Like most people, my email inbox is full of messages from business contacts, co-workers and, of course, the ubiquitous e-news subscriptions. As the editor of three industry leading print publications, I also get more than my share of story pitches and press releases. Frustratingly, many of those messages are chock full of spammy irrelevance.
A significant number, however, are subscriptions I willing chose to receive and signed up for (or more appropriately, opted-in for). Over the last few weeks, I have come to realize just how many of the emails I receive I never asked for. The reason I noticed this is that we are all being asked to provide our consent once again for virtually every piece of commercial email we receive under Canada’s new CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation), which comes into effect July 1.
I have spent a great deal of time lately completing numerous opt-in consent forms, mostly for subscriptions I have already agreed to receive. “Is this really necessary?” I wondered. Then I realized that by taking the time now to weed out the undesirable stuff, or just plain get rid of all the spam I receive (even with all of the email filters these days, too much of it gets through disguised as legitimate information), I will be saving even more time in the future from having to delete the unwanted messages.
Providing quality content
I also realized that, like most publications, Mediaedge is in the business of providing helpful and useful information to a large targeted readership. Our online editor Steven Chester is the gentleman who prepares the monthly CMN E-news and I know that he is dedicated to providing only the best content to readers who actually want to receive it. In order to comply with the new CASL regulations, you will have likely received an opt-in consent form in recent weeks from our newsletter publisher.
As I mentioned, while it might be a bit frustrating and time-consuming to have to fill in yet another consent form, in the long run this is a process that protects all of us. As a provider of industry news and information, our goal is to ensure that we are sending information only to those people who have requested it. As a consumer of similar information from a wide variety of sources in several industries, I appreciate the fact that I will be receiving data only from relevant, legitimate sources. In other words, short term pain for long term gain.
If you have not already done so, please take a few moments and opt-in to the e-newsletters that provide the most benefit for you, including the Corporate Meetings Network e-news. And if you’re not yet a subscriber and wonder what’s in it for you, the Corporate Meetings Network E-Newsletter allows meeting and event planners the chance to connect with their community. The Corporate Meetings Network E-Newsletter offers:
- Timely meeting and event tips and tricks from your industry peers
- Announcements from associations and companies in your industry
- Professionally-produced videos on today’s hot topics and featuring industry-leading experts
- Venue and supplier profiles to help you decide where to host your next event
Finally, if you have any comments or suggestions which can help us improve our e-news, feel free to share them in the comment section below.
