Calcium on the TV

An interview on ASB Business (TVNZ) with Calcium's own Tom Reidy and Raymond from the great team at Victoria University

ASB Business TVNZ interview

The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 comes into effect on 5 September.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has established an Anti-Spam Unit to investigate complaints about spam from the public and act against New Zealand ‘spammers’. Ensure that your organisation meets the requirements of the new Act by attending one of the Anti-Spam seminars being held across the country in August and September. If you would like to attend please fill out this registration form and

email to josie.keating@dia.govt.nz

fax to 04 495 7224 or

send to
Anti-Spam Unit,
Department of Internal Affairs,
PO Box 805,
Wellington.

Anti-Spam law countdown

New Zealand businesses should be preparing themselves for the ‘Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007’, which takes effect on 5 September.

The UEM Act defines spam as ‘unsolicited, commercial, electronic messages’, and sets out the rules for sending commercial electronic messages legitimately.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has established an Anti-Spam Unit to investigate complaints about spam from the public and act against spammers in New Zealand who are deliberately flouting the law.

Anti-Spam Unit manager, Joe Stewart, says that 99 percent of spam originates from overseas so it is important to note that the UEM Act will not stop spam.

“What it does enable us to do is to prevent New Zealand becoming a ‘spammer haven’ by allowing us to fight New Zealand-sourced spam. The Act also allows us to enter into international agreements to share information and pursue cross-border complaints.

“The legislation is just part of a range of undertakings to combat spam. We will also be actively involved in promoting spam education and awareness, encouraging industry liaison and monitoring emerging technologies,” says Joe.

The penalties for breaching the UEM Act range from formal warnings to infringement notices and court actions (with a maximum fine of $500,000 for an organisation or $200,000 for an individual). A ‘spammer’ could also be ordered to pay the victims compensation up to the amount of loss suffered and/or damages up to the amount of profit that was made as a result of sending the spam.


What do you need to do?

When sending a commercial electronic message you must: have the consent of the recipient, clearly identify the sender and the sender’s contact details, and include a free unsubscribe facility.

There are three types of consent outlined in the Act – express, inferred and deemed. Express consent is a direct indication that the recipient wishes to receive messages and encompasses situations such as ticking a box on a website or a phone/face-to-face conversation.

Inferred consent is when the recipient hasn’t directly instructed you to send them a message, but there is a reasonable expectation that messages will be sent. For example, the recipient provided their email address when purchasing goods and services in the general expectation that there will be a follow-up communication.

Deemed consent covers situations when someone has conspicuously published their work related electronic address or mobile number (i.e. on a website, brochure or magazine). However any message sent must still be relevant to the recipient’s business.

This means that existing client address lists and databases will need to be checked to ensure each client has consented to receiving electronic messages. Under the Act if enforcement action is taken the onus is on the sender of a message to prove consent, whether it be express, inferred or deemed.

For those who would like to know more about the requirements of the UEM Act, the Anti-Spam Unit is hosting a series of practical seminars nationwide in August and September. The dates for these and the registration form are available at www.antispam.govt.nz

More detailed information, including examples, is also provided in the ‘Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 Guide for businesses’. The guide is available at www.antispam.govt.nz on the ‘Business info’ page.

However it is important to note that the guide provides general advice only. If the answer to your query is unclear you should seek legal advice, or contact the Anti-Spam Unit at info@antispam.govt.nz

Following Red - Save a Tree - world famous in NZ

Save a tree makes an appearance on Scoop:

Here....
And here...

Save a tree - world famous in New Zealand!!

Viral marketing at its best!

The below link is a great example of Viral marketing through email!
The idea behind the campaign is to promote email as an alternative to paper base marketing, but also to encourage people to think before they print an email. Click the link and refer some people as the more referred the more donated to a good cause!!




The campaign has been created by Tom and the team at Calcium

Best Pratice for Email Marketing

The following are what I view as best practice for email marketing:

• From=Trust, Subject=relevancy, Body=engagement – fail any of these three and your open rate will plummet
• 1 Picture is worth 100 words
• Small targeted campaigns have on average 40% more open rate than big mail outs
• Simple, clean and straight to the point
• Sell the click through and let the website do the talking
• Newsletters should be like the front page of a magazine - sell the website content
• Opt out link on all emails
• Relevant content – don’t send just because you can
• Relevant images to the copy
• Track everything
• Post tracking – ie track your website in direct relation to your newsletters to make sure you are getting good ROI
• Disclaimer on all emails, ether the text or a link
• Subject lines that are relevant to the content of the email

Happy to take on any further comments and/or suggestions around this.

