“Happy globalization’ doesn’t exist anymore. Since the 2007-2008 recession, trading barriers have spread across the globe and free trade agreements are becoming more and more rare. Brexit and the election of Donald Trump only reinforce this trend.” – François Normand, Les Affaires, March 25, 2017
In the context of current global economy, when the time comes for your government organization or agency to send your next promotional email, you should take a moment to reflect before clicking the send button. Here’s why:
Laws applicable are becoming more regionalized
Since May 25, 2018, the European privacy law (GDRP) has taken effect, only a few years after the United States adopted their Can-Spam law. In October 2017, the federal government appointed its Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology to revise their Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) law in order to amend and specify certain aspects–a task they are still diligently working on.
Which means that now, more than ever, knowing the rules that are applicable to you and being compliant is primordial. Not only do you have to consider where your emails are originating from, but also which continent you are sending them to. No one is immune to these rules, and using a local platform that helps you be compliant is becoming more and more important.
The director of the customer success team at Cyberimpact, Mr. Patrick Tremblay explains that,
«…for a few months now, we’ve seen an increase in the number of questions concerning legal matters. We see that more users, Canadian business owners and government organizations prefer using a local platform to protect themselves from anti-spam laws. We are witnessing a regionalization of tools used to send promotional emails. Cyberimpact perfectly fulfills this need by owning its own pool of servers right here in it’s Montreal data center.»
No, this is not a matter of patriotism–trying to protect the local Canadian economy. It’s just a good idea to do so! However, as Stephanie Kennan mentions in her blog post Does Patriotism sell?, Les Affaires, “emotion drives us, but the product must deliver”. And that’s definitely the case for Cyberimpact. They have already delivered millions of emails for Canadians.
Communicating in both official languages–a must in Canada
As a business or organization in Canada, it’s important to be able to provide services to your clients in both official languages. For most ministries and government agencies it’s mandatory to communicate in French & English. The problem is that not all email marketing platforms offer the option to easily manage different languages. It’s important to note that we’re not just talking about having a bilingual interface, we mean all the functionalities in the back end as well. Functionalities to help you with your communication efforts.
There is no doubt that with American (or other foreign) solutions, you can probably send emails in other languages, but what about titles, footers, email subscription forms, unsubscribe links, and marketing automation, etc.?
Also, we can’t ignore the fact that government organizations and large corporations usually only offer unilingual resources to their employees. Some employees are Anglophone while others are Francophone. Think about Ryan from Vancouver or Louis-Phillipe from Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec–it’s imperative that their user interface be in their language of choice in order for them to be able to effectively do their jobs. For example, a colleague can use French in Montreal, but in Edmonton it’s best to use English.
Store your data locally
Take a moment to think about the data you are collecting during the process of email marketing. What type of information do you collect from your members, clients, partners, citizens, suppliers, etc. ?
- Where is this data circulated and where is it stored?
- Where is it saved within your organization?
- Where is it shared and where is it located on the cloud?
- Does GDRP apply?
- Are you in compliance?
- Is the data protected?
Not doing your homework can cause major problems. Although data stored in Canada doesn’t guarantee complete protection, but the risk of fraud is undeniably lower than if the data was stored abroad.
In our opinion, in Canada, government organizations should always store their data locally. Remember the American Patriot Act? It allows the U.S. government to have access to all data stored in their country. Whether they come from another country or not.
Pricing in Canadian dollars
Most solutions block functionalities from users with free accounts, smaller packages, or smaller contact lists. And, most of these solutions are priced in American dollars. Cyberimpact, on the other hand, offers pricing in Canadian dollars, which makes a significant difference, making it cheaper than other solutions.
For Canadians by Canadians
In 2006, Cyberimpact was developed by a team of passionate Canadians. We are very proud of our product and hire locally in order to better meet the needs of our clients.
Our system can easily be integrated with websites and applications thanks to our API and integration support team with extensive experience in this area.
Cyberimpact gives you peace of mind for the security of your data. Indeed, we have our own server farm. It is hosted in Canada, in Montreal, in specialized premises, and is behind a SOC 2 security process. Furthermore, we are currently completing the ISO 27001 certification.
Also, we are proud to be partner with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) that has been recommending Cyberimpact to its 110,000 members since 2016. They recognize that our knowledge of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation makes compliance hassle-free.
What are you waiting for? Get started today! Contact us by email at support@cyberimpact.com, by phone at 1-855-964-0868, or by chat through our website.