The Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) – a definite step towards better consumer rights – shook small to mid-sized enterprises not only in Toronto but the entire country. After all, inbound marketing employs a number of channels that use commercial electronic messages (CEMs), which fall under the new CASL regulations.

One inbound marketing effort that will need to be kept CASL-compliant is your email marketing. Email list management, in particular, can now be trickier than you’re used to. Luckily, you can take practical steps to not only manage your local Toronto email list for better inbound marketing but also stay compliant to all of CASL’s rules.

Never Purchase or Rent a List

Seriously, with the advent of spam, this was a shady thing to do even before CASL anyway. While it is true that the grey of renting or purchasing lists presented a lot of opportunities for small businesses in principle, it simply isn’t an inbound marketing best practice.

With CASL’s nuanced rules on consent and the renewal of consent, it’s imperative that if you still buy or rent email lists, you stop. Before you droop your shoulders and bow your head, however, know that this is in fact an opportunity to learn the actual best practices in email list building,  which are more sustainable and profitable in the long run anyway. If you haven’t already invested in a third party email management company such as HubSpot, MailChimp or Constant Contact now is the time.