals with whom they have an existing personal relationship in order to comply with CASL regulations.
Q: What if I receive a threat of a class action from a customer?
Each and every Ambassador must abide by Stella & Dot’s CASL Policy (addendum to the PnPs). Stella & Dot will not assume liability for any actions in violation of our CASL Policy. While we cannot speak to potential threats that may be made as any potential issues are very facts and circumstances specific, Ambassadors should be able to mitigate risk if they abide by Stella & Dot’s CASL Policy (as may be updated from time to time to follow any regulation updates).
Q: Need more information?
The following resources are available to help you comply with CASL.
- The Canadian government’s website at: http://fightspam.gc.ca.
- Stella & Dot Policies and Procedures CASL Addendum
As always, you’re welcome to contact Stella & Dot Ambassador Relations at Ambassadorrelations@stelladot.com.
