How your business could face a big fine for breaking the tough Australian Anti-Spam Laws.
Nobody likes a Spammer, do they?
It’s an accusation that gets tossed around far too freely these days, though.
You may even have been branded a Spammer yourself by an aggrieved reader who was less than happy to receive your well-intentioned marketing content.
In the past, I’ve been accused of ‘spamming’ just because I’ve written a post on Facebook seen only by people who willingly chose to follow my updates!
It sometimes feels as if you’re always going to upset somebody out there every time you stick your head over the parapet.
However, if your business sends out regular Emails and Newsletters or you make use of SMS Marketing, you could be in bigger danger than most of crossing the illegal line into Spam.
Still, it’s nothing to worry about, is it?
Nobody really gets into serious trouble just for getting a little bit too spammy, right?
Wrong.
Breaking the tough Australian Anti-Spam Laws can now land your business in financial hot water, and some pretty hefty six-figure fines have already been dealt out right across the board, from the tiniest of small businesses to the biggest of corporate giants.
In many cases, a business owner has faced a harsh financial penalty simply for making a careless mistake or failing to spot a tiny technical error in their marketing.
Starchy Steve is an entrepreneurial acquaintance of mine who’s had more than his fair share of accidental spammy headaches, although this may have quite a lot to do with his deeply unusual line of business…
With Starchy Steve’s help and wisdom and painful experience, let’s take a look at The Big Three Rules of Anti-Spam Marketing which should be considered very carefully if you’re keen to avoid crossing the line and making a potentially costly mistake…
Who are You?
Firstly, let me give Starchy Steve a proper introduction.
He’s a business owner who deals almost exclusively with Spam.
Not the unsolicited marketing communications, you understand.
No, I mean those actual cans of chopped pork shoulder meat, with added ham, salt, water, modified potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrite.
He helps to export them around the world and spread the good word on canned precooked meaty stuff.
It’s particularly difficult for Starchy Steve to fend off accusations of being a Spammer, when he’s sending out marketing emails and SMS communications which are blatantly trying to promote, erm, Spam.
But he doesn’t always make it easy for himself, and he’s dropped the ball on more than one occasion.
Starchy Steve’s loyal clients should already know exactly who he is and what he does.
But that’s no excuse for breaking The First Rule of Anti-Spam Marketing;
The sender of the communication should always be clearly and accurately identified.
Starchy Steve was having a bit of fun with a quirky email bulletin purporting to be from the Queen of Spamland, but got so carried away that he forgot to mention who it was really from.
A more unscrupulous business may actually try and deliberately mislead recipients on the true source of the communication in order to try and whip up more interest or give a false impression of authority or trustworthiness.
Big fines of over $100,000 have already been dished out to businesses that failed to include accurate sender identification within the marketing communication.
So, it’s hugely important to remember that all your messages should include crystal-clear sender information and full contact details.
No Consent
If you’re sending your slices of marketing via email or SMS, you first need to think carefully about The Second Rule of Anti-Spam Marketing.
And it’s a biggie;
Consent should always be obtained from your recipients before sending the marketing communications.
Failure to obtain consent means that you’re basically sending out unsolicited marketing which is pretty much the definition of Spam.
Last year saw a big six-figure fine for a relatively small business that simply failed to secure proper consent. This must have been a crippling financial blow.
Consent can be obtained in a number of ways.
For example, a potential recipient can choose to tick a box in your online or paper form and clearly indicate a preference to receive your marketing.
Officially, the intended recipient can give you consent by ticking the appropriate box in an email you send them, although this does raise an interesting conundrum.
How can you send an email asking for permission to send an email if you haven’t yet got permission to send an email?
Answers on a postcard, please.
Or by email.
However, the good news is that consent can also be implied if you already have a business relationship in place with the recipient, or they have bought goods or services from your business in the past.
The basic rule to remember is that you have no right to send out cold marketing communications to complete strangers who have never expressed any previous interest in your business.
The Missing
‘Unsubscribe’ Button!
Starchy Steve got into a lot of trouble recently when he crammed his latest marketing email with so much information that he completely forgot to include an utterly essential feature.
You see, The Third and Final Rule of Anti-Spam Marketing is very simple;
Your marketing communication should always include a working Unsubscribe facility.
If you’ve ever boosted your business results with the beautiful print and design services available from Martin Print, you’ll already know that I send out a monthly Newsletter to existing clients.
Every single edition includes a clear option to Unsubscribe right at the very bottom.
It’s obviously a sad feeling when people decide to use it, but there’s really no point in me sending out content to people who simply don’t want to read it, as it would just be a waste of everyone’s time.
Each and every one of your own marketing emails should include a similar Unsubscribe feature in a fairly prominent position.
In the case of Marketing SMS, you should include clear guidance on how the recipient can take action to stop receiving your messages (for example, ‘Reply STOP to Unsubscribe’.)
However, you should also take the time to carefully check that your Unsubscribe function actually works!
One well-known business was recently fined big bucks simply for having a faulty Unsubscribe facility.
That may seem a harsh penalty, but it’s typical of the tough law enforcement which, at the end of the day, is acting to protect everyday consumers from unwanted marketing.
Well, the latest news on Starchy Steve is that he’s given up on Spam (the canned meat, not the unsolicited marketing) as he’s fed up with all the constant accusations that he’s just delivering Spam (the unsolicited marketing, not the canned meat.)
The last I heard, he’s now working with a new provider of completely different cans of chopped pork shoulder meat, with added ham, salt, water, modified potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrite.
But what are your own thoughts on Spam?
(The unsolicited marketing, not the canned meat. Although you can tell me your thoughts on the canned meat if you really feel the need.)
As a consumer, do you find that you still have to put up with your fair share of junk email?
As a business owner, do you think it’s becoming increasingly difficult to convince your target audience that you’re not delivering Spam?
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