Give everyone who writes to customers an address on the business domain, set up shared addresses for quotes and accounts, and move customer mail off personal accounts. The business then keeps the history and can honour unsubscribes.

A quote nobody in the office can find

A customer phones to go ahead with a quote. The salesperson who wrote it left last month, and the quote, the price and every message about it sit in a personal email account.

Nobody in the office can see what was promised. The customer forwards the quote back, if they kept it, and the business learns its own price from the customer.

The habit is common where sales staff started out on the road with a phone and a free account, and nobody ever moved them onto the business's own mail.

What leaves with a personal account

The business has no password for a personal account and no copy of what is in it, even when every message was about its own customers.

That includes quotes and prices, the customer's own words about what they wanted, attachments such as artwork and lists, and every contact saved along the way.

A salesperson who moves to a competitor can keep writing to those customers from the same address. Many customers will not notice that the business behind the messages has changed.

What CASL asks of sales email

Since CASL took effect on July 1, commercial email has rules that reach a salesperson's follow-ups as well as a newsletter. In general, a business sending them needs to be ready to demonstrate:

A quote sent because a customer asked for it is generally treated differently from a follow-up offering something new. The follow-ups and check-ins are where these rules matter most.

These are the rules in outline only, not legal advice on how your own staff write to customers.

Mail the business never sees

A business cannot honour an unsubscribe request sent to an address it has no access to, or show consent for messages it has no copy of.

If a customer asks to stop receiving offers and the person who read that reply leaves, the request leaves too. The next salesperson may write to the customer again, unaware.

The law can also hold an employer responsible for messages staff send in the course of their work. Personal accounts used for sales are the business's concern whether it planned it or not.

An address for everyone on the business domain

Give everyone who writes to customers an address on the business domain, set up on their phone and computer. The business can reset its password and keeps it after the person leaves.

Tell staff in writing that mail sent and received on business addresses belongs to the business. That avoids surprises later, on both sides.

Customers see a name they recognise from the invoice and the website. A domain address also looks more established than a free one and is harder for an impostor to imitate.

Shared addresses for quotes and accounts

Quotes and billing belong at shared addresses, such as quotes and accounts, that several people can read. When one person is away, someone else sees the request the same morning.

The customer saves one address and keeps using it for years, whoever handles the work. Replies go out from the shared address, so the whole conversation stays in one place.

Set the shared address up on the phones of everyone who reads it, so nobody is tempted back to a personal account on the road.

A worked example

A mailing house with a print shop, an inserting line and three sales reps prepares flyers, statements and catalogues for local businesses and charities, and mails them.

Two of the reps quoted from personal free accounts, and one had customers send mailing lists there to check at home. When she left in the summer, those customers' history went with her.

The owner gave every rep an address on the company domain, set up on phones and computers in an afternoon, plus shared addresses for quotes and for mailing lists.

Mailing lists now arrive only through a secure upload page on the website, never as attachments to a personal account. Customers learned the new addresses by email and on their next invoice.

Each rep's signature carries the company name, address and phone number, with a line on how to stop receiving offers. Requests to stop go onto one shared list that everyone checks before writing.

The conversations, the consents and the lists now sit with the business. A rep can leave without taking the customer, the history or the business's ability to show what it sent.

When someone leaves

Change the password on the person's business mailbox the day they go, and forward their mail to a colleague for a few months, so customers writing to the old address still reach someone.

Keep the mailbox rather than deleting it. Its history answers questions about old quotes, and it shows consent and unsubscribes if either is ever questioned.

Remove their access to shared addresses and the customer list the same day. Any shared password they knew needs changing too.

The counter-case

Some salespeople are independent agents who own their client relationships and represent several businesses. For them, a personal account may be the honest arrangement, and the agreement should say who keeps what.

A sole proprietor who does all the selling already sees all the mail. Even so, an address on the business domain looks more established and moves with the business if the mail service changes.

For everyone on staff who writes to customers, though, the business needs to hold the address, the history and the record of who agreed to hear from it.

Moving sales mail to the business

  1. Ask each person which address they use with customers.
  2. Create a business address for everyone who writes to them.
  3. Set up shared addresses for quotes and accounts.
  4. Put the new addresses on phones and computers.
  5. Tell customers by email and on invoices.
  6. Add business details and an opt-out line to signatures.
  7. Keep one list of everyone who has asked to stop.

Step one is the awkward one, and the most useful. Many owners do not know how much customer mail runs outside the business until they ask each person directly.

Closing a business address when someone leaves, without losing the mail inside it, is walked through in email accounts for summer staff that never close.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it a problem when staff use personal email with customers?

The business has no copy and no password. When the person leaves, the quotes, prices and customer history leave too, and they can keep writing from the same address.

Does CASL apply to one-to-one sales emails?

Commercial emails generally need consent, the sender's identification and a way to unsubscribe, whether sent to one person or many. Replies to a customer's own request are treated differently.

How quickly must unsubscribe requests be honoured?

Within 10 business days under CASL. A business can only do that for mail it sees, which is why sales email belongs on business addresses.

What are shared addresses for?

Addresses such as quotes and accounts that several people read. Requests are seen even when one person is away, and customers keep one address for years.

What should happen to a mailbox when someone leaves?

Change its password that day, forward its mail to a colleague for a few months, and keep the mailbox for its history rather than deleting it.

What about independent sales agents?

Agents who represent several businesses may reasonably use their own accounts. The agreement should say who keeps the customer records and the email history when the arrangement ends.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Sales staff quoting from personal accounts?

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