Care needed after anti-spam bill becomes law

New Zealand has now formally adopted its own anti spam legislation, with the Unsolicited Electronic Message Bill coming into effect on September 5 – a good thing as spam typically represents more than 80% of email traffic.

However this new law has a far-ranging impact on every New Zealand business because the penalties for breaching it are stringent: fines of up to $200,000 for individuals, and/or $500,000 for organisations. Here is a high level low-down on the Bill:

How will it impact your business?

Any electronic messages (everyday emails, bulk emails and txt campaigns) whose purpose is the marketing or promoting of goods or services and which has a New Zealand link is impacted.

Messages can not be sent unless the recipient’s consent has been expressed either:

Explicitly - the recipient has formally “opted-in”. An “untick if you do not want to receive promotional emails” line isn’t enough); or

Can be inferred – the recipient’s email/txt address has being publicly published in a business capacity but only if publication isn’t accompanied by a statement stipulating that no consent to receiving such messages has been given; or

Inferred because the message sent is relevant to the business, role, functions or duties of that person. For instance, a business sending an email to an IT manager about computers after obtaining his/her details from a business card given at an exhibition; or

The electronic message is about requested quotes, estimates, or is a message facilitating, completing or confirming an already agreed commercial transaction; or

A message that provides information about goods or services offered by a government body. Any such message must include accurate information about the person who authorised the sending of such message for at least 30 days post sending that message;Messages must contain a free (including TXT messages) and functional unsubscribe facility.

Any address-harvesting software is prohibited, and so is any electronic address list produced using such software, or acquired for use or used in connection with sending unsolicited promotional emails.
The only get-out is when the sender can demonstrate that a message was sent in error, or without knowledge – for instance as a result of a computer virus.


What can you do about it?

Clean your existing email database by sending an email out prior to 5 September that requests each recipient to formally opt-in (the recipient “opts-in” on your website and automatically receives an email requesting ” opt-in” confirmation, and preferably double opt in conformation because this will keep an audit trail).

You should also:

• Ensure future new subscribers are added through the same mechanism;
  
• Keep an audit track of that process as well as any change in your recipients’ subscription;
  
• Ensure that every email campaign you send has an “opt-in / opt-out” landing web page from which recipients can subscribe / unsubscribe;
  
• Ensure that you have a clear process on who is authorised to send what to whom and how within your company;
  
• Train your staff about the new compliance requirements and their effect on them and your business;
• Leverage every legitimate daily email correspondence because most of them are not captured under this Bill;
  
• Use a mixture of direct marketing (for all those of your recipients that have opted-out) and email marketing for those that have opted-in.
  
• Use a commercial email marketing solution that will help you comply by providing out-of-the-box database management, subscription/unsubscription automation, auditing and reporting.
  

We can help you with the above, as well as improving your daily communications’ impact. So why not call our New Zealand Sales Manager Tom Reidy on 0800 mailprimer– or visit our website http://www.calcium.co.nz/

For full details on the Legislation please refer to the following link: Unsolicited Electronic Messages (SPAM) Bill 2006

Legal Liability

As these views are of our own interpretation of the Electronic messaging bill, please take into account that we are not legal experts, but experts in email marketing, so for further legal advice please consult your lawyer.

Viral marketing

A fabulous way of extending your brand through the power of the Internet and social marketing.

You send it to your friends they send it t their friends and so on and so on...

Key points for success?? There is only one - It has to be FUNNY! Give people a reason to pass it on!

Below is a great example that we did with the team from Hell Pizza

Top 5 for better email marketing

The best advice is to keep it simple.
An email newsletter should always be like the front page of a Magazine, short simple messages selling the ‘Click’ thorough to your website.
Avoid the temptation to put all your news into the newsletter, in simple you want people to come through to your website, this way they can see more of what you do! You never know once there on your site they may even purchase!!

So here are the top 5:
1 - Keep it short
2 - Let the links do the work
3 - Sell the click through
4 - Subject lines.... yes they are important, give the recipient a reason to open!
5 - BRAND IT. Its easy so why not!!

Contact the team at Calcium for more tips

Red blogging

Like this? Want more on email marketing?

Have a look at The Red Running Man for more details on the power and fun in Email Marketing!

Just the start of things to come...

So you have to start somewhere and here it is for me...

I do email newsletters, really well!

So watch this blog to find out how to get the best bang for your buck and how to get the opens and clicks you need!

Thanks for reading and hope to see you again soon, for another take on e-Marketing have a look at The Red Running Man Blog.

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