Do you send electronic messages (emails, instant messaging, SMS or MMS) that are of a commercial nature (offering goods or services for sale, advertising goods or services, promoting a business opportunity or investment) to your clients or customers? If yes, are you aware of the recent changes to the SPAM Act?
You are probably all aware of how much Chrissy and our team at CLS love to talk about the benefits of email marketing, but before you think, here they go again, we have an important update relevant to it that we want you to know about .
When communicating commercially with your client or customer bases through electronic messaging (ie) emails or SMS you must ensure that you are complying with the SPAM Act 2003.
Simply, to avoid a hefty fine, it is really important for businesses sending out electronic communications that are of a commercial nature that they have addressed all three of these things:
- Consent is obtained from the recipient
- The sender is identifiable (eg) Your business details are provided
- It is possible for the recipient to unsubscribe. Often shown as ‘opt out’
Recently, the federal government updated the Spam Regulations 2021 (Cth) under theSpam Act 2003 (Cth). It is now mandated that organisations and businesses sending electronic communications that are of a commercial nature, must make it easy and straightforward for recipients to unsubscribe.
Before this recent change there was variances in the interpretation of the wording. Now it’s very clear, and users wanting to unsubscribe should not be required to:
- Provide personal information
- Use a premium service
- Log into or create an account
- Provide personal information
The only information a user should be required to supply when unsubscribing is the electronic address that the commercial electronic message was sent to.
The other update in the Spam Regulations 2021 (Cth) is that fax messages have now been excluded from the definition of ‘commercial electronic messages’ in the SPAM Regulations, as there is provision for the usage of marketing faxes under the Do Not Call Register. (Note-If you were born after 1985 and want to know what a fax is, go Google it!)
Do you want to know more? If you are unsure about the SPAM Act and how compliant your business is, we can help you, visit the ACMA Website or reach out.